CR North defeated CR South in Friday’s SOL Featured Game, sponsored by the Council Rock North Booster Club. To view photos of all the game action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
NEWTOWN - A slow start can doom a team.
But patience can turn it around.
The Council Rock North boys basketball team got off to a slow start, but relied on defense to carry them through the early portion of the game en route to a 61-44 win over Suburban One League National Conference rival Council Rock South at home on Friday.
The Indians shot early and often but could not get the ball in the basket.
CR South actually scored the first point of the game when senior guard Christian Crane went to the line and made two free throws.
Mike Stuski hit a field goal to make it 4-0, Golden Hawks, before Kyle McCloskey hit a field goal to give the Indians their first points of the night.
CR South continued to stay ahead of the Indians until Rip Engel’s three-pointer gave CR North a 10-8 advantage.
Will Faccenda’s field goal tied the game for the Golden Hawks, but they never saw the lead again. The Indians led, 12-10, after the first quarter and had a 24-19 edge at halftime.
“We thought with patience it would come,” said CR North senior guard Brandon Knotts, who had 11 points in the game. “The shots weren’t falling but we got it started on the defensive end. Then the shots started coming and we felt like we were in good shape.
“We figured if we locked down most of their main players we’d have a good chance of holding them under 50 points and we did that. That’s a good sign for our defense.
“Defense plays a big part of our game. That’s what we preach every day in practice, that it starts with the defense. If offense is struggling, shots will fall eventually and that’s what happened in the first half of this game. Our defense kept us in it and we had a lead going into halftime.”
CR North senior forward Ryan Baker agreed.
“We were running through our offense and we were missing shots, but we thought they’d come to us and they did,” said Baker, who had seven rebounds. “The second half is when we really opened it up.
“Our defense set the pace. Our guards Chris (Rowland), Josh (McWilliams) and Brandon were amazing. Will, Crane and (Tom) Townsend didn’t have anywhere to go. Townsend didn’t score from the field tonight.”
In the first meeting this year, CR North defeated the Golden Hawks, 54-50.
“It was so close last time, and we know they’re going to come to play,” Knotts said. “It’s always a big game every time, but we knew we could pull it out.
“It hasn’t hit me yet that this was my last North-South game. I was just thinking about the playoffs and that we had to win this game and less about who we were playing and what a rivalry it is.
“And now that the regular season is over I’m looking forward to a good week of practice and then a good game on Friday. We’re looking to make a good run and continue the tradition that we started a couple of years ago.”
The Indians are on a four-game win streak, having beaten Bensalem, Pennsbury and Neshaminy coming into the game against South.
“We were real focused coming into this game and ready to get it done,” Baker said. “It’s amazing to me that this is the last regular season game and this is my last North-South game. It’s been great to be with these guys for the last four years and hopefully that will continue for a while.
“We’re starting the second season on Friday, and hopefully we’ll get a good seed.”
The Indians end the regular season 11-3 in the SOL National and in second place behind Abington. They are 17-5 overall as they await the word from Sunday’s District One seeding.
“Everyone’s record is the same now and they’re a playoff team so they have to be good,” CR North coach Derek Wright said. “We have to be ready and give it all that we have.
“CR South always plays tough against us which is the way it should be in a rivalry game, so we expected a challenge. Even though we didn’t shoot the ball well early we defended well which kept us in the game and with the lead a little bit so when we did make some shots we were able to build up a little more of a lead.
“I thought we played really hard and really smart. We executed our game plan and that’s what you want to do in the playoffs. It does feel good to finish the regular season with a good win.”
Rip Engel led all scorers with 26 points for CR North.
Crane became CR South’s all-time scoring leader, entering the game needing eight points to pass Cory Kenny’s total of 849, set in 2005.
He ended the night with 25 and 875 for his career.
“I’m very happy for Christian,” Baker said. “That’s a fantastic record. I used to play with him when we were younger and I know Will Faccenda because we both play baseball.”
CR South ends the season 4-10 in the SOL National, 7-14 overall.
The game was originally slated to start at 8 p.m. as the finale of a quadruple-header including the boys and girls junior varsity and girls varsity games, but the JV games were canceled and the girls game, scheduled for 6:30, was moved to 4 p.m. while the boys game moved from 8 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. due to the anticipated snow, which had just started to fall as everyone filed out of the gym.
Council Rock South 10 9 15 10 – 44 Council Rock North 12 12 15 22 – 61 Council Rock South (44): Christian Crane 9 6-6 25; Will Faccenda 3 0-0 6; Tom Townsend 0 2-2 2; Jack Wheatly 0 0-0 0; Jake Gross 0 0-0 0; Mike Stuski 1 2-2 4; Dan Kockott 1 0-0 2; Matt Stewart 0 0-0 0; Dan Bushik 0 0-1 0; Zach Bergman 0 0-0 0; Eric Gallo 1 3-4 3. Totals: 15 13-15 44. Council Rock North (61): Josh McWilliams 3 0-0 6; Rip Engel 9 4-4 26; Ryan Baker 1 0-0 2; Chris Rowland 4 0-0 11; Brandon Knotts 4 2-3 11; Kyle McCloskey 1 1-2 3; Matt Margolis 0 2-2 2 ; Nate Kardos 0 0-0 0; Josh McWilliams 2 0-0 6 ; Josh Josephs 0 0-2 0; Tyler Madison 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 9-13 61. Three-point goals: Crane, Engel 4, Rowland 3, Knotts.
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