The chants of ‘We want Chester’ began as the final seconds ticked off the clock in Tuesday night’s District One AAAA semifinal contest at Villanova University’s DuPont Pavilion.
As Hunter Stevens stepped to the line to take a pair of foul shots, his Council Rock North teammates stood just beyond midcourt, and the reality of what they had just accomplished was beginning to sink in. The smiles and expressions on their faces told the story.Rock North – thanks to its 58-50 win over defending state champion Plymouth Whitemarsh – had earned a spot in the district finals. This is the stuff dreams are made of.
“This means a lot,” junior Arron Goodman said. “We’re on cloud nine right now. It’s a great feeling.”
But the Indians aren’t finished yet. They have a date with top-seeded Chester – winners of three state titles in the past decade – in Friday night’s district title game at Villanova.
“We want to win a district title,” senior John Raymon. “In order to win a district title, we needed to win this game. It’s game by game, practice by practice and workout by workout. It’s a great experience.”
No more distractions – Arron Goodman admits that he may have been distracted by the fact that he was approaching the 1,000-point milestone. Rock North’s junior standout needed just 10 points to reach that magical plateau when the Indians took on Wissahickon in a second-round district game. Goodman scored three points early in the first quarter and did not score again.“It was a huge distraction to me,” Goodman said. “I just wanted to get by it.”
In Friday night’s double overtime win over Norristown, Goodman ‘got by it.’ He needed seven points to reach a thousand. He scored eight to surpass the historic milestone.
With that feat behind him, the gifted junior returned to the form that has made him one of the area’s brightest prospects when he took the court against PW on Tuesday night, scoring 19 points and pulling down 15 rebounds in a monster performance.
“I came out tonight, and I felt good,” Goodman said. “I got the thousand out of the way, and now I can just go out and play my game.”
For Rock North, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.“We knew we needed to have a big game from him if we had any chance of winning,” coach Derek Wright said. “He obviously has the capability to do it.
“Maybe getting the thousand took a little pressure off.”
Goodman – who had a bucket in the first quarter - scored six points in the second quarter, which included a three-point play to put the Indians on top 17-12. Later, he connected on a trey to make it a 22-16 game. He added 11 second-half points.
“Early on, he was able to get to the free throw line and get to the rim a little bit, which kind of got him going,” Wright said. “He didn’t settle for early three’s.”
As dazzling as Goodman’s point and rebound totals were, his biggest play came on the defensive end when he drew a charge on PW star Jalen Bond at the 5:43 mark of the fourth quarter. It was Bond’s fifth foul.
“That was the play of the night defensively – getting the charge on Bond,” Wright said. “That changed the course of the game with him out. Arron was great on both ends.”
Biding his time – Jordan Chernin woke up with a cold on Tuesday morning, and by the time the game against PW was over, he had all but lost his voice. Still, there was no mistaking the joy he was feeling.
“It’s unbelievable,” the Rock North senior said. “We were playing in front of pretty much our whole school – it’s an amazing feeling.”
Chernin spent the season coming off the bench in a back-up role behind junior guard Matt McCloskey. Things changed dramatically when McCloskey was lost for the season to a shoulder injury just as the post-season playoffs were getting underway.
Suddenly, Chernin was thrust into a starting role. He was ready.“I just watched Matt play,” he said. “Coach prepared me very well defensively and offensively.
“I just knew eventually something could happen, and I knew I had to be ready.”
In Tuesday night’s win over PW, the senior guard was right in the middle of the action, contributing eight points, seven rebounds and solid defense.
It was Chernin scoring an early bucket after an offensive rebound to put the Indians on top 8-3, and when he buried a three-pointer to open the third quarter, the Indians led 27-23.
“I know the coaches trust me, so that gave me confidence to shoot,” Chernin said.
Wright was not surprised to see him deliver.
“These guys that are varsity players that just happen to be on a great basketball team – if they get their chance and get their time, they’re going to do good things,” the Indians’ coach said. “Jordan is a great worker, he’s a great teammate, and he’s worked his (whole) life for games like this. I’m really proud of him.”
Chairmen of the boards – Arron Goodman and John Raymon owned the backboards in Tuesday night’s win over PW. The Rock North duo combined for 28 rebounds in overpowering performances with Goodman pulling down 15 of those.“We knew we had to come out strong,” Goodman said. “We knew we had nothing to lose. We were the higher seed, but everyone said that PW was going to win this game because they won states last year.
“We just came out tough and executed the game plan – rebounded and played hard defense.”
Goodman had five rebounds while Raymon had three in a first quarter that saw the Indians – in a preview of things to come - out-rebound the Colonials by more than a 2-to-1 margin. It was the Indians’ dominance on the backboards that allowed Rock North to control play from start to finish.
“You just have to stick with it and be aggressive through the tiredness and pain,” Raymon said. “You have to play hard. Every play matters.”
It was that mentality that propelled the Indians into Friday’s district title game.
A team effort - While the Indians’ big men and point guard Aaron Morgan regularly find themselves in the spotlight, Tueday night’s win – according to Wright - was a team effort. “Our guys that didn’t necessarily play tonight did a great job at practice yesterday,” the Indians’ coach said. “Our starters got their butts kicked at practice. They did a great job.
“Hunter (Stevens) was great off the bench, providing great length and rebounding.”
Hunter is one of six seniors that represent the heart and soul of this year’s squad. That group also includes Charlie Anastasi, John Raymon, Jordan Chernin, Liam Kane and Kevin Bogucki.
“They’re a once-in-a-lifetime group,” Wright said. “You would hope they would get to experience some once-in-a-lifetime things like Friday night will be.
“They deserve it.”
On Friday night, the Indians – led by their six seniors – will play on the big stage yet again when they faced top-seeded Chester in the district title game.
“This means so much,” Anastasi said. “This was our goal heading into the year and to finally be on this stage means a lot, but we’re not done yet. We have a tough game ahead of us.”
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