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NEWTOWN – The final seconds were ticking off the game clock when Dan Costello stunned just about everyone in the house by diving on the rolling ball intended to keep the clock from starting on a Liberty inbounds play. “He just kept rolling the ball, rolling the ball, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I take a risk and try taking a dive for it?’” the Council Rock North senior said. “I dove for it, got the ball, called a timeout – a change of possessions that quick.”
Although the outcome had long since been decided, it was a play that defined the gutsy defensive effort of the Indians in their opening round 64-56 win over Liberty in their own Athletes Helping Athletes Holiday Tournament.
“Our whole philosophy is defense,” Costello said. “We work day in and day out mainly on defense, trying to get stops.
“When we get out on the floor, that’s one of our key things – playing defense, so we can get stops and get on offense and try and get scores.”
The Indians needed every one of their defensive stops, every one of their baskets to earn a win over a solid Liberty squad that was 2-0 after inheriting the football players who were members of the school’s PIAA Quad A state championship squad.
“For us, this win is huge,” Costello said. “We like to try and win every game we can. We haven’t played a home game in a while, so we just wanted to come out firing.”
The Indians were led by the 20-point effort of junior Andrew Stress. Freshman Arron Goodman added 15 points, including a pair of clutch treys. Ty Bostain had eight points while Costello and Aaron Morgan each had seven.
While coach Derek Wright had to like the point production he received up and down his lineup, the Indians’ coach was most pleased with his team’s response to adversity. The Indians led by 16 early in the fourth quarter only to watch the Patriots trim that lead to one (55-54) after Jarrod West scored on a drive to the hole with 2:15 remaining.
“I loved the way they responded to every challenge in this game tonight,” Wright said. “Liberty is very experienced, very physical.
“When they made their little run, our guys stuck together. We got great leadership out of Andrew (Stress) and Danny, especially Andrew when we really needed it and were struggling.”
The Indians came out of a timeout and spread the floor. Just seconds later, Stress took the ball to the hole for a basket that put the Indians on top 57-54 with 1:15 remaining.
“What we wanted to do was hold the ball to get their defense to spread out,” Wright said. “We were hoping they would go for a steal and foul us.
“We were running the offense to score, and Andrew just made a great play.”
After coming up with a big steal on the defensive end, Morgan buried a pair from the foul line. Liberty answered with a bucket by Alex Torres, but again, Morgan calmly connected on two shots from the charity stripe.
The Indians rode their deadly foul shooting – they connected on seven-of eight in the final minute – to the big win.
“We feel good about it,” Stress said of the win. “It’s our first game home in a while, so we wanted to come out and set the tone early. We came and played the way we wanted to play – defensive-minded and together.”
Early in the game, the Indians led 16-11 after Costello scored on a cut to the hole. Brandon Holland answered with a trey for Liberty, and when West sank one-of-two from the foul line, it was a 16-15 game at the end of one quarter.
Sparked by seven points from Stress, the Indians outscored the Patriots 14-11 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 30-26 lead.
When Costello buried a trey off a screen, the Indians led 39-26 three minutes into the third quarter. The Patriots - thanks to their fullcourt pressure defense - cut that lead to seven heading into the final frame (44-37).
“Their pressure got to us,” Costello said. “We were struggling – throwing the ball away, being careless and getting frustrated.
“We needed to take care of the ball – slow things down.”
The Indians extended their lead to 47-39 after Goodman drilled a trey from the top of the circle, but the Patriots refused to go away. It was a 47-43 game after Anthony Gonzalez – Liberty’s all-everything quarterback – buried both ends of a one-and-one.
Stress drew a critical charge on the defensive end – his second of the quarter.
“That’s what our program is built on – hustle plays and playing defense,” Stress said. “As long as we’re back on defense playing defense, we give ourselves an opportunity to be in the game at the end.”
“That’s part of what defines us as a program,” Wright said. “We really emphasize plays where we give up our bodies for the team.
“Charges are a lot of times momentum changers like dunks are. All of our guys can charges but not all of our guys can dunk, so we have to use that.”
Bostain turned that charge into a basket after a tip-in.
A bucket by Stress off the dribble gave the Indians a 52-45 lead midway through the quarter, but again, the Patriots came roaring back. Gonzalez connected on back-to-back baskets, and after a big bucket down low by Bostain, Gonzalez, who scored a team-high 20 points, buried a trey to make it a 54-52 game.
“They quickened the pace on us and got us to speed up and get a little out of our comfort zone,” Stress said. “We needed to settle down and get back to what we were doing earlier, and that’s what we did.”
Stress buried one-of-two from the foul line only to watch West (16 points) answer with a bucket to make it a 55-54 game with 2:15 remaining, setting the stage for the exciting finish.
“It’s a great win,” said Wright, whose team improved to 5-3. “I have great respect for their program and their kids.”
EXTRA POINTS: Rock North’s honorary captains for Monday’s Athletes Helping Athletes Classic were Peter Brill and Kaitlin Stern. Both accepted medals from the Rock North players designating them captains prior to the start of the game. What did they enjoy most about the experience? “Getting the medal and stuff,” Stern said. Brill wanted just a bit more than a medal. “We want to win this game,” he said. “It’s exciting.” Having honorary captains has become a part of every home football and girls’ and boys’ basketball game at Rock North.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 64, LIBERTY 56
Liberty (56) – Holland 3 0-0 8, Gonzalez 8 3-6 20, Torres 5 0-3 11, West 6 4-6 16, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Figueroa 0 1-2 1, Hoffman 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-17 56.
Council Rock North (64) – Dan Costello 2 2-3 7, Arron Goodman 6 1-2 15, Ty Bostain 4 0-0 8, Tim Filer 2 0-0 4, Andrew Stress 7 6-8 20, Charlie Anastasi 1 0-0 3, Aaron Morgan 1 5-6 7. Totals 23 14-19 64.
Liberty 15 11 11 19-59
Council Rock North 16 14 14 20-64
Three-point goals: Gonzalez, Torres, Holland, Costello, Anastasi, Goodman 2.
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