To view action photos of the game, visit the photo gallery and click on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
NEWTOWN – With just over a minute remaining in Friday night’s war against Council Rock South, John Raymon turned a Matt McCloskey pass into a tough reverse layup that put Council Rock North on top 41-35.
The Indian faithful could at long last exhale.
The pesky Golden Hawks would get no closer than six the rest of the way as the Indians went on to grind out a 47-39 win that was anything but easy.
“We’re not used to that style of play,” Raymon said. “We like to run up and down the court. They try to take us out of our offensive set, and they did a great job of doing that. “One time they held the ball for two minutes straight. It’s really tough. We’re not used to running our offense slow. We played Neumann-Goretti and St. Joe’s Prep, and we played them really fast and scored – that’s our game. Teams realize that when they watch film, and they want to slow us down.”
The Golden Hawks certainly slowed down the Indians, who went into halftime on the short end of an 18-17 score, and defense - a trademark of Rock South all season – was the name of the game. Rock North’s high-scoring forward Arron Goodman had just one point while point guard Aaron Morgan had four.
It’s not a coincidence that both were the focal point of Rock South’s defense.
“We had three guys guarding (Goodman),” Rock South coach John Easterly said. “We had Mike Dipaolo guarding him, we had Pat Silverthorn guarding him, and we had P.J. Gallo guarding him, and they did a real nice job.
“To be honest, our matchup zone – which has been the cornerstone of our defense – really struggled tonight, but we played a special man-to-man defense where we face-guarded Morgan, and the other guys stayed in the paint area to make sure they didn’t go crazy on us. It worked pretty good. We made it very uncomfortable for them.”
On a night when the Indians struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm, Charlie Anastasi contributed four points in each quarter to finish with a team-high 16 points.
“He’s our most consistent player in terms of what we want to get done, in terms of strategy but also in making plays,” Rock North coach Derek Wright said. “What’s not lost on him is the fact that he can make shots and make good passes.”In addition to Anastasi, Goodman finished with 10. McCloskey added eight and Morgan finished with seven.
For the Golden Hawks, Justin Thomas led the way with 16 points. He also had a big night under the backboards as the Golden Hawks held a 28-21 edge in rebounds. Teammate Mike Dipaolo added nine points, connecting on three treys.
“One of our goals is to out-rebound teams,” Easterly said. “Those two things – playing good defense and rebounding really kept us in the game.
“We shot well from the line (9-for-11). We just didn’t shoot enough.”
On this night, every basket was hard earned – a fact that was established in a first quarter that saw the Indians open up an 11-6 lead with five of Rock North’s points coming from the foul line.In the second quarter, Thomas began to assert himself for the Golden Hawks, completing a three-point play to open the quarter. Hunter Stevens answered with a bucket for the Indians, but Dipaolo buried a trey to make it a 13-12 game.
The Indians led 17-14 after Anastasi buried an outside shot, but it was a one-point game after another Thomas bucket, and the Golden Hawks led 18-17 after Thomas – who was fouled after pulling down an offensive board – sank a pair of foul shots.
“Our coaches came up with this defense where our two big guys stood in the paint, and we man-guarded their other players outside, and I think that really shut them down,” Thomas said. “Their player who scores the most points (Goodman) really got shut down in the first half, and I think that shows that our defense can play with anyone.”
On Rock North’s first possession of the second half, McCloskey found Goodman cutting to the hole for an easy deuce. Less than a minute later, the Indians misfired on a pair of foul shots but Raymon came up with the offensive board, setting up an Anastasi bucket that put the Indians on top 21-18.
“That was really frustrating,” Thomas said. “You have a chance to get the ball back and come down on offense, but it’s so frustrating when someone grabs it, and they get the ball back.”
Raymon drew a charge on the defensive end, and Anastasi found Raymon for an easy bucket and a 23-18 lead.
“They're so talented, they have so many weapons,” Easterly said. “You can’t say enough about Charlie (Anastasi). He is one of the top players in the league, and he really showed that tonight – great senior leadership on his part.”
Rock North’s lead grew to 25-18 after Goodman turned a steal into an easy bucket. A trey by Rock South’s Pat Silverthorn made it a 25-21 game, but seconds later, Goodman answered with a three-pointer at the other end to stretch the Indians’ lead to 28-21.Thomas scored on a drive to make it a five-point game, and the Golden Hawks’ trimmed the Indians’ lead to 28-26 after a three-point play by Thomas, but every time Rock South threatened, the Indians had an answer.
Anastasi buried a pair from the foul line, and after a Rock South turnover, Stevens found Goodman for an easy bucket and a 32-26 lead. A basket by Christian Crane made it a 32-28 game heading into the final quarter.
When – after the Hawks ran close to two minutes off the clock - Andrew Cohen buried a pair of foul shots to open the fourth quarter, Rock South trailed by just two (32-30), but after a North miss, Morgan came up with a steal on the defensive end and took it coast-to-coast for the score.
A baseline trey by McCloskey ignited the Indian faithful, but less than a minute later, Dipaolo buried a three-pointer for the Golden Hawks to make it a 37-33 game. It was still a four-point game (39-35) after a Thomas basket with 1:23 remaining, but Raymon’s layup put the Indians on top by six.
“Every game in our league is going to be a war because these kids want to beat us,” Raymon said. “We’re trying to win the league title again for the second year in a row.
“They made some tough shots. Justin Thomas played real well – he’s a solid, fundamental player. They don’t have a lot of size, but they did what Abington did. They had a really good three-two zone, so we had to fight against that.”
Raymon’s bucket sealed the win as the Golden Hawks would get no closer six rest of the way.“I liked how we executed in the second half, which was different than the first game we played them even though the score of the last game was a lot greater of a margin,” Rock North coach Derek Wright said of his team’s 66-50 win in the initial meeting between the two teams. “This game we did a much better job of focusing on what we wanted to do in a halfcourt offensive set and got it done.”
While the Indians upped their league mark to 12-0 (18-1 overall) and clinched at least a share of their second consecutive National Conference crown, the Golden Hawks dropped to 4-8 in the league (8-11 overall).
“They’re one of the top teams in the league, and we hung with them,” Thomas said. “They’re really good, but we stayed with them the whole game.”
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 47, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 39
Council Rock South (39) – Zach Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0; Mike Dipaolo 3 0-0 9; Pat Silverthorn 2 0-0 5; Justin Thomas 5 6-7 16; Andrew Cohen 0 2-2 2; P.J. Gallo 0 1-2 1; Christian Crane 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 13 9-11 39.
Council Rock North (47) – Matt McCloskey 3 1-3 8; Aaron Morgan 2 3-4 7; Arron Goodman 4 1-2 10; Charlie Anastasi 4 8-10 16; Hunter Stevens 1 0-0 2; John Raymon 2 0-0 4; Kevin Bogucki 0 0-0 0; Jordan Chernin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 13-19 47.
Council Rock South 6 12 10 11-39
Council Rock North 11 6 15 15-47
Three-point goals: CR South – Dipaolo 3, Silverthorn. CR North – Goodman, McCloskey.
- Log in to post comments
0
