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NEWTOWN – Andrew Stress made it sound oh so easy.But as anyone who’s been assigned the task of containing Neshaminy’s Ryan Arcidiacono will tell you, trying to take the sophomore sharpshooter out of the game is all but impossible.
Stress and his Council Rock North teammates did the impossible. At least for one half.
Arcidiacono did not have a field goal in the second half of Friday night’s SOL showdown between the neighboring schools. As a matter of fact, he did not take a shot in the half until just 2:38 remained in regulation. He finished the night with 10 points – seven points below his season average.
The secret?
“You just try not to let him touch the ball,” said Stress, who guarded Arcidiacono for much of the game. “It’s just face guarding him for four quarters and not letting him touch the ball as much as you can.“Once he touches the ball, it’s collapsing and helping each other out so that he can’t get going.”
With Arcidiacono held in check and the Redskins’ offense consisting of largely three-point attempts, Neshaminy never did find its stride offensively, falling to the fired-up Indians 49-43 in an emotionally-charged contest between the archrivals.
“These guys play together on AAU, and it’s fun playing against kids you know and kids you grew up with,” Stress said. “That emotional side is what you want out of a high school basketball game – the band’s here, the crowd’s here, and you want that atmosphere.
“It was just a great high school basketball game. “
The win was the fourth in a row for the Indians on the heels of a three-game losing streak before the holiday break.
“This was big,” Stress said. “After that (tough) week, I can’t even explain it – it’s getting over that hump we had, it’s getting over the frustration of that week. I’ve been here four years, and that was one of the toughest stretches we had – losing in overtime, losing a game by two and a game by five.
“It was frustrating, but we worked hard in practice and took that next step. We’re looking forward to the next chapter of the season.”On the other side of the court, senior Steve Warhola acknowledged that the ‘Skins struggled offensively down the stretch.
“There was three minutes left in the game, and we took one good shot the rest of the way, and that was a layup by Mike McGarry,” the Redskins’ senior point guard said. “Everything else – we were forcing three’s. It wasn’t good basketball.”
Warhola – the only other Neshaminy player in double figures besides Arcidiacono - kept the Redskins in the game with a team-high 15 points, which included four treys.
Junior John Raymon led the Indians with 15 points while Stress added 12 and Arron Goodman, 11 points.
The Indians – behind four points from both Raymon and Goodman – took a tenuous 10-9 lead into the second quarter. Point guard Aaron Morgan stretched that lead to four when he buried a three-pointer.
Arcidiacono answered with a trey at the other end, but Rock North’s Tim Filer buried a pair of foul shots, and when Raymon converted a fast break basket after a Neshaminy miss, the Redskins led 17-12.
Tyler Katz hit nothing but net on a trey for the Redskins, but Raymon buried a tough three-pointer over his defender to put the Indians on top 20-15.
“John plays hard, defends and rebounds, and good things happen,” Rock North coach Derek Wright said. “That’s what we have to do – make our guys feel comfortable enough that when they come out on the floor, they just play.”A drive by Ty Bostain put the Indians on top 22-15, and on the ‘Skins ensuing trip down the court, Arcidiacono – trying to shed defender Matt McCloskey – was whistled for his second foul and took a seat on the bench.
“That’s what we’re going to need to do – everybody accepting their role and giving everything they have, whether it’s two minutes or 32 minutes,” Wright said. “Matt did a great job coming in ready to play.
“He knows (Ryan) well, and he’s very confident defending him, so we were able to bring somebody off the bench and not lose anything.
“The same with the other guys too – Tim Filer and Ty Bostain. More tonight than any time this year – we played together, and we played smart, which is what we’re looking for. We still have a ton of work to do, but getting everybody on the same page in a big game – we needed that.”
A three by Stress gave the Indians a 25-15 lead, but Warhola connected on a pair of huge treys, and when Arcidiacono scored with 20 seconds remaining in the half, the Indians’ lead had been trimmed to 31-26.
“We knew they gave us their best shot in the first half, and we weathered the storm,” Warhola said. “We knew we had to play as well as we did in the first half to win, and we didn’t do that.“In the first half – even though we weren’t knocking down shots, we were working the ball, and different people were taking shots. In the second half, all of us forced shots. We got caught up in the moment.”
The Redskins knotted the score 34-34 after Warhola connected on his second trey of the third quarter at the 5:50 mark, but that’s when the points stopped coming for both teams.
Raymon and Stress scored on baskets in close to put the Indians on top 38-34 midway through the quarter, and the only point either team would score the rest of the way came at the foul line as the Indians took a 38-35 lead into the final frantic frame.
Raymon scored a fastbreak bucket to stretch the ‘Skins lead to five before the ‘Skins scored their first field goal in more than eight minutes when Warhola buried a shot off the dribble.
“Stevie kept us in it,” Devine said. “We talk about that all the time – when people take Ryan away, it opens it up for other people.
“I think what happened to us is we hit a couple of three’s, and we started to rely on that. We shot 18 three’s, and that’s the most we shot all year. It was a three-point game for the longest time, and we came down and instead of going to the bucket, we were relying on the three.”
A Dwight Williams basket at the end of a break pulled the Redskins to within one, but Goodman scored on a drive to the hole, and when Stress finished off a fast break with just under a minute to play, the Indians led 45-39, and a Rock North win was all but assured.“I was pleased with the way that we executed our game plan,” Wright said. “It showed that the guys were focused.
“They bought into what we’re teaching them, and they trusted each other. Our game plan had a lot to do with trusting each other and backing each other up, and they did that.”
“This builds trust in all of us,” Stress said. “Everyone giving what they’ve got while they’re on the floor, coming out and trusting guys coming in for them.
“It’s just working as a family, working as a team every day in practice.
While the Indians evened their league mark at 2-2 (6-3 overall), the Redskins fell to 3-1 in league play (7-3 overall).
“We said the whole time we needed a close game in the league to know we’re not going to walk through it,” Warhola said. “It’s going to get us ready for the rest of the season and the playoffs beyond that.“We’re going to be in tough games like this. We know teams are going to take Ryan away from us, and we need to step up, take shots and make plays.”
“We need games like this to make us better,” Devine added. “Our goal this year wasn’t to go 22-0. We didn’t think we would go 14-0 in the league, and this is one of the games you look at – they get one, we get one.
“This was a tough game. They played well.”
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 49, NESHAMINY 43
Neshaminy (43) – Steve Warhola 5 1-3 15; Tyler Katz 2 0-0 5; Ryan Arcidiacono 3 2-2 10; Dwight Williams 2 2-2 6; Mike McGarry 2 0-0 4; Charlie Marterella 1 0-0 3; Dave Baron 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 5-7 43.
Council Rock North (49) – Aaron Morgan 2 0-1 5; John Raymon 7 0-0 15; Arron Goodman 5 1-2 11; Charlie Anastasi 0 0-0 0; Andrew Stress 3 5-7 12; Tim Filer 0 2-2 2; Ty Bostain 2 0-0 4; Matt McCloskey 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 8-12 49.
Neshaminy 9 17 9 8-43
Council Rock North 10 21 7 11-49
Three-point goals: Neshaminy – Warhola 4, Arcidiacono 2, Materella, Katz. CR North – Morgan, Raymon, Stress.
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