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READING - Reading or Disney World - where would you rather spend a mid-winter day in March? Talk to Charlie Anastasi, and it’s not even a contest. Reading is the hands-down winner.
“All of our senior class is in Disney World right now,” the Council Rock North senior said after his squad earned a hard-fought 41-38 win over Liberty at Reading High School’s Geigle Complex. “I just told my guys – there’s no place I’d rather be than here.”
It’s hard to blame Anastasi for feeling that way. After all, Tuesday’s second round PIAA Class AAAA win vaulted the Indians into Saturday’s state quarterfinal round where they will face Penn Wood, which earned a 54-50 win over Neshaminy in second round action.
“This means so much,” Anastasi said. “It was a battle tonight, but that’s what it’s all about at this point. You just have to win and move on.”
The Indians are moving on because they excelled in areas that matter most in money time – they dominated the backboards, and they played relentless defense.
“That’s what it came down to,” coach Derek Wright said. “We preach it. When you get in the big-time games and play well-coached teams and talented teams, it comes down to halfcourt defense, halfcourt offense and rebounding.
“That’s what we’ll take from it. We won a game because of who we are – that’s our identity.”
Leading the way under the backboards was senior John Raymon, who pulled down 13 rebounds in a monster game in the paint. “He played like a man,” coach Derek Wright said of his senior forward. “He doesn’t want his career to end. That’s what you need from your seniors at this time of year. You just got to want it a little bit more.”
Anastasi added seven rebounds. Raymon and Anastasi also led the Indians offensively with nine points each.
“We said we had to gang rebound tonight,” Anastasi said. “Everyone had to come in and find a body and box out. At the end of the game, those are the rebounds you need to secure, and we did a good job of that.”
Darrun Hilliard – who led all scorers with 19 points – connected on the first bucket of the game, but the Indians answered with a 5-0 run. They led 13-9 at the end of one quarter after Aaron Morgan buried both ends of a one-and-one.
The Indians stretched that lead to 21-11 after a huge trey by Brandon Knotts off the bench before Liberty’s Izel Dickerson converted a pair of foul shots to make it a 21-13 game at halftime.
A bucket by Anastasi to open the second half was followed by a Morgan steal and ensuing Arron Goodman bucket that put the Indians on top 25-13. They still led 30-21 after a putback by Raymon late in the quarter, but the Hurricanes came roaring back, turning a nine-point deficit into a three-point lead with a dazzling 12-0 run.“The first two or three minutes of the third quarter, I thought we started to execute the way we wanted to and got the lead up to 12 or 13, but then we got stagnant at the end,” Wright said. “We made some bad decisions, but that’s going to happen in a game.
Liberty’s run included a whole lot of Hilliard who found teammate Dante Holmes for an easy bucket and then – after a pair of Rock North misses – buried a three-pointer. A Rock North turnover resulted in another bucket in close by Holmes, and when the Villanova-bound Hilliard turned a defensive rebound into a basket at the buzzer by Greg Noack, it was a 30-30 game heading into the final quarter.
Hilliard capped Liberty’s run by opening the fourth quarter with another three-pointer to put the Hurricanes on top 33-30.
“He went on a crazy run there,” Wright said of Hilliard. “You have to give him a ton of credit.”
The Indians took the Hurricanes best shot and came back fighting. First it was Morgan – after a Liberty turnover – scoring off the dribble just inside the arc. The Hurricanes led 35-32 after Hilliard buried two-of-three from the foul line at the 5:24 mark, but Raymon answered with a big bucket on the low post.
Liberty turned the ball over at the other end, and the Indians made it hurt when Jordan Chernin – whose defensive effort on Hilliard kept him silent for major parts of the game – drilled a three-pointer from the top of the circle to put the Indians on top 37-35.
“Guys are definitely stepping up,” Anastasi said. “We tell them all that we have confidence in them, and sometimes they hesitate to shoot, but Jordan (Chernin) and Brandon (Knotts) – both of those three-pointers were huge shots.
“Jordan is starting now, but to come in the game and have that confidence is something we need out of them. Not only did Jordan hit that big three, but both of those kids played great defense all night. I can’t even imagine how tired they are.”
Both teams endured a dry spell of close to two minutes, but when Morgan turned a steal near midcourt into a bucket, the Indians stretched their lead to 39-35 with 2:35 remaining. Neither team did a whole lot of scoring the rest of the way. The Hurricanes misfired on a pair of foul shots while the Indians came up empty on three foul shots.
With 5.2 seconds remaining, Hilliard connected on a trey from NBA range, but Anastasi was fouled on the inbounds and sank a pair with one second remaining to seal the win.
For Anastasi and his senior teammates, an evening in Reading easily won out over a week in Disney World.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 41, LIBERTY 38
Liberty (38) – Izel Dickerson 1 2-2 4; Pat Donnelly 1 0-0 3; Dante Holmes 1 1-4 4; Alex Akabogu 1 1-4 4; Darrun Hilliard 7 2-3 19; Alewdy Rivera 0 0-2 0; Greg Noack 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 14 5-11 38.
Council Rock North (41) – Aaron Morgan 2 4-9 8; John Raymon 4 1-2 9; Arron Goodman 3 1-1 7; Jordan Chernin 1 2-2 5; Charlie Anastasi 3 3-4 9; Brandon Knotts 1 0-0 3; Hunter Stevens 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 14 11-18 41.
Liberty 9 4 17 8-38
Council Rock North 13 8 9 11-41
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