Tuesday night’s Council Rock North/Council Rock South game is an SOL Featured Game, sponsored by the Rock North Booster Club. Check back for a complete game story.
Matt and Kyle McCloskey are - first and foremost - competitors.
“We love to put them against each other in practice because they really get after each other,” Council Rock North coach Derek Wright said. “It’s good for the rest of the team to see that brother rivalry. We’d like to see that with everybody in practice, and they really care for each other.”
The McCloskey brothers comprise 40 percent of Rock North’s starting lineup this season – the first brothers Wright has coached to earn that distinction.
“I have had brothers that I have coached, but they have been years apart and haven’t played together,” the Indians’ coach said.
The siblings have their similarities, but in many ways, they are vastly different.
“That’s what is kind of cool,” Wright said. “I always respect parents whose children seem to be their own individuals and not carbon copies of each other. I really enjoy the fact that you can treat them as their own individuals and try not to compare them.”
Kyle is the younger of the two, but the junior forward – who is listed at 6-6 – has five inches and 40 pounds on Matt. The differences don’t end there. While Kyle is more offensive-minded, Matt is the team’s defensive stopper.
“Matt is the best defender I’ve ever coached,” Wright said. “Matt takes the challenge, and I have really enjoyed just watching him compete when you give him the challenge of someone to guard. If you ask him to do something specific, he will do it to the ‘t.’
“Physically, he has the athletic ability to be strong and quick, so he can guard a lot of different people, and he’s just so strong mentally. He never worries about the play before. He’s always worried about the next play. He’s very smart about the game. You can give him a tendency of a player, and he knows exactly what that tendency is and how it needs to be defended. We give him a lot of different ways to guard people depending on their talents, and he is able to really get it. He’s a very smart basketball player.”
Matt – a guard – boasts a dazzling 9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season.
“On the basketball floor, he’s meticulous,” Wright said. “He doesn’t make mistakes.”
Matt is capable of putting points on the board, but that is not his priority, so when he got offensive in the first quarter of Friday’s win over Pennsbury, it was a point of pride to his younger brother.
“I love when he makes his shot,” Kyle said. “He’s a really good three-point shooter, and I tell him to take his shot and start driving. He had 10 points on Friday – six or eight in the first quarter.
“It was really cool. I love seeing him succeed and do well.”
Kyle, a swing player who primarily saw action for the jayvee last year, has been coming on strong as he adapts to his new role.
“He actually had a growth spurt a couple of years ago,” Matt said. “He used to be a guard, but he had to adjust to a small forward, a big guy kind of role. He never had a team rely on him to be the rebounder because he’s always been on the perimeter.
“He struggled the first couple of games, but he’s learned his role. The physicality is coming.”
Kyle is coming off back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts.
“Kyle is taller and longer,” Wright said. “He has a lot of talent. He’s a little bit more relaxed on the court. He has a lot to learn in terms of having that focus and that drive every possession, partly because his talent has allowed him to succeed without having to be that way all the time. With his height, he obviously can do more things around the basket.”
While Kyle finds himself in a new spot, Matt is once again in the Indians’ backcourt after being sidelined during Rock North’s district and state playoff run last season with a torn labrum.
“As coaches – and I know it’s bad to do it, but we always look back and say, ‘If we had had Matt, how would the season have been different,’” Wright said. “He is like that player if you’re an NFL coach, you can say to a defensive back, ‘You take care of him, and we’ll focus on everything else.’
“He also provided ball handling for us, which in games against Chester and Penn Wood – teams that pressure a lot – we really missed his solid decisions with the basketball.”
Matt and Kyle have been competing in sports together for as long as they can remember. They’ve played baseball, hockey, football and even tennis
“We do it all,” Kyle said. “We’ll take the boat out in the summer – just me and him – and will fish all day. We do everything together. We’re like best friends.”
The siblings have been teammates before, but this is the first time they have been together on the varsity level.
“It’s been special all the years I have been part of this team, especially this year because it’s one of the first years I actually get to play with my brother,” Matt said. “There’s no one more excited about watching both of us play together than my dad. He’s been looking forward to it since we’ve been real little.
“This is our one year together in high school, and ironically, it’s the last year we will be playing together.”
“I love playing with him on the team,” Kyle added. “I have been playing with him my whole life. I know where he is on the court. It’s really easy to play with him.
“He’s a very, very unselfish player. He’ll pass you the ball before he takes the shots. If there’s a (scoring) threat on the other team, like a D-1 player, he always shuts them down.”
After dropping three of their first four games this season, the Indians - who find themselves in a three-way tie for the National Conference's top spot - have won five in a row.
“We love our team,” Kyle said. “Of any team I’ve ever seen, I think we’re the closest. We do everything together. We hang out together before games and after games. It’s just really fun to be part of the team this year.”
The fun continues on Tuesday night when the Indians will host rival Council Rock South at 7 p.m. in the second half of a girls/boys double header.
Just the Facts:
This year’s record: Council Rock North 3-1 SOL (6-3 overall), Council Rock South 1-3 SOL (5-5 overall)
Last year’s record: Council Rock North 27-3 (14-0 SOL National Conference champions), Council Rock South 8-13 (4-10 SOL)
Last meeting: Feb. 4, 2011 – Council Rock North 47, Council Rock South 39 (CR North: Charlie Anastasi – 16 points, Arron Goodman – 10 points, Matt McCloskey – 8 points, Aaron Morgan – 7 points; CR South: Justin Thomas – 16 points, Mike Dipaolo – 9 points, Christian Crane – 6 points)
Last game: Council Rock North 68, Pennsbury 32 (Aaron Morgan – 23 points, Kyle McCloskey – 11 points, Matt McCloskey – 10 points, Arron Goodman – 10 points)
Abington 59, Council Rock South 48 (Christian Crane – 24 points, PJ Gallo – 8 points)
Council Rock North
Projected starters:
#2 – Matt McCloskey (6-1, Sr., Guard)
#5 – Aaron Morgan (5-11, Sr., Guard)
#22 – Arron Goodman (6-4, Sr., Guard/Forward)
#24 – Alex Jordan (6-3, Jr., Guard/Forward)
#32 – Kyle McCloskey (6-6, Jr. Guard/Forward)
The rest of the Indians:
#4 – Josh McWilliams (5-9, Soph., Guard)
#10 – Alex Corry (6-1, Sr., Guard/Forward)
#12 – Ross Wilson (5-10, Soph., Guard)
#14 – Brandon Knotts (5-10, Jr., Guard)
#15 – Chris Rowland (5-11, Soph., Guard)
#21 – Owen Rice (5-8, Sr., Guard)
#23 – Jason Cavell (5-8, Sr., Guard)
#31 – Rip Engel (5-10, Soph., Guard)
#40 – Ryan Baker (6-1, Jr., Forward)
#50 – Tyler Madison (6-4, Soph., Forward)
Council Rock South
#3 – Zach Fitzgerald (5-10, Sr., Guard)
#4 – Jake Groff (5-8, Soph., Guard)
#5 – Christian Crane (5-10, Jr., Guard)
#10 – Will Faccenda (5-10, Soph., Guard)
#11 – Dan Kockott (6-0, Soph., Guard)
#15 – Tyler Cohen (6-1, Sr., Guard)
#20 – Mike Brightcliffef (6-5, Sr., Forward)
#21 – Tom McGovern (5-7, Soph., Guard)
#22 – Austin Devinney (6-2, Soph., Forward)
#23 – Nick Cocco (6-1, Sr., Guard)
#25 – PJ Gallo (6-4, Sr., Forward)
#30 – Mike Colajezzi (6-1, Fr., Forward)
#31 – Brian Donnelly (6-0, Sr., Guard)
#32 – Tom Townsend (6-1, Soph., Forward)
#45 – Eric Gallo (6-2, Soph., Forward)
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