Council Rock North’s effort the difference against Germantown Academy
FRANCONIA >> Council Rock North boys basketball coach Jesse Krasna had a message for his players Friday night.
Sure the scoreboard read his team was the victor, but Krasna wanted his guys to know they hadn’t won the game during the 32 minutes of play. This was a victory earned over the long months of the offseason, but one Krasna wanted his played to enjoy as well.
A terrific first half on both ends coupled with solid foul shooting in the second half allowed the Indians to fend off a rally-mined Germantown Academy 60-50 in the opening round of Souderton’s Jim Church Classic.
“They really committed themselves in the offseason and that gave them a little bit of an edge,” Krasna said. “Guys worked really hard and dedicated themselves. We told them you weren’t going to win the game tonight, you won it in April, March and May. I think it gave them a level of confidence they relied on.”
GA couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half, with the Patriots watching three 3-point shots and a layup all go halfway down then out of the rim but that didn’t cost them the game. Council Rock North was better on both ends of the floor and it showed in the score.
Neither team could score for nearly four minutes, but GA didn’t get on the board until there was 2:56 left in the first quarter and North led 5-0. Patriots coach Jim Fenerty noted it wasn’t anything fundamental, his team just wasn’t playing as hard as the Indians were.
“I give Council Rock North a lot of credit, they came out and played a lot harder than we did,” Fenerty said. “I think we can not rely on just out-scoring people. It’s a lesson we keep trying to teach out guys and we’ll have to continue to do that.”
Germantown Academy can certainly fill it up most nights, especially with Jordan Longino and Brian Basile pacing the offense. Krasna and Indians knew that, and they also knew it would be a team job to slow down GA’s scorers.
Playing a 2-3 zone, the Indians were really good about closing off the lane and making GA take tough jump shots inside the arc.
“GA has two studs and we knew we’d have our work cut out for us,” Krasna said. “They filled it up a bit in the second half but I thought our guys just executed the game plan. One of the keys for us was defend without fouling and we did that in the first half.”
Jimmy Duffy, one of CRN’s co-captains, hit a turnaround buzzer-beater in the lane to end the first frame and it certainly emboldened the Indians offensively. Leading 13-5 after one, CR North stretched its lead out to 21-7 on an 8-2 run to start the second.
The Indians moved the ball very well with senior co-captain point guard DJ Mischak orchestrating things. After a trey by GA’s Juan Adames cut it to 21-10, CRN scored the next eight and ended the half on a 14-2 run punctuated by a Mischak triple with 0.9 left on the clock.
“I think it was a lack of effort,” Fenerty said. “The effort we put forth on Wednesday against Pennington and even against Cristo Rey last Saturday was not evident tonight. I’m not sure why that it is, but sometimes that’s the hardest part of the game.”
A bucket by Mischak (18 points) put CR North up 41-13, giving the Indians their largest lead at 28 points with 4:16 left in the third quarter.
GA finally woke up over the last two-plus minutes of the third quarter. A putback by Diego Carrasco sparked a 14-0 run by the Patriots that sliced the lead down to 43-30 with 18 seconds left in the frame.
One of the issues with trying to dig out of such a big hole is the other team has plenty of space to keep pushing the lead out. The Indians did just that with their free throw shooting, including two key makes by Hunter Wan that ended GA’s spurt.
“We had multiple guys knock them down, Hunter Wan, DJ Mischak, Andrew Stewart, when those guys got to the line, they capitalized and gave us more breathing room,” Krasna said. “Those were big plays in that third quarter. We didn’t have a field goal in the latter half of that third quarter.”
Longino, GA’s leading scorer, had a frustrating night and posted just nine points while Basile had 10.
GA will play in the tournament consolation game Saturday at 1:30.
“We started 2-0, beat a really good Pennington team and I think we started to think we were back, well, we’re not back, not yet,” Fenerty said. “We’re still relatively young and the hardest part of improvement is between your ears.”
It’s just one game, but Krasna hopes his guys will continue to belive, starting with the tournament final on Saturday at 5.
“The biggest thing, and it’s something the coaches have known all along, you have to believe,” Krasna said. “A win like that, it does make you believe. We’ve believed in our guys ever since we met them so now it’s a matter of them taking that step.”
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 13 22 10 15 – 60
GERMANTOWN ACADEMY 5 7 18 20 – 50
CRN – DJ Mischak 3 9-10 17, Luke Wliet 3 0-0 7, Hunter Wan 3 8-9 15, James Duffy 5 3-4 13, Josh Fisher 2 1-3 6, Andrew Stewart 0 2-2 2. Totals: 16 23-28 60
GA – Juan Adames 2 3-4 8, Zach Anderson 4 1-1 9, Jordan Longino 4 1-1 9, Brian Basile 3 3-5 10, Mike Rowan 1 0-0 2, Tim Dion 3 1-2 8, Diego Carrasco 1 1-3 3, Tom McDonnell 0 1-2 1. Totals: 18 11-18 50
3-pointers: CRN – Mischak 2, Wan, Wliet, Fisher; GA – Adames, Basile, Dion
