DLN WINTER ALL-AREA: West Chester Rustin’s Barrouk focused on future after tough

The truly special athletes are the ones who can overcome adversity and still leap to the top of their chosen sport.

For the past three seasons, West Chester Rustin shooting guard Griffin Barrouk has been beset by various injuries, which limited his time on the basketball floor in both his sophomore and junior seasons. This year, the year of COVID-19, Barrouk was felled by a dislocated right ankle and broken fibula early in the Golden Knights’ District 1 Class 5A championship battle with Chester, leaving the Golden Knights with only a slim chance of winning without its star on the floor.

But, when Barrouk was on the floor he excelled in every facet of the game. Barrouk averaged 19.5 points per game, with five assists and a little over nine rebounds per contest, as he drove the Golden Knights to the Ches-Mont League’s American Division title and a spot in the District 1 final before going down with the grim injury.

Iht is for these reasons, and many more, that Griffin Barrouk is The Daily Local News 2020-21 All-Area Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

“It was real bad when I went down against Chester,” Barrouk said. “It hurt real bad for the first few days, but then I got the boot on and I was just resting it up. I am really determined to be ready to play next season at Hofstra. I think being injured in the past will make it easier for me to come back from this one.”

Barrouk committed to Division I Hofstra before the 2021 season, and his coach at Rustin, Keith Cochran, said that if anyone can come back from a devastating injury and reach his potential, it is Barrouk.

“He is going to do what it takes to be ready to go,” Cochran said. “He is a tireless worker and was the hardest working guy on the team and that is special when your best player is also your hardest working one. Hofstra is getting a real good one. He is not just a great shooter, he has a real high basketball IQ, he can defend and he can rebound and get other guys on the floor involved. He is a total player and a great teammate. He makes everyone around him better.”

Barrouk was offered by Hofstra last summer and he did not waste anytime accepting the offer. The Rustin star talked about why he decided to go with the first offer he had from a Division I school.

“I really liked Hofstra because they did not view me as just a shooter,” Barrouk said. “They wanted me as a basketball player, not just someone who can shoot the three. I really clicked with the coaching staff and I decided right away that that is where I wanted to play my college ball. I will work really hard to rehab and be ready for nest season.”

Barrouk was the lead man for a Rustin team that finished with an 11-5 record and breezed through the first two District 1 playoff games before he went down in the first quarter against Chester. Barrouk was the man to stop, and area coaches knew the key to limiting the Golden Knights was trying to slow Barrouk down.

“Griffin is a real handful to stop and he is the total package,” said Unionville coach Chris Cowles, before a meeting with the Golden Knights this season. “You have to gameplan for him and he is a very tough matchup because of his size, and he really worked on getting stronger. He is very hard to defend against.”