Barrouk drops 30 to lead Rustin past Unionville and into district final vs. Chester

WESTTOWN >> One of the toughest things to do in any sport is beat a good team three times in one season.

Friday night, in the District 1 Class 5A semifinals, West Chester Rustin accomplished the feat as they used a big second half rally to defeat Unionville, 68-56, and advance to next Tuesday’s District 1 Class 5A championship at Chester High School against the vaunted Clippers.

With the score tied, 27-27, at halftime, the fourth-seeded Golden Knights (11-5) outscored the No. 8 Longhorns, 41-29, in the second half behind the superlative play of senior Griffin Barrouk, who led all scorers with 30 points, including going 17 of 20 from the free throw line. Kevin Nowoswiat led the Longhorns with 17 points, including 14 in the first half.

“It was a total team effort tonight, although Griffin was great it took the whole team to win this,” said Rustin assistant coach Tyree Brickus. “We made some adjustments at halftime to contain their shooters and the plan all week was to speed up their shooters and that is what we practiced all week and in the second half the kids executed very well.”

The Golden Knights outscored the Longhorns (6-6), 16-12, in the third quarter, mostly on the strength of Barrouk, who drained two long 3-pointers in the quarter and sophomore Ian Sleschsinger, who had a very big nine points for the Golden Knights. At the end of three quarters, Rustin held a 43-39 lead, but the Longhorns were in the bonus in fouls already and the Golden Knights would march to the line the entire fourth quarters. The Golden Knights went to the charity stripe 36 times on the night, including 20 trips alone for Barrouk, who was penetrating to the basket the entire second half.

“We made some adjustments at halftime offensively, too,” West Chester Rustin coach Keith Cochran said. “We went inside out and our sophomore Ian [Sleschsinger] hit some big shots for us. The, we know Coach [Chris] Cowles likes to run clock so we decided to run some clock of our own. I put the ball in my best player’s hands. And Griffin was up to the challenge and he did a great job for us. He controlled the tempo of the game and he hit his free throws.

Things started out well for the Golden Knights in the fourth quarter. Jacob Barksdale put in a follow to make it a 45-39 lead. Barksdale had a big game down low for the Golden Knights, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. With Unionville missing on its first five shots the fourth, the Golden Knights forged a 49-39 advantage with 6:21 to play in the fourth quarter.

But, the Longhorns were not going to go away easily. Jack Regeyne scored in tight to make it 49-41. But Barrouk barreled to the hole for a basket and the lead was back up to 10 at 51-41.

Jake Kammeier drained a corner 3-pointer to draw Unionville within 55-44, with 2:52 left and the Golden Knights starters missing some key free throws.

“We knew beating them three times was going to be tough,” Barrouk said. “The first game we beat them pretty bad and then the second time it was a close game. They have a tough bunch of seniors and the way we opened up the lead in the second half was running our plays and letting us go to the hoop and getting fouled. We knew once they got behind they had to foul, and we missed some but we did a pretty good overall job at the line.”

Unionville was tough to the end, as the Longhorns drew within eight points at 60-52, after Jack Casten drained a long 3-pointer with 1:28 left in the fourth quarter. But, the Golden Knights went five of six from the foul line in the final 1:28 and it was on to the District 1 5A title game against Chester.

“The second half we got into the bonus early and that really hurt us,” said Unionville coach Chris Cowles. “After that, every little tricky tack foul they went to the line. But we competed very hard and these guys did a great job this season under trying times. We started our season three different times and I am very proud of them.”

WC Rustin 68, Unionville 56

UNIONVILLE (56): Regenye 1 0-0 2, Neylon 5 3-3 16, Carello 1 0-0 2, Kammieier 3 0-0 7, Casten 1 0-0 3, Nowoswiat 7 2-4 17, Lenkatis 3 1-1 9, Tayoun 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-9 56.

WC RUSTIN (68): Barrouk 5 17-20 30, Barksdale 6 3-5 15, Shivers 0 0-0 0, Reinheimer 1 3-6 5, Freney 0 0-0 0, Chobany 0 0-0 0, Sproul 3 1-3 9, Sleschinger 3 1-2 9. Totals 18 23-36 68.

Unionville 17 10 12 17 – 56

WC Rustin 15 12 16 25 – 68

3-point goals: Neylon 3, Kammieier, Casten, Nowostadit, Lenkatis 2, Barrouk 3, Sproul 2, Sleschinger 2.