Hawks claw iions, Cougars to take tipoff tourney
Opening week basketball tournaments always prove exciting. Hopes are high as youthful teams start to blend untested talent with veteran savvy. Coaches also begin seeing just what team chemistry their new-look squads possess.
Council Rock South used their own Rabberman Tournament to give warning to the Suburban One League (SOLF National Division they are ready to play. The Golden Hawks won both of their opening games, downing New Hope-Solebury 3936 on Friday and then taking George School 51-35 in Saturday’s championship tilt.
Going into the opener, South remained an unknown quantity around the league. With only three starters returning from last year and only one who started every game, the Hawks certainly qualified as an untested team.
Starting point guard Will Faccenda summed up the situation, saying, “We’re a young team trying to figure out our place. We think we can compete in the league this year. We’re stronger than in the past. Our goal is to make the playoffs. We want to shock the league because we’re usually a team that has been down.”
The Rabberman Tournament provided the Hawks with a chance to offer an initial jolt. They took full advantage. Recognizing his team’s lack of height, coach gohn Easterly stressed a more sped-up attack. The formula was simple, play aggressive defense and run the court on offense.
As point guard, Will relished the coach’s scheme. “We try to play a quick, up-tempo game because we seem to be faster than most teams. We need to get the ball out and run to be successful. We play the same on defense. We try to get up in the other team’s face and force as many turnovers as possible.”
The up-beat style continues in half-court sets. “We like to run our motion offense with screens and a lot of perimeter stuff to create for each other. We like to penetrate and get to the lane. When teams collapse we’ll kick the ball back out.”
The strategy worked well against the Lions. The Hawks hustled out to an early lead and then held off a determined New Hope team in the last quarter. fn Will’s appraisal, “Our defense was key to this game. We played great in the first half and the fourth quarter. The third quarter got away from us. When it was 34-34, our coach said to be patient and get our best shots and not rush anything.”
Against George School, the South faced a different challenge. “They were a lot bigger than us. We felt that if we could out rebound them and run and beat them down the court we could win. That’s what we did.”
The Hawks took a 16-10 lead into halftime and then extended it with a 22-point fourth quarter effort to ice the 51-35 win. Even more important than the championship victory, however, was the emergence of a second scorer, a shooter who could take the pressure off of the proven vet, Chris Crane.
Going into the season, Will realized the need for others to help Crane when other teams tried to shut him down. “We’re trying to figure out who our second guy is after Crane. f’m hoping to step in there. Hopefully we can all pitch in.”
Will certainly showed he is a worthy candidate as he poured in a game-high 20 points. fn addition to hitting two treys, the 5’ 10” guard penetrated the lane for
several quick scores. Tom Townsend also chipped in nine points for CR South.
The total performance definitely served as a confidence booster for the young squad. “It was awesome. We’re the first team from South to win the tournament. We still need to run our half-court offense more smoothly and to really step up for the league but this was an exciting start. We started feeling comfortable with each other. We started to mesh together.”
The chemistry-building will only continue as the Hawks enter what could be a most exciting season in SOL play.