Indians scalp Panthers to gain share of SOL
S o me would say he held a ‘hot hand.’ Others would claim he was ‘in the zone.’ Regardless of what catchy sporting phrase you use, Council Rock North’s Chris Rowland certainly had a night to remember last Friday, Jan. 18 at home against William Tennent.
The 6’ 1” shooting guard poured in a game high 19 points, 18 coming from beyond the arc, to lead the Indians to a decisive 7047 win over the Panthers. Chris made his presence felt early in the contest when he nailed two straight treys to send CR out to a quick 6-0 lead.
The jumpstart was just what the Indians needed. “We were just trying to run the offense. That really helped me and got my FRnfiGHnFH JRLnJ. ,W DOsR helped the team because we jumped out to a quick lead. WH JRW PRrH FRnfiGHnW DnG started hitting our shots.”
Chris had certainly settled into a nice groove. “Some nights, I’m on and some nights, I’m off. You just have to keep shooting. The game Friday, I could tell I was on a roll and had a good rhythm.”
The quick long distance bombing proved inspirational as the Indians raced out to a commanding 24-7 OHDG DW WKH HnG RI WKH firsW quarter. North’s game plan was working to perfection.
“We knew they were a tough physical team so we knew we had to be just as physical. We took it to them and were driving the lane hard. That opened up the threes for me, Kyle (McCloskey), Brandon (Knotts), and Rip (Engel).”
The sharpshooting continued as the Indians extended their lead to 43-25 at halftime and 57-29 by the end of the third quarter. All told, the Rock hit 13 threes.
Chris was obviously pleased. “I felt really good after the game. I shot the ball well and was pretty happy with myself. As a team, we were all excited because we broke the school record for threes in a game. We hit 13. We were happy with that and the locker room was really excited.”
As convincing as the win was, Chris and his teammates realize there is always room for improvement. “We’re not at our best yet. We still have areas to improve. We have to keep working. We need to talk more on defense.”
The Indians did not have long to savor their convincing win over Tennent. On Saturday night, they took on Wissahickon in the SOi Challenge tournament. Though playing well, North succumbed 67-64 in overtime.
“It was a tough game. We played hard and they did too. They made some big shots. We can’t be too upset about it.”
Though ending a 10game win streak, the loss did little to dim the Indians’ ultimate goal, to capture another Suburban One ieague (SOi) National Division title. That quest resumes on Tuesday night when they travel to Abington to challenge the Galloping Ghosts. Abington dropped into a tie with CR North when they lost 67-54 CR South.
The Indians will not need any extra psyching to be ready for this showdown. Having lost to Abington earlier in the season, they are ripe for revenge.
“We have to move on
from Saturday’s loss. We will work hard in practice on Monday and coach will give us our game plan. We’ll have to play them tough.”
Chris knows where he wLOO fiW LN wKDWHvHU sFKHPH coach Derek Wright draws up. “I play either guard or forward. Regardless, I stay on the perimeter. I usually shoot threes or drive to the rim. Catch-and-shoot is mainly what I do. When Rip, Kyle, Brandon and Josh drive and my guy collapses on them, it helps me.”
Based on Friday’s performance, Chris has certainly prepped the Rock in their drive to take over sole possHssLRN RI fiUsW SODFH LN WKH National Division.
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