The Golden Hawks made history, earning their first home playoff win ever, and they did it in style.

#16 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 62, #17 ABINGTON 41

The Golden Hawks made history, earning their first home playoff win ever, and they did it in style. The Hawks scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to blow open a close game and put an exclamation point on a win that sent the three-time defending district champions home for the season.

“We thought we certainly had a chance to win, but we had to do certain things,” Rock South coach Chris Clark said. “We did all those things very well, and things worked out better than I expected.

“I told them – I thought we deserved to be home and now we had to go prove it, and we did that. It’s all about working hard, trying to be tough and trying to stay together. It’s always next play, and being tough at both ends of the court mentally and physically is really important to us.”

The Golden Hawks took a 37-31 lead into the final quarter, and the Ghosts trimmed that lead to four with an early basket. The Hawks closed out the game with a 25-8 tear that included nine points – including a three and a 2-for-2 effort at the foul line – from Jack Rebholz. Kevin McNamee added seven, and Michael Stewart connected on 5-of-7 at the charity stripe.

“It was really nice because in the third quarter they had taken the lead, and we took the lead back again and showed a lot of resiliency,” Clark said. “It just carried into the fourth quarter. We just believed that the fourth quarter was going to be our quarter.”

Rebholz led the Golden Hawks with a glittering 24-point effort that included four 3s. He scored 14 of those points in the second half. Stewart added 17, which included a pair of 3s. The duo jump started the Golden Hawks in the first quarter with Stewart contributing nine points and Rebholz burying a pair of 3s.

“Jack and Michael were unbelievable,” Clark said. “You’d be hard pressed to find two better guards on the same team than those two. They were just outstanding.

“We talked about trying to push the ball to score easy but, if not, run something, have good patience, have a good pace to the game, and we were able to do that. We pushed the ball when we had it and held it when we didn’t and played defense. Both of them really did a good job.”

Luca Baratta also finished in double figures with 11 points, seven in the third quarter. McNamee finished with seven.

“Luca Baratta made some big shots – he made a big three when we were losing as well as some foul shots,” Clark said. “Luke Meakim made a three when it was still close.

“Kevin McNamee’s presence inside – he finished inside and made some foul shots late. Joe Purcell was really good in the back of our zone, making sure that their number 12 (Joey Brusha) did not get a clear look. It was just everybody.”

The Golden Hawks led 17-9 after one quarter but scored just five points in the second quarter. The Ghosts trailed by just two at the intermission, 22-20. The Hawks outscored their visitors 40-21 in the second half to earn the historic win.

For the Ghosts, Oreck Frazier’s 13 points – 11 in the third quarter – led the way. Manir Waller added 11 – eight in the fourth quarter. Caleb Baker contributed eight points for the Ghosts, who never scored more than 11 points in any of the four quarters.

“I thought playing zone was important, no live ball turnovers was very important to us, making sure that they played in the half court and when we did miss a shot that we built a wall in transition to make sure they could not get easy baskets and make them shoot over us as much as possible,” Clark said. “All of our hard work is paying off and we’re playing together, we’re playing well. Now we just have to find a way to get better by Tuesday.”

Council Rock South (16-7, 8-4 SOL) will travel to top-seeded Methacton for a second round game Tuesday. Abington (10-4 SOL) closed out its season with a 12-11 record.

Game Summary brought to you by

Abington                    9-11-11-10   41

Council Rock South     17-5-15-25   62

Abington (41) – Manir Waller 4 2-7 11; Antoine Ellis 1 0-0 2; Oreck Frazier 6 1-1 13; Robert Bell 1 2-2 4; Joey Brusha 1 0-0 3; Caleb Baker 4 0-0 8; Totals 17 5-10 41.

Council Rock South (62) – Jack Rebholz 9 2-3 24; Luca Baratta 3 4-5 11; Luke Meakim 1 0-0 3; Michael Stewart 5 5-7 17; Kevin McNamee 2 3-7 7; Totals 20 14-22 62.

3-point goals: Abington – Manir Waller, Joey Brusha, CRS – Jack Rebholz 4, Michael Stewart 2, Luca Baratta, Luke Meakim.