Minus 6-10 Pollock, Cheswick Christian boys basketball starting over

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 23, 2017 | 9:08 PM

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Last season's loss to Portersville Christian in the Southwest Christian Athletic Conference title game marked the end of an era for coach Todd Rosio and his Cheswick Christian Academy Chargers. The loss marked the end of a three-year run when the Chargers and 6-foot-10 Ben Pollock wreaked havoc on opposing teams.

“I don't think we'll have another one like Pollock, maybe ever,” said Rosio who also serves as the school's athletic director. “We were fortunate, in a sense, that we had a really strong and deep team and unfortunate that the guys who played the reserve last year all graduated, too.”

But with every end comes a new beginning, and Rosio isn't holding his breath that another 6-10 center will be walking through the doors of his school looking to fill out an enrollment application anytime soon. It's time to move forward.

“I don't know that (Pollock being gone) really fully set in until school started up,” Rosio said. “We didn't have enough experienced kids back to form a summer league. We did some open gyms and things sooner than we normally do to get things going a little bit.”

The Chargers lost 11 players to graduation or transfers from last year's 14-player roster. That left Rosio with one of his most challenging seasons in his 22 years as coach. To put it into perspective: The Chargers return just eight points out of the 1,569 points that were scored last season.

“When I say we're starting over, we're starting over,” Rosio said. “You have some games where you take some lumps. You try and get better, and you try and play a schedule where they can get better. You kind of go back to basics.”

Knowing his team was going to be young and inexperienced, Rosio avoided scheduling any WPIAL teams like he's done in years past.

“We've scaled back our schedule because we're in definite restarting mode,” Rosio said.

But Rosio said he is a better coach now than before Pollock arrived, and it's time to build a new foundation. He said he scaled back the playbook considerably and is working on basics during the preseason practice.

“We've spent a lot more time dribbling shooting and passing,” Rosio said. “Everything has been tuned into a basketball fundamentals and learning how to compete again. Every drill is competitive. They just need to learn how to compete.”

Senior Will Dryburgh (6-3) will take over at center. Rosio hopes the Dryburgh can get physical in the paint and compete for rebounds. Rosio said he hopes that Dryburgh might have learned a thing or two by watching Pollock.

“It was a big help for him having played against Ben in practice every day, and that can only help him,” Rosio said. “He's not going to face anybody bigger in a game than he was going against in practice everyday.”

Sophomore Andrew Drake will step into the Rosio's spot as a forward/guard. Junior Joesiah Ivanov will fill the shooting-guard role and is considered by Rosio to be one of the best all-around shooters on the team. Rosio likes what he sees in his underclassmen as well. He said he has a large freshman class coming up that is led by guard Kassius Clay.

Senior Jordan Spisak also returns. Having taken a year off to film the team's games, Spisak will be in front of the camera and compete for a starting spot along with freshman Jesse Radvansky. Rosio said he likes Radvansky's hustle and physicality.

“In practice (Radvansky's) is noticeably a physical player who throws his body around and makes his presence known that way,” Rosio said. “I could see him being impactful on our team as a rebounder, but he could easily foul out of the game in five minutes.”

Rosio expects his roster to be anywhere from 10 to 12 players when his Chargers open the regular season with nonconference opponent Plants and Pillars, a homeschool program out of Beaver County.

“It's a new generation,” he said. “We've had other teams where this similar sort of thing has happened to us.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Cheswick Christian