Bishop Rosecrans wins for its ‘Rock’ to remain unbeaten at Lakewood

On Dec 20, 2022

HEBRON — Monday night had far importance for the Bishop Rosecrans boys basketball team than simply winning 44-28 at Lakewood to move to 5-0.

The Bishops were playing to support their coach Todd Rock, who has given so much of his life to Rosecrans basketball. Rock was coaching just hours after laying to rest his mother Barbara Rock, a pillar in the Zanesville community.

“We just came out and played for our coach,” senior Weston Hartman said.

“He does a lot for us,” junior Grady Labishak added.

Barbara Rock, who died last Wednesday, has been celebrated since by those she touched as a longtime Eucharist Minister at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and as the staffing coordinator of nursing services at Good Samaritan Hospital. The Bishops are hoping to provide their legendary coach another memorable season.

Despite foul trouble and Lakewood’s face-guarding defense taking away Hartman in the early going, Rosecrans assisted on its first six baskets and jumped out to a 17-4 lead late in the first quarter. The Bishops maintained that double-digit lead most of the way.

“(Labishak) has been leading our team all year,” Hartman said. “When I am getting face-guarded, he just takes over everything.

Lakewood (1-8) slowed the Rosecrans offense in the second quarter and briefly took momentum into halftime after baskets for juniors Adam Crawford and Luke Pierce in the final minute cut the deficit to 21-12.

The Lancers had opportunities to cut deeper into the lead early in the third quarter, but they could not find the range from the outside. The Lancers made just 1 of their 12 3-point attempts through the first three quarters.

“We have been very competitive in games, and we’ve struggled to make shots consistently. When you have a young team, they are letting their offense affect their mentality on defense,” Lakewood coach Dan Shackleford said. “It’s not because guys aren’t putting time in. We were in today, and they got a ton of shots up. We will continue to just grind it out. We want to win with our defense, but you do have to score to win the game.”

Back-to-back 3s for sophomore James Goggin and junior Brendan Bernath extended the Rosecrans lead to 30-13 midway through the third quarter effectively put it away. Lakewood extended its defense and cut the deficit to 34-20 on a steal and layup for sophomore Troy Martindale, but Labishak went to work, driving and dropping off passes to junior Xander Daniels and sophomore Ben Jackson for layups.

Daniels, who scored the game’s first two baskets in the paint, led seven scoring Bishops with 12 points. Bernath added nine points, Goggins eight and Labishak seven plus six assists.

“Last year, we didn’t have that same support from the bench,” Labishak said. “This year, if one of us is off, people step up.”

Rock added, “They did a nice job on Hartman and didn’t leave him. Grady is much better than what he showed tonight, but he is still a really good point guard. He don’t miss layups like he did tonight, but he did a lot of things.”

Crawford, fresh off a 19-point performance against Newark Catholic two nights earlier, led Lakewood with 10 points. Martindale added a season-best nine, showing good footwork and using his length to score three times in the post, and he also collected three rebounds and two assists.

After a busy first month, Shackleford now will be spending time on the practice floor with his Lancers. Their trip to Morgan on Dec. 29 is their only game during the next two weeks.

“Troy was more active tonight, and that’s encouraging. We will continue over the break to push him,” Shackleford said. “That was Adam also at (NC) the other night. We struggled early, but he got going late. What I am trying to tell our team is you can’t equate playing well based on how many jumpers you make. We need to focus on making winning basketball plays — deflections, charges, communicating.”