Highlands boys reaching new ‘heights’ with tall, athletic post players

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 | 12:27 AM

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Johnny Crise is getting accustomed to the bumps and bruises associated with being a basketball bruiser.

The Highlands sophomore recently suffered a broken nose after taking an elbow to the face during a game against Knoch in late December. Less than a week later, the back of his head started bleeding after he took a charge against Southmoreland.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to grit it out,” Crise said. “It’s just part of the game. You have to play with it.”

Crise can take the occasional body blows because usually he and his teammates deliver them. Alongside seniors Shawn Erceg and Romello Freeman, Crise forms one of the biggest and most productive front lines in the WPIAL.

The still-growing Crise stands between 6-foot-6 and 6-7, a fraction of an inch taller than the 6-6 Erceg. And while the 6-1 Freeman lacks in his teammates’ height, he more than makes up for it in scrappiness and leaping ability: All three players dunk, rebound and block shots with regularity for Highlands (6-3, 0-1 Section 3-5A).

“Not too many teams are as big as us, so basically we’re just going to go up and get it,” Freeman said. “It’s that simple. There might just be a couple teams that average our height, but I just think with our athleticism and the way we jump and get up, I think we’ve got it.”

The current Golden Rams roster contrasts with the 2016-17 version, which started senior guards Ryan Boda, Mitch DeZort and R.J. Rieger with Brayden Thimons the main force in the middle. Although Crise, Erceg and Freeman played, they had more of a complementary role.

This season, Highlands is using its size to its advantage. Crise (11.1 points, 10 rebounds per game) and Erceg (12.7 ppg, 11 rpg) both are averaging double-doubles, while Freeman is averaging 8.3 points and has a 20-point, eight-rebound performance on his resume.

“It’s one of those things where in high school basketball you’re not going out and recruiting players, so you’ve got to constantly be adapting to the players you have,” Highlands coach Tyler Stoczynski said. “We’re fortunate to have some guys with some height and some athletic ability, and we’re just trying to use that to our advantage all the time.”

The 6-foot-7 Stoczynski, a McDowell graduate who played at Gannon, is familiar himself with the benefits of being big. And he’s trying to teach the values of positionless basketball, so even “big guys” like Crise can take their turns on the perimeter. Freeman, too, is effective as a wing player.

Still, Highlands uses its physical edge most effectively on the offensive boards, creating second-chance opportunities by the bunches.

“You don’t (have) to rely on one guy — there’s multiple guys that can get a rebound,” Erceg said. “It’s a big part of our game. Mostly every team we play is undersized, so we can just pound them on the glass, and we get extra points off that.”

The extra size can be an intimidation factor, too, said Crise, though he decided not to add to that by wearing a mask after his recent broken nose because it affected his shooting ability.

“I think (opponents are) pretty much scared of us, kind of,” Crise said. “They look at us, and they get in the post and look for another pass out, like, ‘I don’t want the ball.’ ”

Freeman said a certain healthy competitiveness exists between Highlands’ post players. All of them want to grab rebounds, block shots and get dunks. As for who’s the best at each, their opinions vary.

The Golden Rams are hoping their size can lead to big things in the postseason. Although they lack the experience of last season, when they had four senior starters, they enter Tuesday’s section game at Greensburg Salem on a four-game winning streak.

“We play together,” Freeman said. “We want it. We couldn’t wait ’till it was our year so we could just do our own thing, come together, play together. That’s what we wanted since I came here, since I was a sophomore. That’s all we wanted, was to be able to care for each other and help each other on the court. That’s what we’re about.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Highlands