Hartnett leads offense for the Profs

A leader is someone who the rest of the team looks up to. He could be someone who leads a team vocally or  a player who rallies the troops during a time out. He could yell, shout or motivate with a pregame speech.

He could also hustle, play hard and leave everything he has on the floor. On the Rowan basketball team, Tyson Hartnett is that player.

“He’s definitely [a leader],” said senior forward and captain Derek Piccini. “He’s very tough to defend, so when you are defending him, he’s making you better as a defensive player. As a role model, he’s one of the best.”

Transferring from Maine University before his junior season last year, Hartnett embraced his role as the key player of this team from the very begining. Leading by example is his strength and he shows that by being selfless and a team player.

“The season so far has been good to me because I increased my averages,” Hartnett said. “Everybody on the team is playing together well and we’re all getting together well. I can’t recall any big performances I had, but I’m glad everyone is playing well and we’re winning games.”

Hartnett is the team’s leader in scoring and rebounds, averaging 14.9 points and 6.6 boards per game. That’s the kind of production head coach Joe Cassidy wants from his senior forward.

“He’s a very, very skilled offensive player,” Cassidy said. “He can shoot, he can pass, and he’s been tremendous from the foul line the past couple of games. He’s strong, he sees the floor. He has a lot of positive attributes on the offensive end.”

Those positive attributes shone over the past few weeks and have put Rowan (13-5, 4-3) where they are now. He scored 13 points in Rowan’s 95-87 overtime loss to Ramapo on Jan. 13. He then helped lead the team to a 79-70 win over Montclair State on Jan. 16 with 16 points and seven rebounds. Then, in a non-conference game versus Penn State Abington on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he scored 11 points in their easy 87-54 victory.

Rowan needed him to step up the most in their huge game versus rival Richard Stockton (14-5, 4-3) who beat Rowan twice last season.

“This game is important because it affects our record in the south division,” Hartnett said. “If we come out top in the south division, we get a bye [in the playoffs].”

In Rowan’s conference battle with Stockton last Wednesday, Hartnett’s 12 points and sophomore Steven Secula’s 22 points and nine rebounds weren’t enough for Rowan, as they lost 85-72.

“[What went wrong was] the effort on defense,” said Secula. “None of us wanted to play defense; we all wanted to score.

“From here on out every conference game is a must win. If we want to go to the tournament, we have to win all of our conference games, especially our home games. We keep losing at home.”

Rowan followed up the loss to Stockton with a win at New Jersey City, 62-55. Freshman guard Kendall White led the scoring with 16 points.

Making the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament and NCAA tournament is not out of the question for Rowan.

“I’ll definitely be surprised if we don’t make the playoffs this year,” Hartnett said. “We have a good team and good players and we have chemistry, so we should definitely make the playoffs and go far as long as we keep playing together.”