Junior forward Rob McGowan has a sense of the Washington Township boys basketball team’s history.
The 6-foot-3 McGowan knows it was a big deal when the Senators clinched the Porter County Conference round-robin title on Feb. 14.
“It’s great for us to put a number up on the wall,” he said. “None of us have ever been there. Probably none of us have ever even seen it. The last time they won, I was in sixth grade. So that’s great for us, just getting back to winning more for the program. That’s a first step to doing other stuff.”
Indeed, the PCC championship is the first for Washington Township (17-3, 7-0) since the team shared the title with Kouts in 2020. The Senators last won the title outright in 2019, their second straight solo, and their only other title came in 2016, when they shared it with Boone Grove.
Scott Bowersock, who is in his 15th season as Washington Township’s coach, knows the history too.
“I say this in a very non-arrogant way: Before I got here, we only had 11 or 12 winning seasons in 80-something years,” he said. “There was no PCC round-robin championships. The highest win total before I got here was 14. It wasn’t traditionally rich.”
Bowersock’s 2019-20 group — “the best team I ever had,” he said — set the program record for victories by going 19-6. Before playing River Forest on Saturday, the Senators had three games left in the regular season and were targeting 20 wins.
“These guys want that,” Bowersock said. “They’re hungry to be that team. Coming into the season, we were above .500 last season (11-10), and we wanted to build upon that. We talked about, ‘What kind of legacy do you want?’ This junior class especially wants to leave an everlasting legacy.”
Winning the PCC Tournament title for the first time eluded the Senators, who lost to Kouts in the championship game on Jan. 25. But a more substantial prize — the first sectional title in program history — remains possible, with teams such as Kouts, Marquette and Bowman also in the field.
“We definitely have goals,” McGowan said. “We’re dialing in for sectionals.”
McGowan has been doing his part on a balanced and multipronged team that has four players averaging at least 11.1 points. He’s averaging 11.2 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds.
McGowan is a tri-captain along with junior guard Kyle Banker and junior guard Aiden Armstrong.
“He’s a great guy, great teammate,” Banker said of McGowan. “He’s always uplifting. I don’t know if I’ve ever had to really get his head in the game. We’ve had to do that for a lot of the guys, get them focused up. But Rob’s always locked in, always ready to go, always ready to play.”
Armstrong expressed similar sentiments.
“He’s a great teammate,” Armstrong said of McGowan. “He does all the dirty work, gets all the rebounds, putbacks. He’s always working hard.”
McGowan paced the Senators with 11.6 points and 7.6 rebounds last season.
“My rebounding has improved,” he said. “Statistically, maybe not, but I’ve been way more consistent this year. … Everyone on our team can score. That definitely helps. I’ve tried to become a little more dynamic. Our new style — push the ball in transition, fast pace — I try to be more of a ballhandler.”
McGowan also tries to lead his teammates.
“I just try to set an example,” he said. “I don’t necessarily tell people what to do because everyone has their own ways. They do different things. But what I try to do is helpfully critique and lift people up.”
In December, McGowan was named one of the Rising Stars of Indiana. The Indiana Association of School Principals program is designed to recognize juniors for academic achievement.
Bowersock lavished praise on McGowan.
“He’s the epitome of what this culture is about within our program,” Bowersock said. “He gets it done on the court, and more importantly, he gets it done off the court. He’s No. 1 in his class. He’s very, very, very, very smart.
“You couldn’t ask for a better leader. He’s one of the few players I’ve had in 15 years where the last half of the season, he essentially was a sophomore captain. That doesn’t happen very often, when a sophomore is the vocal leader of a program. But that’s just the kind of respect he’s earned. He’s a kid who’s just going to outwork you. You put that talent together with hard work, it makes for a pretty special player.”
The Senators hope this season proves to be special, but they could have other opportunities. The only senior on the roster is forward Jackson Smith, four of their top five scorers are juniors, and their leading scorer is freshman guard Brogan Banker, Kyle Banker’s younger brother.
But they believe their time is now.
“Our camaraderie and chemistry is the biggest thing,” McGowan said. “Everybody gets along really well. We do a good job of not letting outside distractions get in, not letting other opinions get in. Everyone likes each other. That’s important.
“It’s just a different feeling. We have fun. Our practices are serious, but we have fun. That’s important too. At the end of the day, it’s a game. We’re doing it for fun. But we’re also doing it to win.”
