Basketball report: Dane Riley stars in Hamilton loss, Stars boys, Spartan girls win

Dane Riley sets up for the free throw against Ewing.  Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores
Jan. 4: Dane Riley is slowly emerging, and that could mean good things for the Hamilton West basketball team.

When Riley is playing well, he makes an impact. That was fairly obvious in the Hornets’ 61-50 loss to Ewing Tuesday night. Forced to leave early in the third quarter with his fourth foul, Riley watched the Blue Devils outscore West 15-5 to take a 20-point lead.

Dane Riley looks for a lane against Ewing High. Photo by Michael A Sabo.

When he returned, the junior forward scored nine fourth-quarter points as Hamilton got the deficit to 11 with over five minutes to go. Ewing held on, but Riley’s presence was felt. He finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

“I kept saying ‘He has four fouls, go right at him to get his fifth to get him out to make it easier for you guys,’” Ewing coach Shelly Dearden said. “But things happen, and I think he was very productive for them.”

It was the second straight strong game for Riley, who had 19 points in a loss to Northern Burlington in the J. Michael Tucker tournament’s consolation game.

“Dane got off to a slow start this season,” coach Jay Malloy said. “He had his best two games tonight and last game. When Dane plays at his potential he can be a huge difference maker on both ends of the court.”

Riley had a tough assignment against the Devils as Jon Azoroh and Lawrence Joseph provide a tough inside presence. Azoroh finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, but Riley had his moments against the Devils’ top scorer. He also felt Azoroh had a few moments as well.

“I played Jon a few times, he’s a good player,” Riley said. “I kind of knew how he was gonna play out there but hey man, it happens sometimes.”

Asked if he felt he was a key to Hamilton winning games this year, Dane said “It’s a team effort. We just go out there and never say die.”

That’s true. For a team that is now 0-6, Hamilton showed a lot of heart. Ewing stormed to a 27-9 lead and appeared ready to make it an early night. But Cosby Paul (15 points) and Riley sparked an 18-2 run as Hamilton got within 29-25.

With a chance to get closer, Riley missed two foul shots – the Hornets missed 9 of 14 on the night – and Ewing closed the half on a 6-0 run. When Dane went out to start the third, Ewing doubled its lead from 10 to 20 by quarter’s end.

“It’s always gonna be frustrating,” Riley said of sitting on the bench. “You just gotta keep your head up, go out there and fight when you go back in.”

He did exactly that, scoring six points in the first three minutes as Hamilton got within 53-42. As it did in the first quarter, Ewing (4-4) responded and held on for the win.

Despite the loss, Riley took pride in the way Hamilton kept battling.

“Last year we had a bad season, but we never put our heads down,” he said. “We continue to go out and fight even if we don’t have any wins. When we get our first win, hopefully that keeps us going. “

For that to happen, Riley must continue to play well inside to complement guards Mark Bethea and Paul.

“Tonight he played well on the wing in our zone, challenging shots while still rebounding well, and offensively he battled underneath and got some big buckets to keep us close,” Malloy said. “He’s been more active and aggressive the last two games and that’s how we need him to play. If he does that, it will help all of our perimeter guys and hopefully lead to some more scoring, as that is where we’re struggling right now.”


Nottingham preps for ND with win over Hopewell

Coming off its first loss of the season and facing another huge challenge on Friday, the Nottingham boys were in a precarious situation to either suffer a letdown, or get caught looking ahead.

The Northstars did neither, rolling to a 69-44 victory over Hopewell Valley as Cliff Joseph scored 19 points. The attack was balanced from that point, as Darell Johnson and Richie Jones had 10 each, Christian Ford added 8, Dan Ekwunife 7 and Edwin Lakie 6.

The Northstars (5-1) were coming off an emotional loss to Bordentown in the finals of the Tucker tournament, and will travel to undefeated Notre Dame (7-0) on Friday.

“They did a nice job of taking care of business,” coach Chris “The Baron” Raba said. “We had a little bit of a slow start tonight (leading 16-13 after one quarter and 32-23 at the half), but they took control in the third quarter and did what they had to do.

“We’ll prepare for Notre Dame and see what we can do. They’re having another good year, and we’re having a pretty nice season ourselves. Hopefully it’s a good game.”


Steinert girls top Trenton behind Mehl, Dorner

Natalie Mehl continued her hot start from behind the arc, hitting six 3-pointers for 20 points as the Steinert girls took a 76-64 win over Trenton. The Spartans led 16-9 after one quarter and increased their lead to 41-25 by halftime to take control. Tatiana Dorner had a strong all-around game with 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals.

Cassidy Wood added 12 points and three rebounds, Madison Balke added 10 points and seven rebounds while Morgan Comfort had four points, three assists and 13 boards. Jayda Bing chipped in with seven points, six boards and three assists.

The 76 points were a season-high for Steinert (3-3), as were the 64 points allowed in a wide open game.

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.