Ford’s 3-pointer gives Nottingham boys hoops thrilling OT win over Ewing

Fish 4 Scores Sports
Nottingham Basketball Celebrates it’s first win in 5 years over Ewing.  Photo by Wes “The Media Mogul” Kirkpatrick.

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Dec. 17: The Nottingham High boys’ basketball team wasted little time making a statement.

Opening against perennial power Ewing High School on Friday, Dec. 16, the Northstars showed a mental toughness to go along with their talent in taking a pulsating, 60-57 overtime victory over the visiting Blue Devils.

“It’s a great way to start,” said coach Chris “The Baron” Raba, who defeated Ewing for the first time since becoming Nottingham’s coach five years ago. “We obviously didn’t want to have another December like we had last year, so to grind it out like we did tonight, I was proud of the guys.”

Nottingham was looking to avoid its 2015-16 scenario, in which it lost its first six games en route to an 11-14 season. The mission looked tough as Ewing is once again expected to be one of Central Jersey’s top teams.

Edwin Lakie dribbles down court against Ewing.Photo by Wes”The Media Mogul” Kirkpatrick.

It looked even tougher when the Northstars trailed 57-55 and Ewing had possession with 1 minute left in overtime. Nottingham got a stop and took possession with 26.2 seconds to play, and got what proved to be the game-winning shot when Christian Ford drained a 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds left.

As Ewing tried to inbound, Nottingham stole the pass, resulting in a game-sealing lay-up by Edwin Lakie.

“Christian made a clutch shot, and then even more important we came up with a big defensive play after that,” Raba said.

Lakie led Nottingham with 16 points, while Darrell Johnson had 14, Ford added 11 and Cliff Joseph 10.

What made the win most impressive is that Nottingham could have easily folded. The Northstars used a 19-5 second-quarter explosion to open a 32-19 halftime lead, and still maintained a 45-34 advantage after three quarters.

But the Blue Devils weren’t about to go down easily, and completed a comeback by tying it at 46-46. Nottingham then stiffened. The game was then tied at 48-48 and 50-50 before reaching

Darry Felix drives against Ewing.  Photo by Wes”The Media Mogul” Kirkpatrick.

overtime.

“You kind of knew Ewing was capable of making a run,” Raba said. “But I can’t say enough about how my guys answered it. They figured out how to win this game, which is important.”

Rick “The Voice” Taylor contributed to this story.

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.