Nottingham’s Deonte West hits the jumper on a rebound against Jackson Liberty in the CJIII State Tournament opening round. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Feb. 26: Teams can never have enough defenders when state tournament basketball starts, and the Nottingham boys were fortunate to add one at the most important time of the year.
After dealing with some classroom issues in January, senior Deonte West returned to the Northstars Feb. 2 and is making his presence felt in a big way.
“It feels great to be back to help the team,” West said tonight, after scoring six points in 2nd-seeded Nottingham’s 77-44 victory over 15th-seeded Jackson Liberty. “It takes a lot of pressure off the guys. I’m guarding the best player on every team. I’m glad I’m here to help the team out.”
So is head coach Chris “The Baron” Raba.
Javon Jenkins is fouled as he goes up fo r the basket. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
“It’s great having him, he’s made a tremendous difference with us,” said Raba, whose team plays 7th-seeded Ocean Township, an overtime winner over Lakewood, on Wednesday. “His defense alone makes him valuable. He’s a role player, he understands his role. That’s what we need, defenders.
“He fits in great. He played with us all summer, and he got into some things school-wise, but now he’s doing great for us. We need him. As a junior he was the starting quarterback for the football team, so he’s an athletic kid. He wants to defend, that’s his mentality.”
It’s only fitting then, that he came up with what may be considered the biggest steal in program history last Thursday night. With Trenton Catholic frantically trying to get the ball downcourt for a clean look in the Mercer County Tournament final, West made a leaping grab to seal the Northstars first MCT title.
“That felt great,” West said. “I was thinking after it was thrown ‘If this goes over my head, I don’t know what I would do.”
As it was, he joined the rest of his teammates in a wild celebration. Understandably, a hangover from that game was apparent tonight, as the Northstars scored just 10 points en route to a 10-4 lead after one quarter. The Stars got it together in the second half and had a 31-10 advantage at halftime, then did what they had to do to win.
Nottingham’s Eli Willie takes flight in the CJIII State Tournament opening game in against Jackson Liberty. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
“Survive, move on,” Raba said. “We didn’t play well, we played sloppy, but we did enough just to move on. They had that big game the other night, it’s not easy to come right back from that. They did what they had to do to take control, and that was enough.”
Asked if it was a bit tough to get up, especially against a team that is 8-19, West said, “Yeah it was. We just gotta get back in the groove, get back to practice, work on things for the next game. Tonight we did what we had to do to get the job done.”
Richie Jones led the Northstars with 22 points, while Darell Johnson had 17 and Cliff Joseph 19. The victory allowed Nottingham (24-2) to break the school record for victories for the second straight year.
“That’s a great legacy for these guys to leave behind,” said Raba, who got his 250th career win in the MCT final. “A team will set a record like that and it will stand for a while. These guys set it one year, then come back and break it again the next. That’s just a tribute to how good these guys have been.”
Hamilton loses heart-breaker at Ewing, Steinert ousted by Moorestown
It was there for the taking.
After losing so many tough state games at Ewing this decade, Hamilton West had its chance tonight but missed free throws proved to be its downfall.
Trailing 44-43 with under a minute remaining, the Hornets missed the front end of a one-and-one. Hamilton immediately fouled and Ewing made one of two for a two-point lead. With 7 seconds left, the Hornets misfired on a 3-pointer and there was a foul on the rebound.
Hamilton made just one of two from the line, meaning it had to foul to get the ball back. Kameron Clark made one free throw with 3 seconds left and the Hornets’ desperation heave went wide.
Dane “Sponge Bob” Riley finished with 14 points, Javon Porter had 10 and Chris Charles scored 9 as Hamilton finishes its season 11-13.
Steinert had its campaign come to an end with an 87-58 loss at top-seeded Moorestown.
Other than the Spartans and Hornets, it was a successful night for the Colonial Valley Conference as West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Hopewell Valley also moved on.
None of the four remaining CVC teams will play each other in the second round, meaning it could be an All-CVC semifinal. Or, a no-CVC semifinal. Most likely, it will be somewhere in between.
