Nottingham’s Cliff Joseph, the schools all-time leading scorer, looks for room to drive to the basket against Roselle Catholic. Photo by John Blaine.
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Mar. 15: Out of all those 30 wins this year, the Nottingham High boys’ basketball team may have been at its most impressive in its third loss.
The 4th-seeded Northstars’ historic season ended at the RWJ Barnabas Health Center tonight with a 75-62 loss to top-seeded Roselle Catholic in a Tournament of Champions semifinal game.
The Lions (28-3) are ranked No. 1 in the state and considered one of the nation’s top teams. Their star, Naz Reid, is headed for LSU. Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing was in attendance to look at two other RC players.
Over the past two days, everyone with an opinion on this game felt that Nottingham had no chance whatsoever. The Northstars would be lucky to keep it within 30, they said.
Well, they never fell behind by 30. In fact, they never fell behind by 20. Their largest deficit was 18; and on several occasions when they appeared to be getting blown out, they came back.
“We showed the heart of the champions that we are,” coach Chris “The Baron” Raba said. “If anyone didn’t watch our team in Mercer County the past two years, they missed out on special kids playing as a team.”
Indeed they did. Over the past two years the Northstars went 53-9, with two division titles, a Christmas Tournament crown, a Mercer County Tournament championship, a Central Jersey Group III title, a Group III crown and two trips to the sectional finals. The Northstars went 6-1 in MCT games and 10-2 in state tourney games. They are the first CVC team to win 30 games and the first public school CVC team to win a TOC game.
With the experience of Richie Jones, Darell Johnson and Cliff Joseph — who have played over 100 games together on the court — they were clearly not intimidated by Roselle Catholic.
But in the end, RC did to Nottingham, what Nottingham did to so many other teams. The Lions took a big lead, allowed the Northstars to make a run, but responded each time.
Ku’Jane Johnson goes up for two of his 14 points. Photo by John Blaine.
Nottingham (30-3) actually led 8-2 before RC took control with a 19-3 run in the final 3:49 of the first quarter for a 21-10 lead. It was 41-29 at halftime and the Lions appeared to be in a comfortable position. Nottingham, which was making threes and finding the open man like it has done all season, continued to play its game and got within 49-42 with two minutes left in the third quarter.
Roselle Catholic again responded and opened a 60-42 advantage and it certainly looked like the end for Nottingham.
Or did it?
Back came the Stars again, as a lay-up by Ku’Jane Johnson cut the deficit to 69-61 with 3:29 left. The Stars had two golden opportunities to get closer as Roselle Catholic threw the ball away on two straight possessions. But Nottingham missed 3-pointers after each turnover and an RC lay-up made it 71-61 with 2:37 remaining. That started the Lions on a 6-1 spurt to end it.
Darell Johnson ended his spectacular season with 18 points, 8 rebounds and three assists. Ku’Jane Johnson, who turned into Steph Curry in the TOC, had 14 points and 9 rebounds, while Richie Jones scored 13 and Cliff Joseph had 10 points and 4 assists. They were applauded wildly by the strong contingent of Nottingham fans, who showed their appreciation at every turn.
If there are such things as moral victories, this was one as Nottingham kept the outcome in doubt for most of the game.
“If Roselle didn’t know who we were and who Northstars Nation was before the game, they know now,” Raba said.
Some folks were worried an embarrassing loss tonight would take all the luster of a historic season.
Turns out, the effort only added to it.
