By Mike Warren
The fresh start of a new year was exactly what the Ewing Blue Devils needed heading into Friday night’s matchup with Notre Dame. Entering with a 3-3 record and coming off of a tough loss to Thrive Charter, Ewing head coach Paul Jones told WBCB pre-game that they had yet to play the true “Ewing brand of basketball”, that was of course until Friday night on their home floor.
Led by the junior backcourt tandem of Kris Thomas and Terrence Traylor, the Blue Devils had four different players score in double-figures enroute to an 80-54 victory over Notre Dame, putting them back above .500 on the year. With Thomas and Traylor combining for a 30-piece, senior big-man Joel Cineus added 16 of his own, with Davion Martin adding another 10 off the bench.
Traylor took home Italian People’s Bakery Player of the Game honors with his 15-point performance and key scoring to extend the lead in the second half. For Thomas, he was lights out from beyond the arc, finishing with three of Ewings eight made threes.
The defensive execution from Ewing was just as impressive as their offense, holding one of the county’s top scorers in Notre Dame’s Will Foley to just two first half points and 13 overall on the night. Foley entered the night averaging just over 20 points per contest, and it was apparent from the jump that Ewing’s gameplan was to make anyone else beat them. Notre Dame’s only lead came on the first made three of the night from senior forward Josh Gatete. Finishing second in scoring for the Irish was reserve guard Wyatt Moore with nine points.
For Notre Dame, they fall to 5-3 on the year and head back across the Delaware River to continue their cross-state schedule against Central Bucks East on Saturday January 4th at noon. Ewing returns to action at Manasquan on Monday the 6th at 6:30.
