By Drew Peltzman
February 20th, 2023
Monday marked the first round of the NJSIAA Group 3 Tournament, seeing 14th seeded Somerville fall to third-seeded Hamilton West in the final seconds of regulation, 46-43.
Hornets captains Mehki Lott and Hass Cannon provided the two largest plays of the game in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. Down by a point, Cannon drives and dishes Lott the ball in the corner, where he drains the go-ahead three in front of the Hamilton West bench. Cannon followed up the assist by blocking a potential game-winning Somerville three point attempt with two seconds remaining. Cannon finished with 15 points.
“It comes from preparation,” Hamilton West head coach Brandon Johnson said. “We practice scenarios like this, and the boys worked hard from the summer through the season. It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to win.”
Somerville kept the scrappy Hornets offense in check throughout the first three frames, primarily by taking care of the ball themselves, and limiting transition opportunities via turnovers. Hamilton West struggled to pierce through their 2-3 zone defense, finding themselves in a seven point hole entering the fourth quarter.
Junior Devyn Wright-Myles imposed his will on the offensive glass, staking claim to double digit putback points. In the fourth, his energy singlehandedly outmatched Somerville’s rebounding corps, leading to much-needed second chance opportunities for Hamilton West – He finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“That’s one of Devyn’s strengths,” Johnson said. “Him rebounding cleaned up a lot of stuff to give us life… Hass when he had to make a few plays, he did. And then Devyn kind of helped close it out on both ends of the floor.”
Somerville captain Gavin Craig put up a valiant effort with 15 points including a flurry from deep. Their season comes to a close at 11-15 in the extremely competitive Skyland Conference.
Hamilton West advances to the second round of the NJSIAA tournament to see a familiar foe. Sixth-seeded Robbinsville will visit Hamilton West in a rematch of their last meeting ten days ago. The Hornets narrowly escaped the Ravens 49-48 in the first round of the Mercer County Tournament. You can see that recap here.
“We know each other pretty well, everytime we match-up it’s a great battle,” Johnson said. “I’m gonna tell them to enjoy this for another hour or two, and then we focus on Robbinsville tomorrow once we get to practice.”
