By, Drew Peltzman
January 31, 2023
Nottingham (14-6) found themselves in control during their showdown against Hightstown (9-11), and defended homecourt en route to a 65-51 victory.
Senior guard J.P. Dickerson led the way for the Northstars, leading all scorers with 23 points and set the tone defensively with a large handful of steals.
“When we can get up and down the court and turn the other teams over, normally we do pretty well,” Nottingham head coach Chris Raba said.
Raba’s squad had taken over the game on defense through the first half, and outran Hightstown on various transition layups. In the second quarter, Dickerson had a solo-stretch of three steals that led to three fastbreak opportunities in under a minute of game-time.
Junior forward Dom Raymond found his touch early, providing significant offense when Nottingham needed a halfcourt conversion. His physical play netted him 17 points in the victory.
“It started yesterday,” Raymond said postgame. “I locked in and started watching film on Hightstown.”
For Hightstown, this game was just the most recent addition to their current skid, which stands at five losses in a row. Junior guard Yasin Elhossieni led the Rams with a vigilant 21 points.
For Nottingham, the win marks their seventh in nine games, their two most recent losses came to the current top teams in the CVC – Trenton (19-1) and Ewing (17-2).
“I still don’t think we’ve touched our ceiling yet,” Raba said. “There’s still a lot of work, but we are improving everyday. We just want to keep stacking up wins.”