By Daniel McDevitt
As night fell Trenton Central (4-15) took the court to prepare for this “David vs Goliath” type of matchup against Nottingham High School (14-5).
Both teams kicked off this bout tightly contested as we didn’t see the first strike in the score column until Nottingham’s Jordan Raba was able to put up a layup and draw a foul off of the play, turning three points to kick off the game and spark the crowd. Sloppy and mistake-ridden basketball ensued throughout the first quarter which resulted in Nottingham High scoring five points from fouls. Trenton Central saw a strong presence in the time of possession but wasn’t able to capitalize on it due to the amount of turnovers. In the fading seconds of the first quarter, Nottingham tried to end it with a final notch in the score column guided by the shot of Jordan Roba that wasn’t able to amount to anything. As the buzzer sounded we put the first quarter into the book with Nottingham leading nine to seven.
Nottingham was able to shift it into high gear and get the crowd roaring early as an action-packed Nottingham offense led them to an eight-point lead out of the gate only allowing two points to Trenton Central in return. Following the momentum of Nottingham’s quick offense, Trenton Central bent but didn’t break as they were able to propel themselves to a seventeen to fourteen ball game. Nottingham though continued their unrelenting strategy and were able to tear apart the Trenton Central defense and increase their lead to twenty-three to fourteen. Nearing the end of the half Coach Young pulled most of the starting five for Trenton Central which would decrease the Nottingham lead by one but wouldn’t change much as we entered the half twenty-eight to twenty-two.
Nottingham entered the half ready to play as they were able to dish two points from behind the arc and lay one up leading to a thirty-six to twenty-two lead. Both teams’ offense clicked at this point in the game and it became a fast-paced shootout. Turnovers and fouls were a sight to be seen as most big plays by a team were followed by a badly read pass. The third quarter came to a quick end with Nottingham stretching their lead to sixteen as the score reached fifty-one to thirty-five.
Defense prevailed early in the fourth quarter unlike the last quarter both teams were held to only four points in just two minutes of play. Nottingham though found their opportunity in breakaways turning five points off of breakaways with one of which even ending in a foul for three. As predicted by most, Nottingham began running away with the game, and with four minutes to go, they had a twenty-point lead with the score resting at sixty-four to forty-four. Time faded quickly in this matchup and Nottingham High School ended up leaving this one victorious against Trenton Central with the final score of 75-51
