Hightstown beats Trenton with complete performance

TRENTON >> If Hightstown High’s boys’ basketball team can bottle its final regular-season performance and use it as needed during the Mercer County Tournament, consider the Rams a legitimate MCT darkhorse.

“We played great tonight,” coach Matt Durstewitz said after Hightstown’s 76-62 win over Trenton at Rivera Middle School Wednesday night. “This was probably our best game all year. We’re playing to our potential, hopefully at the right time.”

It’s every coach’s goal to be peaking when tournament season comes around and Trenton (12-10) appeared to be just such a team as it entered the game having won seven of nine. But Hightstown’s defense forced 24 turnovers to offset Trenton’s 40-33 rebounding advantage – which was not as big as when the Tornadoes defeated the Rams by 14 a week ago.

“We gave up 21 offensive rebounds the first time we played them,” Durstewitz said. “We gave up a lot tonight, but we were able to execute at the other end and that kind of kept us out of too much trouble.”

After being out-rebounded 24-18 in the first half, the Rams held their own on the boards after the break.

“They had twenty-something rebounds on us in the first half,” said Jaquan Owens, who had a game-high 28 points. “We had to clean up the boards. I think we kept that under control most of the second half, and we also had to come out and play defense.”

The result was a pivotal third quarter in which Hightstown took control. The game was tied 19-19 after one quarter and the Rams held a 38-36 halftime lead as neither team could gain separation.

That changed when Hightstown opened the third quarter with an 18-4 run to open the game’s largest lead at 56-40. Owens had nine points in the quarter while Jamal Anderson scored six of his 22 during that time.

“Our coach talked about defense at halftime,” Owens said. “We had to come out and play defense and also rebound.”

Trenton managed to hover within striking distance when Jahid Whitmore hit two straight 3-pointers to cut it to 56-46 and slow the Rams momentum slightly. But a key moment came midway through the fourth quarter. Trailing 63-55, Trenton had six shots in one sequence and could not convert. Hightstown responded with a 6-0 spurt to take a firm grip on the game.

Rivera finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for Trenton, which was playing without one of its top scorers in Ji’Ayir Brown. Ja’Qae Alfred added 14 points while Kenny Jackson had seven points and nine rebounds. Freshman point guard Ben Simon, inserted in the starting lineup four games ago, had nine points for Hightstown and did some nice things.

“Jamal and Jaquan came to play tonight and defensively everyone was playing,” said Durstewitz. “Marquis (Flegler) is not that big and he was up against (Kenny) Jackson all night, and (Sergei) Felizor also did a great job against Jackson. He had 20 points against us the first time. And we made our lay-ups tonight. That’s something we’ve really been struggling with this year, it’s probably cost us four or five games.”

A new season starts Friday when 8th-seeded Hightstown hosts Robbinsville in the MCT.

“I think we can definitely make some noise,” Owens said. “We just have to do what we did tonight, but be even better. I definitely think we have the talent.”

Anderson 7-5-22, Flegler 0-0-0, Owens 11-6-28, DeRose 1-0-3, Felizor 3-1-7, Sands 2-1-5, Simon 4-0-9, Cukkemane 1-0-2.

29-13-76.

Alfred 7-0-14, Pearson 1-0-2, Jackson 3-17, Whitmore 3-0-8, Ford 3-1-7, McMillian 2-0-4, Rivera 7-3-19, Williams 0-1-1.

26-6-62. Anderson 3, Simon, DeRose (H). Whitmore 2, Rivera 2 (T).