Hun’s Cambridge turns post-grad season into Player of Year
Less than a year ago, Desmond Cambridge made a bold move to enroll at The Hun School as a post-graduate student after finishing at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Following the conclusion of this winter, it is safe to say the transition paid dividends for Cambridge.
The 6-foot-5 swingman, who will play at Brown University next season, is The Trentonian’s Prep Player of the Year. Cambridge averaged a team-high 16.8 points per game and was a constant playmaker for Hun (11-15), which navigated a difficult schedule littered with close losses to advance to the semifinals in both the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Tournament and the NJISAA Prep A Tournament.
Led by senior guard Tyler Jones (17 ppg, 58 3-pointers) and post-graduate forward Bruce Edwards (12.5 ppg, 5 rpg), Peddie (19-7) captured the school’s first MAPL title when it knocked off Blair on Feb. 12.
Over at Princeton Day School, Prep Coach of the Year Tim Williams directed the Panthers (18-7) to the second-most wins in the area despite rampant injuries. Six-foot-6 forward John McArthur and 5-foot10 guard Chase Lewis both cracked the 1,000-point plateau for their careers this year, while 5-foot-10 guard David Coit took a big step forward as a sophomore by averaging 20.8 points and 2.1 3-pointers.
Lawrenceville (13-11) had more modest team results than in 2015-16, although the Big Red groomed a building block for the future in Pennington transfer Jalen Gaffney.
The 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, who has begun receiving Division I scholarship offers, averaged 14.6 points and, as head coach Ron Kane attests, makes his teammates better. Meanwhile, 6-foot-3 swingman Ezra Swell graduates from the program after knocking down an area-best 59 3-pointers among Prep schools.
Pennington (10-13) limped through its second straight sub-.500 season, but that did not detract from a stellar campaign by Mitch Phillips. The 6-foot-7 junior forward stuffed the stat sheet nightly with averages of 19.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.0 blocks and 0.9 steals as a workhorse for the Red Raiders.
Phillips capped his quietly dominant season by going off for 38 points and 11 rebounds in an overtime loss to Lawrence High in the Mercer County Tournament. Forward John McArthur PDS PG Forward Mitch Phillips Pennington Jr. Forward Bruce Edwards Peddie PG G/F Desmond Cambridge Hun PG Guard Tyler Jones Peddie Sr. Guard David Coit PDS So. Guard Jalen Gaffney Lville So. Forward Steve Torre Peddie Forward Edwin Ebube Lville Guard Ezra Swell Lville Guard Terrell Prince Peddie Guard Max Gussen Hun Guard Austin Hutcherson Hun Guard Chase Lewis PDS PG Sr. Sr. Jr. Jr. Sr. Jr. Tyler Washington (Hun); Robinson Normil (Lawrenceville); Chauncey Sterling, Patrick Higgins (Pennington); Jack Weber (Peddie); Jaylin Champion (Princeton Day School).