Nottingham’s Triple-Js race past Allentown
HAMILTON » Jones, Joseph, Johnson. If one J doesn’t get you, another one will.
Or, in the case of opening night, they all will.
It was a torrid trio in Friday’s season opener, powering the Nottingham High boys basketball team to a 97-45 victory.
“When we’re all on,” Richie Jones said, “there’s not much teams can do.”
They wasted little time proving that. Jones finished with 33 points, Cliff Joseph had 23 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Darell Johnson had 23 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots; and almost single-handedly broke the game open in the first half.
“That’s Lethal Weapon Three,” said coach Chris Raba, showing his Mel Gibson expertise. “I will go to war with those three guys. They are all three and four-year starters.”
It was an impressive performance from a threesome that helped Nottingham to a school record in victories and a sectional final appearance last season.
“I was real excited to play this game,” Johnson said. “After what happened last season, we took a tough loss (in the title game). This season we’re putting it all on the line.”
Johnson put it all on the line when he had what some players would consider a career game in just the first 16 minutes.
The Redbirds, trying to rebound from a down season, hung tough in the first quarter and led 12-11 with a minute remaining as R.J. Weise had five of his 13 points during that time. But the first of nine 3-pointers by Jones put Nottingham up 14-12 and ignited a 37-4 run that extended into the start of the third quarter.
Allentown came out pushing the ball but then got into a halfcourt offense. At that point, the Northstars defense went to work and tried to force the issue.
“They were trying to slow it down so we had to speed them up,” Johnson said. “Our coach told us to start pressing up, trapping. After that we started speeding them up, turnovers started to come (18 overall). After that points started coming and we just took it over.”
After Bob Hynes free throw pulled Allentown within 18-15 early in the second quarter, Nottingham scored 24 straight to blow it open. In the midst of the run, Johnson scored 11 straight points and finished the half with a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds).
“We just played great basketball,” Jones said of the explosion. “We started out slow but we got into doing the right things. We were just slow early in the game. It was the first game, we were getting the jitters out, stuff like that. Then we got into a rhythm.”
Jones knows all about rhythm as he is the epitome of a streak shooter. After making just four of his first 13 shots, Jones made seven of his final 10, all from 3-point range. He hit his final five in the fourth quarter and came within two of tying his school record of 11 in one game.
“Once I get hot, it’s over,” Jones said matterof-factly.
Nottingham also got nice efforts from its other two starters as Kastro Montina had seven points and eight rebounds, and Ku’Jane Johnson grabbed six boards. Freshman Brandon Raba, the coach’s son, had four assists, two rebounds and two points in the game’s final four minutes.
“We have depth,” Raba said, “and guys that can make plays on defense and offense.”
Jake Kudrick and Yeshua Powe each had 10 points for the Redbirds, who were out-rebounded 53-19.
McIsaacs 0-2-2, Powe 4-0-10, Weise 5-0-13, Hynes 1-1-3, McCrea 3-17, Kudrick 4-0-10.
17-4-45.
Totals —
Jones 12-0-33, DJohnson 10-2-23, Joseph 11-1-23, Montina 3-0-7, KJohnson 1-0-2, Jenkins 2-0-4, Williams 1-0-2, Brown 0-0-0, White 0-0-0, Raba 1-0-2.
41-3-97.
Totals — Allentown (0-1) 12 Nottingham (1-0)16 3-point goals — 4 29 14 23 15 —45 27 —97
Powe 2, Weise 3, Kudrick 2 (A). Jones 9, DJohsnon, Williams, Montina (N).
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores