Robinson leads new team over old one
EWING » It didn’t take long for Shemar Robinson to feel like he was back at Lawrence playing an intrasquad scrimmage.
But this one was for real and Robinson was on the other side as he led his new Ewing High basketball team to a 71-32 victory over the Cardinals in a Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division game.
The senior guard, who transferred after three seasons with Lawrence, tallied 19 points and hit four 3-pointers as the Blue Devils evened their record to 1-1. Despite going against his longtime teammates, Robinson took it in stride.
“It was good,” he said. “We were just out there having fun.”
Was there pre-game trash talking?
“Oh yes,” Robinson said. “I just ignored it, stayed humble like I normally do and just played my game.”
With the Devils losing their top seven scorers from last year, Robinson’s arrival was made to order as it gave coach Shelly Dearden a proven offensive threat.
“He’s just a great kid all together,” Dearden said. “He’s a competitor, he wants to win. He’s fit in very nicely. He’s a very good player, very coachable. He loves playing basketball. I know I’m saying a lot of good things but he wants to play hard every day and that’s what he does. He comes in and he kind of just fits the system in the fact we go hard every day.
“He goes on a roll, when he stops we have somebody else that goes on a roll then we have somebody else that goes on a roll. So we have a lot of avenues this year, and he just added to the avenues.”
Robinson said there has been little trouble fitting in.
“I fit very well,” he said. “We worked in the off season every single day. It’s going to be a great year. I feel like we’ll be the same way as they were last year, or even better.”
Last year’s team won 26 games and a sectional title, but never count out Ewing. The Devils have talent that was just biding its time as witnessed by last season’s 21-0 JV team.
“They know how to win,” Dearden said. “That’s just something they’ve been bred with since they’ve been in Ewing so, they’re just continuing the Ewing tradition. This is definitely a ‘waiting team.’ They definitely put in their time to wait their turn and to be here. They’re itching to get out there every day.”
They showed that from the start, not even remotely looking past an incredibly young Lawrence team that was lost five transfers in the off-season. Coach Jeff Molinelli said prior to the game it would be a learning experience for his team, and it was.
Ewing roared to a 20-0 lead by shooting 8-for-9, with Robinson hitting all three of his 3-pointers. One was taken from just inside the halfcourt circle.
“She gave me the green light so I do what I always do,” he said.
Ewing led 25-4 by quarter’s end and the closest Lawrence could get was 2911. If Lawrence was looking for a bright spot, it’s that it played the Devils nearly even in the second quarter, being outscored 14-13. But Ewing turned a 22-point halftime led into a 58-21 advantage after three quarters.
“We stopped the pace the second quarter,” Robinson said. “She talked to us about it and we picked it up in the second half.”
Keyshawn Preston added 10 points for Ewing, Isaiah Sparks had eight and Kameron Clark came off the bench for five points and 10 rebounds in limited minutes.
“He’s a threat inside because he just knows where to get the ball,” Dearden said. “I was very happy with how we played. We’ve still got a lot to do, some rotations to work on, but it was definitely a good game for us.”