TCA holds off Trenton for return trip to final
TRENTON » When you’re as battle-tested as Trenton Catholic Academy, a 21-point negative swing within a half of basketball evidently doesn’t faze you in the Mercer County Tournament.
The Iron Mikes train for these moments by playing state powerhouses such as Roselle Catholic, St. Benedict’s and Linden throughout the season.
TCA will go for its fifth county championship in seven seasons Thursday night after holding off Trenton on Tuesday, 69-58, at the CURE Insurance Arena.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” sophomore EJ Evans said. “It’s great to come back in this arena and play good teams around the area. It’s very fun to play against those teams, especially when you know those kids.”
The second-seeded Iron Mikes cruised past their county rival Jan. 13 by 18 points, but the third-seeded Tornadoes showed Tuesday that they’re a deeper, sharper team than they were back then.
After falling into an 11-0 hole with 5:11 left in the first quarter, Trenton rallied to pull ahead, 17-16, with 5:40 remaining in the second quarter. The Tornadoes led by as many as 10 during a 27-6 extended run.
Evans, who finished with 21 points, immediately responded to TCA’s double-digit deficit with a four-point play while getting fouled on a corner 3. The Iron Mikes clawed their way back to a one-point halftime hole, then seized control in the second half.
“I think first half we had 13 turnovers, so we really tried to stress just taking care of the ball,” senior Quashawn Lane said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds, so we kind of stressed boxing out and playing defense.”
While handling Trenton’s ball denial and full-court pressure better down the stretch, TCA also countered by employing some zone defense.
The Tornadoes, who have been wildly inconsistent shooting the ball from the outside at times this season, connected on only one 3-pointer in the second half.
Trenton’s Jahid Whitmore made one of his game-high four treys to cut what had ballooned into a 14-point TCA lead down to 7 with 1:01 remaining, but it was too late at that point.
Whitmore had 16 points, while Nichus Jackson and Nasiir McMillan tacked on 21 points combined for the Tornadoes.
“We did that just to take a little break (from man-to-man),” Evans said of the zone looks. “We were getting a little tired, so we started falling apart and falling out of order. We went back to the zone just to take a little breather.”
Lane, last year’s tournament MVP, scored 16 of his game-best 22 points in the second half.
With Khalif Battle limited to three points, Lane took on an even greater scoring role. The point guard converted all 10 of his free throw attempts, frequently getting to the foul line because he telegraphed the passing lanes and snagged several steals leading to fast- breaks.
“I guess I was just at the right place at the right time,” Lane said with a smile.
Trenton will regroup and get set to host East Brunswick next Tuesday in the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament.
Meanwhile, Lane and Evans are among a handful of returning players from TCA’s MCT championship team last season. The Iron Mikes are eager to defend it against the winner of Nottingham vs. Ewing.
“We want it. Who doesn’t want it?” Lane said. “We don’t come here expecting to lose, so no matter who we play Thursday, we’re just going to go out, we’re going to play our hardest and we’re going to try to get the win.”
James 3-2-8, Williams 2-0-4, McMillan 4-1-10, Brown 1-0-2, Jackson 5-1-11, Whitmore 6-0-16, Alfred 2-2-6, Kelly 0-1-1.
23-6-58.
Totals —
Battle 1-0-3, Reid 2-2-6, Lane 6-10-22, Evans 8-221, Massanet 4-3-11, Wright 1-0-2, Ryland 2-0-4.
24-17-69.
Totals — Trenton (18-7) TCA (17-8) 3-point goals —
Evans 3 (TCA).
10 17 20 12 16 23 12 — 17 — 58 69
McMillan, Whitmore 4 (T), Battle,