Nottingham in action for sectional title
MOORESTOWN » The Nottingham boys basketball team’s chances Tuesday night did not look promising for a while, but the Northstars bared the fruits of their year-long chase of redemption.
And the Northstars’ best senior class of all-time isn’t finished yet.
Second-seeded Nottingham seized the school’s first sectional title Tuesday night by taking down top-seeded Moorestown in the Central Jersey Group III championship game, 59-56, in overtime.
That sends the Northstars to the Group III semifinals, where beginning Thursday at Brick Memorial they need two more wins for a state title and a spot in the eight-team Tournament of Champions.
Senior forward Darell Johnson netted a game-high 20 points as Nottingham, despite not leading for nearly all of regulation, pulled through in clutch time.
Nottingham tied Moorestown at 51 on a last-second layup by Johnson, who beat the buzzer on an inbounds from Cliff Joseph.
In overtime, Joseph made 1-of-2 free throws with 43 seconds left and Moorestown missed a 3 before fouling Joseph with one second left. Joseph made both free throws before the final buzzer sounding on Moorestown’s lastsecond heave.
The game also showcased two of the best 3-point shooters in the state.
Nottingham’s Richie Jones, who recently scored his 1,000th point and came into the night fifth in New Jersey with 87 treys, drained two more Tuesday. Moorestown junior Jagger Zrada is also in the top 10 and made three in the Quakers’ losing effort.
The Northstars have dedicated this season as unfinished business ever since their loss to Ewing in last season’s sectional final, setting both sectional and state titles as realistic goals.
Nottingham (27-2) already has four more wins than the previous school record set last year. The Northstars also won the CVC Valley Division title again as well as their first-ever Mercer County Tournament championship two weeks ago.
The Quakers (24-6), who entered on a six-game win streak and beat Trenton Catholic earlier this season, were playing in their first Central Jersey final since realigning from South Jersey in 2015-16.