Miller leads Pennington to redemption win
PENNINGTON » In three years under coach Chandler Fraser-Pauls, the Pennington boys basketball team has preached the idea of staying the course.
So when star guard Corey Miller twisted his ankle and took a hard fall with 4:39 remaining in a rivalry clash with Lawrenceville, the Red Raiders knew they could not panic.
After Lawrenceville whittled a nine-point deficit down to four, Pennington punched back to secure a huge 64-59 win Wednesday evening in its home gym.
“We talk about being processdriven,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We’re gonna stick to our process and working and getting one percent better every single day. I’m so proud of these guys. They’ve stuck with it. We were playing a schedule that we want to play because we think we can compete with that and we know we can, and we proved it today against a good Lawrenceville team.”
Pennington (2-8) began the season losing seven of eight including an 84-52 beatdown at the hands of Lawrenceville (6-5) Dec. 12 at the Peddie School Invitational.
The Raiders have harnessed those experiences and hit the reset button in 2022. They hadn’t played since Dec. 28 against Trenton because of COVID-19 issues, but they’ve been back at practice for about a week and a half.
Pennington started sluggishly
against Lawrenceville’s 2-3 zone defense as it fell behind 8-0 and didn’t score for nearly five minutes, but eventually its free-flowing offense kicked into gear.
Miller, a junior who transferred in from Ocean Township last year, dominated with 26 points and some hard-nosed defense on Lawrenceville standout Hampton Sanders, who collected 22 points.
“We put in some zone sets in practice and we worked a lot against zone at practice as well,” Miller said. “We learned that the ball moves faster (passing) than dribbling. Once we got them out of the zone, we knew that if they matched up against us, we could definitely beat them.”
After leading by one after the first quarter and by three at halftime, Pennington pulled away in the third quarter by holding Lawrenceville to six points and generating more transition offense.
Dwayne Snead buried a big 3-pointer and Miller came up with two steals and two layups late in the period to give Pennington a commanding 45-31 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Miller, who possesses a smooth handle and is comfortable finishing through contact, played AAU with the New Jersey ShoreShots last year and is garnering college interest. He bulked up from 155 to about 175-180 pounds by lifting weights in his garage during the peak of the pandemic.
“It really changes how you play,” Miller said. “At least when I was a freshman, I was small and you had to change your game and you played stronger players. Now I’m the stronger player. I don’t have to change my game, so it’s easier to move around on the court.”
Miller used to star alongside his older brother, Jack, at Ocean. Jack also played with former Pennington standout Pat Higgins, so Corey wanted to expand his game at a prep school.
“I like the way that Coach Fraser-Pauls coaches,” Miller said. “It’s a free system, they needed a point guard, so I came in last year and it was an opportunity for me to showcase my skills somewhere else than where I’m from. Prep school is different. There’s a lot more coaches, a lot better competition. So I was looking to expand and put my name out there.”
He has quickly become the next great guard at Pennington under Fraser-Pauls, who starred as a player himself for the Red Raiders until graduating in 2011.
“He’s a great kid,” Fraser-Pauls said. “He pushes guys on a daily basis in practice and he’s coming into his own as a leader. I’m really excited about the potential that he has as a leader more than anything as a person, and then as a player.”
Pennington had to finish off Wednesday’s game without him as Miller did not return after tangling legs with a Lawrenceville player. He experienced soreness but believes the injury isn’t cause for long-term concern.
“I guess my ankle rolled, but I was confident whether I go back in the game or not, it doesn’t matter,” Miller said. “I knew my guys were going to come out and get the W.”
Lawrenceville rallied to within 48-52 when 6-foot-10 forward Cyril Martynov converted a three-point play with 2:47 remaining.
Pennington capped off its team effort by answering Lawrenceville’s run with two consecutive assisted layups: Brandon Russell to Destine Evans and then Mark Woolhouse to Phil Evans.
“We talk about owning our roles all the time, and guys are primed to step up,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys mixed with youth and experience, but guys are ready to play. They’re basketball players at the end of the day, and they stepped up.”
LAWRENCEVILLE (59)
Sanders 4-11-22, Martynov 6-1-13, Hoskins 7-115, Fessler 1-0-3, Fermin 2-0-4, Huyghue 1-0-2. Totals — 21-13-59.
PENNINGTON (64)
Urban 4-1-9, Miller 9-7-26, Gaffney 1-4-6, Woolhouse 3-2-8, Russell 1-0-2, Davis 1-0-2, Snead 3-0-7, Evans 2-0-4. Totals — 24-13-64. Lawrenceville (6-5) 13 12 6 28 — 59 Pennington (2-8) 14 14 17 19 — 64 3-point goals: Sanders 3, Fessler (L), Miller, Snead (P).