Nottingham repels Red Bank Regional’s run
HAMILTON >> Some coaches have a wish list of teams they would like to see in the state tournament; but Nottingham’s Chris Raba has a notwish list for who he wanted to face in the Central Jersey Group III boys event.
“Before the tournament the two teams we didn’t want to play in this were Red Bank and Matawan,” the Baron said. “And they’re both on our side of the bracket. We knew coming into it they would be the dark horses.”
The 15th-seeded dark horse nearly galloped to an amazing comeback victory before the 2nd-seeded Northstars hung on for a 74-65 victory over visiting Red Bank Monday afternoon.
Nottingham (18-8) — which as luck has it, will host the Matawan-Carteret winner Wednesday — built a 19-point first-half lead at 37-18 before the Bucs (8-15) rallied to within 51-48 in the third quarter and 58-55 early in the fourth.
But the Northstars managed to dig in and hold on, outscoring Red Bank 16-10 over the final five minutes. After shooting 9-for-20 in the first half, the Bucs shot 9-for12 in the third quarter and buried three 3-pointers.
“Coming into the game we knew they had three good shooters,” said Nottingham guard Joe Lemly, who had 13 points and hit two clutch free throws down the stretch. “They weren’t making them in the first half and they just caught fire in that third quarter. Then they kept throwing different defenses that we weren’t used to. We finally locked in and got ready for it.”
The biggest keys to the game for Nottingham was its offensive rebounding; which produced a bushel of secondchance points; its ability to protect the ball (12 turnovers), and big Dom Raymond, who had 26 points and 10 rebounds while taking a zenlike approach to handling Red Bank’s comeback.
“It was just staying calm,” Raymond said. “I like to meditate when we take a timeout. Just close my eyes and breathe for a second, and then
go out for the next play.”
Raymond was the reason that Nottingham rolled to their huge lead, as he had 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting.
“When they’re in that 2-3 (zone), just put me in the middle and find me,” he said. “I’ll hit the open man or attack. “
He was held to two free throws when Red Bank rallied in the third, but canned seven in the fourth when the Stars protected their advantage.
It was the kind of effort one would expect from a guy who showed up at 8 a.m.
“It was just me and him in here,” Raba said. “He was shooting off the shooting machine. Dom has a certain routine he has to do every day before the game. That’s him. We love him.”
The only thing that can slow down Raymond is classroom responsibilities.
“I do that every day unless there’s school,” he said. “I’m always saying ‘Coach Raba, let me in.’ I just want to get my shots up. That’s how Kobe (Bryant) did it. First one there, last one to leave. I’m the first one here, the last one to leave.
“I knew coming in I had to score. If I don’t, we probably don’t win. As a team we did great, but I know I’ve got to score.”
He did have help, of course. JP Dickerson had another solid outing as he went for 21 points and nine rebounds, hit some big free throws down the stretch and also found Raymond for some easy layups.
With the score 58-55, TJ Keese abandoned his facilitator role and drove the lane for a huge layup. Dante Alexander hit a key jumper to push the lead to 62-56 and then Raymond returned as a scorer, scoring all five Nottingham points in a 5-2 run that made the score 67-59.
Red Bank stubbornly hung in behind 29 points from Nick Valentino and 16 from Braydon Kirkpatrick. But with the score 71-65 Lemly swished two free throws with 29.1 seconds left to seal it.
After scuffling to find the range, it was the second straight double-figure scoring game for Lemly.
“I was just in the gym more,” he said. “Practicing my shot, getting more confident every day.”
“That’s basketball,” Raba said of Lemly’s struggles. “Next play, next game. Just keep working on your shot.”
As for Nottingham’s offensive rebounding, Raba felt that was par for the course, even though it seemed like the Stars got an extremely high number of putback points even for them.
“It doesn’t surprise me we out-rebounded them (31-19, and 17-8 after halftime),” the Baron said. “All year we’ve been out-rebounding teams. Our problem is we’ve been turning the ball over a lot. The games we don’t turn the ball over, typically we win.”
Raymond had an interesting take on why he thought Red Bank was able to rally in the third quarter.
“Probably their coach in the locker room at halftime,” he said. “He probably said ‘What are we doing?’ It was great for them to come back, but we watched film, saw what they did and knew what to do. So a shout out to all my teammates. I love every one of them. Great win and move on to the next round.”
Raba felt the same way after his program won its fifth straight first-round state game.
“They’re not a 15th seed,” the coach said. “They play in a tough (Shore) Conference. Every game is close, they played a good schedule. We’re just happy to get out of here with a win.”
RED BANK (65)
Kirkpatrick 6-1-16, Ackerman 3-0-8, C. Teter 3-0-9, Valentino 10-8-29, Stack 1-0-2, Lindie 0-0-0, Fisher 1-0-2, A. Teter 0-0-0. Totals: 24-9-65.
NOTTINGHAM (74)
Dickerson 8-5-21, Keese 2-0-5, Lemly 4-2-13, Raymond 11-3-26, Miller 1-0-2, Alexander 2-0-5, Dormevil 1-0-2, Thompson 0-0-0. 29-10-74.
Red Bank (8-15) 15 12 21 17 — 65 Nottingham (18-8) 20 21 13 20 — 74 3-point goals: Ackerman, Kirkpatrick 3, Teter 3, Valentino, Keese, Raymond, Lemly 3, Alexander.