Nottingham looks to upset Ramapo in state final
Few people could have guessed that the Nottingham boys basketball team would be playing for a state championship after two of its best players from last season suffered injuries, not to mention it did not even make the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.
But that is the beauty of these resilient Northstars and why the game is played between the lines — not on paper.
Nottingham (22-8) is set to face Ramapo (29-3) in the Group III final Saturday at 2 p.m. inside Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena.
“I’m excited to see what happens,” senior JP Dickerson said. “This is a dream, man. This is a dream. This is my second year playing varsity. I definitely worked on my game all summer. Been working hard, getting up early, making sure that I’m not defeated and know that I’m going to come in here with a different season and chip on my shoulder to be better for myself and for my teammates.”
Dickerson has been the catalyst of Nottingham’s underdog run, as the 6-foot-2 guard has been racking up steals and leads the team in scoring with 112 points in five state tournament games.
Dickerson has been especially clutch in the last two rounds, scoring a career-high 34 points in the Central Jersey Group III final Monday against Ewing and then notching 13 of his 21 points in the second half of Wednesday’s Group III semifinal against Moorestown.
But the Northstars also would not be on the precipice of the second state title in program history without so many little contributions from role players.
5-10 senior TJ Keese, a Trenton Catholic transfer, runs the offense and had nine points and seven rebounds in the semifinals. 6-3 senior Dom Raymond is also a TCPA transfer and was a force again down low with six points and five rebounds.
6-0 junior Donte Alexander added eight points and two huge free throws. 6-1 senior Joe Lemly banged two keys 3s on the way to eight points. Meanwhile, 6-2 senior Jacob Dormevil and 6-3 junior Jahmere Miller have provided key defense and rebounding in the paint.
Sound defense and forced turnovers have fueled this team, and Chris Raba mixes his defensive schemes about as well as any coach in the state.
Those keys have also allowed Nottingham to get off to fast starts in the biggest games, as it led Ewing 10-0 in the first quarter and Moorestown 27-14 at halftime.
It’s critical that the Northstars don’t fall into a big deficit against Group III’s North Jersey champion since Ramapo will be by far the Hamilton kids’ team’s biggest test yet.
The Raiders were in the state title game last year and are vying to finish the job this time for the program’s first championship. Their only losses are to two prep schools (Patrick School and Blair) and Non-Public A North finalist Bergen Catholic.
6-4 junior Peyton Seals leads the team with 18.5 points per game among other dangerous guards including 6-3 junior Wyatt Eglinton Manner (14.4 ppg), 5-11 junior Chris Cervino (10.2 ppg) and 6-3 senior Nate Burleson, a Nevada football commit (11.2 ppg).
Nottingham must play exceptionally disciplined defense to slow down Ramapo’s athleticism and array of shooters, and then rebound well to create a good amount of transition offense.
If Nottingham can pull off the upset, it would be the program’s second state title in five years after the 2018 team had a CVCrecord 30 wins.