Pennington rallies past Hopewell to reach title game
HOPEWELL TWP. >> If it wasn’t the largest comeback ever at the John Molinelli Holiday Classic, it had to be pretty darn close.
Left for dead with a 15-0 deficit, the Pennington boys basketball team rallied together and ousted Hopewell Valley for a 58-51 win Friday to qualify for the championship game on Saturday against Ocean Township.
The manner in which the Raiders earned their first win against their crosstown rival in three years told first-year head coach Chandler Fraser-Pauls something about his team.
“We took a punch, right? They threw a great punch at us, but I was proud of our guys how they responded,” Fraser-Pauls said. “You get to that point and you could fold or fight back, punch back. We decided to punch back, and I think we grew up a little bit tonight. We’ve got a lot of young guys.”
The catalysts were forward Jay Jackson and guard Ethan Pires, who formed a lethal inside-out combo with 39 total points.
“When I was at Princeton High School we never won when we played them,” said Jackson, who transferred to Pennington this fall. “It was always a close game, and I just wanted to get this ‘W.’ It really meant a lot to me — playing with my teammates, coming out here, getting the victory, playing together, not playing selfish, giving up the ball to each other.”
Noah Salcedo added 11 points with three 3-pointers, including a bucket that gave Pennington its first lead at 31-30 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. He also dished an alley-oop layup pass to Jackson during Pennington’s second-quarter surge. The Raiders trimmed a 14-point deficit after the first quarter to four points at halftime.
Jackson imposed his will after that, scoring eight of his 10 field goals in the second half by using his 6-foot-5 height and strength to break Hopewell’s frontcourt down off the dribble. The junior’s fastbreak dunk with about four minutes remaining put Pennington ahead for good at 48-46.
“That’s what I felt I had to do — just get things done,” Jackson said. “I feel like I had more of an advantage over their big man in the post. I feel like I have better footwork getting up to the basket, get fouls, get on the line, get buckets.”
Jackson also sparked Pennington defensively with key rebounds, steals and coast-tocoast drives in transition.
“When he plays like that, he’s tough to stop,” FraserPauls said. “I see the potential in him every day — off the court and on the court. And so I’m going to push him to continue to be the best he can because the sky’s the limit for him. I was proud of his motor.”
Pires, a sophomore from Delaware, kept Pennington afloat in the first half with strong point guard play and assertive driving layups.
“He’s a great kid, first off. I was proud of how he competed,” Fraser-Pauls said. “We’re working. He can score with the best of them, and his potential is through the roof. I’m excited to see where he can go with everything.”
John Broz (17 points) and Jake Loughery (14 points) paced Hopewell, whose motion offense went cold as Pennington stepped up its perimeter defense in particular.
Jackson said the Raiders huddled and looked each other in the eyes when 4:35 elapsed in the first quarter and they had yet to score a point, vowing to regroup on their rival’s home floor and come out on top.
It made for a special day for Fraser-Pauls, who graduated from Pennington in 2011 and remembers his own fierce battles on the court with Hopewell.
“I totally respect Hopewell, how they play, coach (Matt)
Stein. They have a great program, so it was fun,” FraserPauls said. “Tomorrow’s going to be another challenge for us, so can we be mature enough to handle the win and then come back tomorrow and compete? I’m looking forward to seeing how we do that.”
PENNINGTON (58)
Salcedo 3-2-11, Pires 8-2-19, Bowen 2-04, Jackson 10-0-20, Ratner 2-0-4. Totals — 25-4-58.
HOPEWELL (51)
Whitlock 2-0-4, Broz 6-2-17, Loughery 3-6-14, O’Reilly 1-0-3, Harrison 2-0-4, Rodriguez 3-0-7, Angelakis 1-0-2. Totals — 18-8-51. Pennington (3-5) 9 17 15 17 — 58 Hopewell (1-2) 23 7 11 10 — 51 3-point goals: Salcedo 3, Pires (P), Broz 3, Loughery 2, O’Reilly, Rodriguez (H).