In high school basketball, the game is typically governed by guard play.
That was certainly the case Monday night in Edison as 17th-ranked Trenton ruled the night with the three-pronged dictatorship of Calvin Moore, Antwan Bridgett and relative newcomer Kabrien Goss on its way to an 81-70 upset over No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas at the Trojans’ gym.
Forwards Davontay Hutson and Chris Wilson were the leading scorers for Trenton with 23 and 17 points, respectively, but it was the defense, the playmaking and the sheer blinding speed of those three backcourt men that had the Tornadoes operating somewhere between fourth and fifth gear from opening tap to final buzzer.
“I’ve got three point guards on the court at all times and that makes us a tough team to play,” said Trenton head coach Darryl Young, Sr., who also got 16 points and five assists from Goss, 12 points and four assists from Moore, and 11 points, seven assists from Bridgett.
“If you pressure us and we break that initial trap, it’s layup city; it’s tough to contain us,” he said.
That was even true for a 20-3 St. Thomas team that entered yielding just 49.9 points a game, yet saw Trenton (22-1) practically reach that in the first half with a dazzling 44-30 start, sparked by the 6-3 Hutson and the 6-4 Wilson with 15 points apiece, and also Goss by contributing 10 of his 16 points and three of his five assists.
This was the 11th game for Goss, a Solebury (Pa.) transfer who became eligible Jan. 13. He is averaging 16.8 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 steals.
“He brings everything to the table. Everything that needs to be brought, he’s got it,” Hutson said.
The hard-working Hutson collected six of his nine rebounds in that first half while Wilson pulled down five of his game-high 14 rebounds and also showed guard tendencies by knocking down three buckets from 3-point range.
“Most teams sleep on Chris, but word on the sleeper might be out now. He’s the guy,” Young said. “He was big for us from the corner in that first half. A lot of times. he’s got a bigger, slower guy on him and they’d rather stay in the paint than jump out there with Chris.”
It was quick, precise ball movement on this night, not a slower defender, responsible for Wilson’s open 3-pointers, the final two of which came in the first 4:38 of the second quarter to send Trento to a 34-21 lead.
St. Thomas would eventually see that deficit grow to 20 points, 62-42, late in the third quarter before whittling it down to 70-67, with 1:31 remaining in the game behind the foul-inducing dribble penetration of junior guard Michael “Deuce” Jones.
He scored 16 of his game-high 29 points in that fourth quarter, including 11 of 11 from the foul line, and he was 16 of 16 for the game to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Fellow junior guard Jaden Kelly scored 12 points for the Trojans, who lost for the second time in two nights following a nine-game winning streak.
“We took care of the ball, played solid defense, boxed out, rebounded. We were just playing beautiful basketball tonight,” Young said. “But they almost killed us with those free throws.”
St. Thomas was 23 of 29 from the line and Trenton 11 of 14, but considerably in charge of just about any other important statistic, particularly rebounds (32 to 27) assists (21 to 9) and turnovers (13 to the Trojans’ 16). But St. Thomas committed only seven turnovers through the first three quarters, and only a few were unforced.
“We said before the game and again at halftime, ‘Take care of the ball. As long as we don’t have many unforced turnovers, it’s going to be tough for them to get back in this game.’ And I knew we could keep scoring,” Young said.
“We knew what we wanted to do and we were trying to prove a point,” Hutson said. “They’re No. 4 in the state and we feel as should be higher. We’re not really worried about that right now, but we’re gonna play with that same energy every game. We come ready to play.”
Even though Trenton kept its turnovers down and selected shots wisely in the first half, Young felt it was important to keep stressing the importance of clean possessions. In a Jan. 21 game against Newark East Side, his guys were ahead 14 points at the half, did not value possessions all that carefully and wound up falling, 48-45, for its only loss.
“We needed to get over that (East Side) game. That was the first big test against a North Jersey team,” Young said. “A know people didn’t come here tonight to see Trenton. They came tonight to see if we were for real.
“I tell my kids that I’d rather learn from winning, but we learned a lot from that loss,” he said.
The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now to be among the first to get all the boys and girls sports you care bout, straight to your inbox each weekday. To add your name, click here.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Mike Kinney can be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeKinneyHS.
Ad Choices