Tied at 50 with the clock winding down in the final seconds of the game, Trenton senior Jaqae Alfred grabbed a loose ball off a steal, drove to the basket, and knocked down a layup. With the game on the line, seven seconds remaining, Alfred finished what may have been the most important layup of his career to give the Tornadoes (5-1) a 52-50 win over Ewing (4-4).
“I just tried to make sure I secured the ball first because that was the biggest thing, to secure the ball. And then whatever happened after that, just happened,” said Jaqae Alfred.
Trenton’s senior Jy’Air Brown scored a game high 19 points, going 5/10 shooting from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Junior Jordan Williams chipped in with 10 and Alfred finished with eight including the game winning layup.
“Big win, our first home game of the season. We had a good crowd. We lost a bad one last game, we shouldn’t have lost so we just wanted to come home and make a good statement to a good team,” said Alfred.
Senior Kameron Clark led Ewing with 14 points before fouling out late in the game. Classmate Shemar Robinson added 10.
The crowd was rocking at Rivera Middle School gym as these rivals, two of the top teams in Mercer County, showed out. For as exciting as the game finished, it started out with a dominant first half by Trenton as they led by nearly 20 points for the first two quarters. The Blue Devils held the home team to just seven points in the first 12 minutes of the second half, as they slowly chipped away a 19 point halftime deficit to take their first lead of the game.
“When we have people down, we can’t let them back in.The game shouldn’t have been this close, but it got close so we just had to keep fighting. I like how my team kept fighting.We came out with the win. This is a big win,” said Alfred.
After scoring just three points in the entire first quarter, Ewing put up a 32 point second half but fell short of a comeback win. The Tornadoes got their redemption from the last time these two teams met in the 2017 Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals for a statement win over the Blue Devils.