City of Basketball Love

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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Trey Lowe is just a scorer, Ewing is a one-man show, and they only play on one end of the court.

The Blue Devils disproved all of these misconceptions at the Jeff Coney Classic on Saturday, getting out to an early lead on Camden and holding off a tough Panthers squad en route to a 65-58 victory before a standing-room only crowd at Rancocas Valley High School.

While Lowe did finish with a team-high 19 points, his 12 rebounds, the performance by his supporting cast, and Ewing’s smothering defense were even more impressive, as the Blue Devils (16-0) continued their undefeated streak to start the season.

Coming into the game averaging 81.7 points per contest, this was Ewing’s lowest-scoring performance this season, but it looked just as comfortable relying on its defense, spearheaded by junior Justin Porter, to come away with the win.

“Not only does [Porter] block shots but he alters shots, and then if he’s not altering a shot or blocking a shot, he’s getting a rebound, and he’s just all over down there,” head coach Shelly Dearden said. “We’ve been talking about our defense and we’ve been talking about how it’s been lackadaisical. We’ll get a lead and teams get back in the game, then all of a sudden we’ll take a lead again and they’ll get back in the game.

“We have to focus on consistently playing the whole game on the defensive end and again that happened tonight and we were able to do that.”

All of the Blue Devils’ less-publicized strengths were on display during a crucial third quarter run that put them ahead for good.

After Camden fought back from a first half deficit to tie the game at 38, the first time since the opening two minutes that the Panthers were not behind, Ewing responded with a 13-2 run to reassert itself.

Lowe did score six points during that run, but two of them came off of a putback dunk and he also had an assist, showcasing the other facets of his game. He also received critical help from his supporting cast, as Porter knocked down a deep three, while James Wright and Dion Hale also chipped in with points.

“Just to play defense,” Porter said of his thoughts during that run. “Then when we play defense and rebound, we just get out and play our game. That’s how we got the lead and got the run, so just playing defense.”

Porter provided the secondary scoring that Ewing needs behind Lowe, finishing with 17 points, including four threes. Wright and Hale combined for 15 more, and all three of them played tough defense all game, taking Camden’s Rasool Hinson and Will McCants out of the game.

Porter set the tone early for the Blue Devils, scoring all nine of his first half points and knocking down two treys in the opening quarter, as Ewing extended its lead to as much as ten just six minutes into the game.

Especially against teams that aren’t as familiar with its depth, it’s easy for Ewing’s secondary players to step up early with teams focusing primarily on Lowe.

“The teams keying in on Trey, that opens up the rest of us to play,” Porter said. “I just felt it was an opportunity for me to take over the game in my spurts, and then have James take over then have Herb [Ellis] take over. It was just an all-around team win.”

Camden was led by junior forward Jamal Holloway, who has been playing at an All-South Jersey level throughout the season for the Panthers. One of the area’s best rebounders, Holloway finished with 21 points to go along with a monstrous 21 boards in a game that also saw him score his 1000th career point, with a full year of high school basketball still left to play.

The Panthers also received 16 points from junior swingman Brad Hawkins, one of the state’s top football recruits as a wide receiver. Hawkins, however, struggled from the foul line, keeping a number of points off the board, a pattern that Camden will have to address as a team as it approaches postseason play.

For Camden (12-3), this was the third game in a critical four-game stretch. It started last weekend, when the Panthers went down to the wire with the state’s top team, national power St. Anthony, ultimately falling 50-46. Then came a matchup with perennially tough South Jersey power Lenape, which resulted in a 51-47 overtime win.

After today’s loss, Camden will take on Camden Catholic, which some consider to be South Jersey’s top team, in a game that was rescheduled for Monday as a result of the “blizzard” that hit early last week.

Even sitting at 1-2 through this portion of the schedule thus far, head coach John Valore is not worried about his team’s current standings and is confident that the lumps they have taken thus far will only make them that much tougher come the postseason.

And as a basketball purist, Valore understands that matchups like these, especially between teams that don’t traditionally oppose each other and in front of crowds like that at Rancocas Valley today, are what makes high school basketball so special.

“First of all, it’s the competition that we’re concerned about. We like the competition,” Valore said. “Let’s just say this: you see the crowd? If we didn’t match up with Ewing and we played somebody else that we could beat, guess what? You have half the gym. This is excitement, this is what it’s about. Camden’s good traditionally, we’re good, and we try to schedule the best.”

The Panthers matchup with Camden Catholic will take place at 6:30 on Monday, with Camden playing host to the Fighting Irish. Ewing will travel to Lawrence on Tuesday, looking to extend its undefeated start.