PLAINSBORO — Toughness has defined the Trenton High boys basketball program for decades.
It’s about heart. It’s about playing with a relentless intensity. And with that comes four quarters of man-to-man defense and full-court pressure that overwhelm most high school teams in New Jersey.
You could argue, given the stage, that the product has never been greater in Darryl Young’s 11 seasons as head coach than during the basketball massacre that occurred on Saturday evening.
Playing in the championship game of the CVC Tournament at WW-P North, second-seeded Trenton thoroughly decimated 12th-seeded Notre Dame by the score of 83-48.
“I think we condition more than any team probably in the state,” said Young, who only knew hard work when he played for Trenton in the 1980s. “Bob Hurley (former St. Anthony’s coach) was probably the only guy that was at that level of conditioning.”
Photos: Trenton High vs. Notre Dame in CVC Boys Basketball Tournament final
Notre Dame, a team that thrives on grinding out low-scoring games, couldn’t afford to get baited into a track meet.
“We have a good understanding that nobody wants to play our style,” said Trenton senior guard Juan Sanchez, who scored a season-high 32 points and was named MVP. “If we make them play our style, we come out victorious.”
Sanchez and his teammates accomplished just that from the opening tip as Sanchez blocked a shot, scored a fastbreak layup, stole the ball after Notre Dame’s inbounds pass, and scored another layup while being fouled for a three-point play — all within the first 52 seconds.
Notre Dame competed in the first quarter thanks to a shooting barrage in which it buried six straight field goals, but once Trenton cleaned up some rotation issues on defense, an avalanche erupted.
“I challenged them to get back on our defense, put defense first,” Young said. “We put up 30 (points) and held them to five in that second quarter. That was the ballgame. That was flat-out Trenton basketball in that second quarter.”
The Tornadoes forced the Irish into nine turnovers and rushed shots resulting in 2-for-10 shooting in the second quarter. On offense, Trenton converted 13 of 20 field goals and had everything in sync with six different scorers.
Sanchez finished the first half with 23 points — as many as Notre Dame’s entire team — as Trenton led by 27.
“I feel like nobody can really stay in front of me,” Sanchez said. “When you have that kind of confidence, it comes a long way.”
Aivaye Ingram ended the night with 23 points, while Jaydon English-Fulton had 11 and Jharris Genao Ramos added nine.
Young calls the 5-foot-8 Sanchez, who made two 3s and a variety of layups and pull-ups, “pound-for-pound I think the best player in the state.”
“When he’s got his mind set up and he’s focused, he’s hard to stop,” Young said. “He’s just a tough, hard-nosed kid. He’s the leader of this team. Him and Ingram, they’ve just been like that since they were sophomores and took over the program.”
It was such a stunning blowout that as Notre Dame was getting set to inbound the ball with 1.7 seconds left in the first half, Trenton’s student section began chanting, “Start the buses!” — a classic line typically reserved for the fourth quarter of games.
Any hopes of the Irish continuing their Cinderella run, which included upset wins on the road at Hightstown, Hopewell Valley and Lawrence, were effectively dashed by halftime. Trenton then went up by 35 points in the third quarter to initiate a running clock.
“We said going into it, we wanted to play at our pace and try to slow the game down as much as possible, knowing the great defensive team that Trenton is,” Notre Dame coach Tim Stevens said. “We weren’t able to get to our pace. They were able to get to their pace. They took advantage of the size and speed and made us pay.”
Young is physically demanding of his players in practice, so much so that many think it’s punishment when they join the program. But once they see the results, they come to embrace the 32 minutes of sprints that the team does at the start of every practice.
“It’s just to get us sharpened up on our conditioning.” Sanchez said. “Practice contains a lot of conditioning, defense, all the boring stuff that people don’t want to do.”
The CVC championship was the first big reward of that hard work for this group, along with reaching 20 wins for the first time since Sanchez and Ingram became starters in their sophomore year.
Trenton is now eyeing sectional and state titles once the Central Group IV Tournament gets underway next Tuesday with a home game against Hunterdon Central.
“Two years ago they were 6-17, and look at them now,” Young said. “It’s a tough road, but I’m hoping we can get this thing and keep it rolling like in 2023 and finish the job. I really do. I want it so much for this crew because they’ve been working hard for me for three years. Ever since they took over the reins of the team and became the leaders, they’ve just been working.”
With a night like Saturday on a championship stage, confidence is at an all-time high for the tough-minded Tornadoes.
“Win it all,” Sanchez said when asked for the team’s goal in the state tournament.
NOTRE DAME (48)
Chuderewicz 6-0-15, Foley 7-3-18, Kamera 1-0-2, Cunningham 3-0-7, Pesce 2-0-4, Lech 1-0-2.Totals — 20-3-48.
TRENTON (83)
Sanchez 12-6-32, English-Fulton 5-1-11, Smith 0-2-2, Ramos 4-0-9, Ingram 10-2-23, Graffie 1-0-2, Cummings 1-0-2, Smith 0-2-2. Totals — 33-13-83.
Notre Dame (7-21) 18 5 13 12 — 48
Trenton (20-7) 20 30 23 10 — 83
3-point goals: Chuderewicz 3, Foley, Cunningham (ND), Sanchez 2, Ramos, Ingram (T).
