Ken Weingartner

By: centraljersey.com
After a discussion in practice about the way the Hightstown High boys basketball team was playing recently, the Rams went out Tuesday and snapped a two-game losing streak with a strong performance against Lawrence.
"We had a little talk [Monday]," guard Cole Fusik said, adding with a laugh, "We got yelled at.
"We weren’t playing team basketball. Everyone wanted to take their man by themselves; everyone wanted to do it all. That’s not basketball."Fusik scored 14 points, including a dozen on 3-pointers, to lead
Hightstown, which improved to 7-4. The Rams saw six players find the scoring column, with Qwanza Harper adding 11 points, Sam Lopez nine and Ryan Borden eight. Lopez had a team-high 10 rebounds and four of HHS’ 19 steals.
"We had a hard practice [Monday]," Fusik said. "We needed the win. It was a big game for us. We got it. We got what we wanted. We all played hard. It was good.
"[Tuesday] we played well. It was one of our better games of the year."
Lawrence, which dropped to 2-9, started quickly and established a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. The Rams rallied in the second period, with Fusik knocking down a 3-pointer and Lopez tallying seven points, on their way to a 26-23 halftime advantage.
Hightstown pushed its lead to as many as eight points in the third quarter, but the Cardinals closed within striking distance in the fourth. Lawrence got within a point with less than three minutes to play, but Lopez and Harper combined to convert five of six free throws in the final minute to keep the Rams on top.
Lopez’s two free throws in the closing seconds gave Hightstown its final margin of four points and came after Fusik grabbed a loose ball on the defensive end that denied Lawrence a chance to tie or take the lead.
"When we went zone at the end of the game I think it really changed the complex of the game," Rams coach "Doctor" Don Hess said. "I think [Lawrence] had to work the ball a little more and use a little more clock. I thought we rebounded a little better out of the zone than what we were doing in the ‘man.’
"We controlled the pace of the game at the end when we had the lead."Hess was disappointed with Hightstown’s foul shooting prior to the final minute. The Rams were 5-of-10 at that point, including missing the front ends of two one-and-one opportunities in the fourth quarter.
"We missed a few foul shots; that kills you," Hess said. "But at least we made the two big ones at the end. That’s the game. That’s when you’ve got to make them, but we missed six foul shots, which really upsets me because we work on foul shots every day. Those are the kinds of games we’re involved in all the time, close games."
The 45 points allowed by Hightstown was its lowest total in three games, although Hess thought the Rams could have played better defensively against Lawrence. In the three games prior to facing the Cardinals they allowed an average of 56.3 points per game; in first seven games of the season the average was 42.6 points.
"Defensively, we’re a little off," he said. "We don’t play as good defense as I’d like to see. That’s the one surprise. I thought this team would be a little better. We started out the season playing very good defense, but [Tuesday] I don’t think we played a lot of defense. We let those kids drive right down the lane. That’s not like us. We usually take some charges and we didn’t. Those are things to work on."
Hightstown was scheduled to visit resurgent Nottingham, which has won two straight, on Friday, travel to Woodbridge for non-conference action Saturday, and trek to West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tuesday.
"We’re about halfway through the season and we’re tied in our conference," Hess said. "We’re at 5-3 with Hamilton and Princeton, so it’s going to go to the wire. We beat Hamilton and we split with Princeton so far. It’s going to go down to the last day probably to decide who is going to win the conference."
Fusik knows what it will take for Hightstown to be successful down the stretch.
"Team basketball," he said. "We have a lot of potential if we play as a team. If we keep playing the way we played [Tuesday] we should be in good shape."
No further discussion needed.