Lay Down the Law: Hill School beats Lawrenceville in annual rivalry game

POTTSTOWN >> Chase Audige led a trio of Blues who finished in double figures, scoring a team-high 18 points as the Hill School’s fast start and clutch finish fended off hot-shooting Lawrenceville en route to a 65-60 victory at Gillison Court in a MAPL contest Wednesday afternoon.

DaQuan Morris and Caleb Dorsey both accounted for 11 points off the bench in leading the Blues to their fifth straight win over their longtime rival since the 2012-2013 season. The Hill (10-4 overall, 2-0 MAPL) has now won two straight and six of its past seven games.

This win, however, wasn’t always pretty.

The Hill, which built a 19-11 lead early in the second quarter behind Colton Lawrence’s five-points, saw the lead slip away in the middle two quarters as Lawrenceville’s trio of Ezra Swell, Jalen Gaffney and Ebube Ezeagwula-Ebube took control. Lawrenceville owned the perimeter, sinking nine 3-pointers, and then made a home in the paint after the Hill’s shift to a 3-2 zone. Gaffney’s ability to slice through the defense and penetrate the zone made him a lethal facilitator for big-man Ezeagwula-Ebube, who poured in nine third-quarter points as Lawrenceville took a 43-41 lead entering the fourth.

A lead it couldn’t hold.

Gaffney finished with a game-best 19 points, with perimeter sharp-shooter Swell adding 16 with four 3-pointers. Ezeagwula-Ebube finished with 11 points and five rebounds.

“We didn’t consistently play with an attention to detail and urgency,” Hill School head coach Seth Eilberg said. “Whether it was playing a little too fast and not taking care of the ball or defensively, we struggled all game to execute. We let a guy (Swell) — who we know is a great shooter — be open way too many times right from the tip and then when we forced some drives we weren’t helping early enough.

“We just weren’t focused to be honest,” Audige added. “We made it harder than it had to be.”

The play of Audige, Morris and Dorsey was crucial to the Hill’s comeback as the trio combined for 18 of the Blues’ 24 fourth-quarter points. Dorsey tied the game at 45 early in the quarter after he hit a runner in the lane before his tough take to the basket and the foul earned himself a 3-point play on the team’s next possession to make it 48-45. Dorsey’s two free throws and Donnell Hill’s (five points) putback sandwiched a 3-pointer by Gaffney before Lawrence effectively took the wind out of Lawrenceville’s sails with an emphatic two-handed slam to make it 54-48 with three to play.

Audige’s block with an eight-point lead two minutes later was the capper.

The Hill shot 10-for-11 from the line in the fourth quarter ­— 16-for-19 for the game. 

“At the end of the day, it’s a nice thing to be able to win without playing your best game,” Eilberg said. “Our kids bent but didn’t break, made clutch free throws to seal the win. We’ll take it, we need to get better from here and keep getting better.”

“Colton went baseline and got the dunk and then we stepped up on defense, got steals and got going on the fast break,” Audige, who finished with six assists, said. “It was fun. It gets the bench hype, it gets the crowd hype, it gets us hype. We’re a much better team when we’re energized.”

xBench Play

Morris, Dorsey and Xavier Mayo (eight points) combined for 30 points off the bench in the win for the Hill. … Lawrenceville’s Joshua Friday was the only Larry off the bench to finish with points — he finished with two.

“Our bench gave us a huge lift,” Eilberg said. “Dorsey, Mayo and Morris were keys to our win. Those three guys came off the bench and played with great energy, made plays, got on the glass.”

Stats, Stats, Stats

Morris scored 9 of his 11 points in the second half while Mayo finished with seven rebounds. Dorsey was a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. Collegeville native Ethan Norton had eight assists, six rebounds and five points.