HAGERSTOWN, Md. – It was a good time for a curtain call at North Hagerstown on Thursday.
It was a chance for the Hubs to recognize their supporting cast. That’s anyone wearing a uniform with a number higher than No. 2.
Oh, North’s dynamic duo of Brayden Cespedes – No. 1 in your program – and Joey Dorsey – donning No. 2 – administered most of the damage in the first half on Thursday against Williamsport. They showed why they are two of the top four scorers in Washington County with 23 of the Hubs’ 32 points in the first half, as usual.
But when a leg injury put Dorsey out of the game at the start of the second half, the Hubs’ band of backup brothers picked up the slack. Ja Ron Nicholson moved into Dorsey’s spotlight while others kept North’s offense on track for a 69-52 win over the Wildcats.
Nicholson scored nine of his 11 second-half points in the decisive third quarter to finish with 18 points to back Cespedes’ 23 to help the Hubs (7-1) blow open the second half
“I didn’t know (Dorsey) wasn’t out on the floor to start the third quarter,” said North coach Nate Naylor. “For him not being out there, something has to be wrong. It’s hard to keep him off the floor.
“I think that is something that we need to see. You never want to see anyone hurt, but it’s kind of blessing in disguise. We have to figure out who we are when things aren’t going our way. Tonight, we answered the challenge.”
With Dorsey out, Cespedes remained the Hubs’ strong leading man, while Nicholson stepped into the glow of the offensive spotlight. Tristan Redick stepped forward with another nine points, while more of the Hubs contributed in other ways to help North bounce back from Friday’s tough first loss to Frederick.
“My teammates opened up the floor and helped me get to the bucket,” said Cespedes. “I can’t do anything without my teammates.
“(Dorsey’s) one of our main scorers and we have a lot of iso plays with him. Without him, we played more as a team, found the shooters open. We were getting to the rim and got fouls and we were moving the ball to get open shots.”
The Hubs held a 32-24 lead at the half, but all but put the game out of reach in the third quarter with a 15-0 run in the middle of the period. That moved their lead from six to 21 points at 50-29 with 1:49 to in the period, enroute to a 22-8 advantage for the quarter.
It went against the best laid plans of Williamsport coach Jonathan Wesson for the second half.
“We went in at halftime and talked about what we would do if they sat Joey, like in the Frederick game. We kind of got away from the game plan,” Wesson said. “The game plan was not let Brayden get downhill, everyone over-help and make someone else kill us. And over and over and over again, we allowed him to turn the corner, get deep in the paint and finish off or dump it off. We kind of got uncharacteristic there.”
In the process, North shut down Jahmeir Byrd, the county’s leading scorer, for the first 6:45 of the second half. He scored on a dunk at with 1:15 left in the third quarter to end the Hubs’ scoring flurry.
Nicholson, a sophomore, picked up Dorsey’s role of defending Byrd and stole the ball from the Wildcats’ big man twice near midcourt, leading to breakaway layups to extend North’s decisive run.
“I was picking up the shots that Joey takes and being more aggressive on offense, not just settle for 3s,” Nicolson said. “And then on defense, I was getting the steals, too. This is a hustling defense and gets me running on offense.
“I knew my teammates had my back, so I could gamble a little bit and get the steals I need.”
The game opened with Williamsport (4-4) getting the early 5-2 lead before the Hubs unleashed a 17-2 run starting at 6:42 of the first quarter to take a 19-2 lead. Jayden Willams hit a 3 with :40 left to make 19-10 at the break.
Cespedes led the way with nine points and Dorsey got six of his 10 for the night in the first eight minutes.
The Wildcats played the Hubs even in the second quarter, with Byrd scoring their final six points of the half, to trail 32-24 at the half.
The complexion and pace of the game changed from there with Dorsey’s injury.
“We had a nice talk at halftime. We have to play with heart. They were getting second and third shots and we were not playing really hard defensively.” Naylor said. “We were playing at their pace instead of playing our style and playing with our energy, getting up and down the floor. They have to play our style not us playing their style.
It was good because of the way Ja Ron responded. We have been on Ja Ron pretty hard the last couple of days.”
Nicholson, who miss half the fourth quarter with an injury, added three rebounds and three steals to help the Hubs. Cespedes hit 10 of 15 shots, mostly on drives, and added six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Byrd finished with a game-high 24 points, while Williams added 11.
“It was a tale to two halves for us,” Wesson said. “The first half, we executed the way we wanted to, other than a handful of possessions. Then we go in at halftime and talk it over and it was completely different half.
“You can’t do that against a good athletic team. We just don’t have enough firepower on offense to score with them. The number I had to let us win the game was to hold them to under 60 and they busted through there.”
