By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
DEPTFORD — Less than three years ago, when Deptford High guard Jordan Williams was a sophomore, he averaged just five points per game and made just six free throws the entire season.
When he lays his head down in bed tonight, Williams will go to sleep as a 1,000-point scorer.
His meteoric rise has been concurrent with the Spartans’ resurgence, as Deptford went from a team that lost its last 10 games a year ago and finished with an 11-15 record to a team that has won 12-of-13, is 17-3 and starting to look like a serious contender for a sectional championship.
The Spartans’ latest victim was visiting Triton, as Deptford held off an early charge by the Mustangs and started draining threes in the second quarter to eventually run away with a 79-54 victory. Deptford outscored Triton 26-12 in the second quarter, turning a 21-19 lead early in the quarter to a bulging 44-26 advantage by halftime. Williams was outstanding, knocking down five 3-pointers in the game and finishing with a game-high 28 points. He also added seven rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot.
In all, Deptford (17-3, 6-2 Tri-County Liberty) made 12 of the game’s 20 three-pointers, as Triton four triples and 18 points from Noah Karwowski.
“Jordan has really worked on and done a great job of improving on getting to the basket. His touch around the basket is amazing. He scores quiet points,” said Deptford coach Mike Vilary. “He mixes in some threes, and at the end of the day you’re like, ‘yeah, he had a big game.’”
The milestone points came when Williams drained a 3-pointer with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter, a shot that gave the Spartans a 63-37 lead and quelled any thoughts the Mustangs (6-13, 2-5 Tri-County Liberty) might have had about staying within striking distance. Williams let out a celebratory yell and then joined teammates and family members at center court for the banner presentation.
“It feels great, all the hard work over the years. I’ve only been a varsity starter for two years (prior to this year). It just feels good to get it, finally. I just let the game come to me. I was eager to get it fast, but I just had to let the game come to me, and it came to me naturally in the third quarter. It felt great when I got it,” said Williams, who has scored nearly 500 points already this season. “We know the team we are and the level we have to play at every single game. We stepped it up and handled the job.”
“He’s been everything for us,” said fellow senior Kenny Cockerill. “When we need buckets, he gets buckets for us, when we need rebounds. If we don’t have him we don’t have 17 wins. He’s been a big part of this team.”
A three from Karwowski got Triton to within 21-17 early in the second, and the Mustangs climbed to within 21-19, but from there it was all Deptford as the Spartans went on a 14-3 run to take a 35-22 lead with the second quarter winding down. Triton got 10 points from senior forward Metzgerdy Lamy, but not other Mustangs player got close to double figures.
On the other side, the Spartans got a big lift from point guard Brian Orio, who had seven points and four assists, and Luke Vilary, who added 14 points and five steals. Cockerill had an outstanding game as well, hitting three 3-pointers and finishing with nine points, six rebounds, seven assists and a pair of steals.
“I love playing with Kenny. He gets me the ball and he can finish, too. I love playing with him,” Williams said. “We’ve all just bonded. We bonded over the summer, in the fall. Coming into this season, we knew how good of a team we were and we’ve been staying together. That’s why we’re having success right now.”
“We saw them come out in a zone,” Cockerill explained, “and when other teams come out in a zone that opens up the threes, and we were hitting them. It opened up Jordan and he did some work.”
“These guys have played Triton for years and they know they are some tough kids. They know they have to play hard if you’re going to beat Triton, because if you don’t play hard they’ll take you down. Just having all these seniors — a lot of games this year have been close, but they just keep battling and playing with confidence. Down the stretch, hopefully we can get leads and hold on,” coach Vilary said. “The guys having a year of experience under their belt and playing together all offseason (has been the difference). For a lot of them, last year was their first year getting varsity minutes, and now this year, with all that experience — and they are all really good friends who play together all the time off the court. That has created such great chemistry off the court.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Deptford travels to Delsea Regional on Thursday at 7 p.m. Triton travels to Highland on Thursday at 7 p.m.
