TRENTON – Nearly the entire gym figured Malachi Jeffers-Viera, inbounding beneath his own basket, would just try and find the first open teammate he saw and hope he made two free throws after being fouled. The savvy senior had other ideas, however, as fired a perfect pass to a streaking Blake Amos Whitfield downcourt for the game-clinching layup with 2.5 seconds left in West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s 41-38 victory at Trenton on Thursday night. The Tornadoes nearly forced overtime before Qadir Dixon, who had a team-high 14, had his 3-point attempt go off the back iron at the buzzer. Jeffers-Viera play was typical of senior-laden WWPN, the CVC’s surprise team with the best start in program history at 10-0. “We do that a lot,” Jeffers-Viera said. “I knew he was going, I knew their guy was gonna bite coming to get the ball so I knew we’d get that layup. They’re not expecting us to try and score there. They’re thinking we’re gonna hold the ball so they’re gonna try to bite and get a steal at the rim. Being aggressive worked out perfectly there.” It was a play coach Luke Beesley felt may have been coming. “He trusts in himself and we trust in him,” Beesley said. “I told him ‘If you see something open on that, let’s pull the trigger.’ Blake did a great job setting his man and going and finishing at the rim. That’s experience. We’ve done it all summer, all fall.” Jeffers-Viera battled foul trouble all night but still grinded out 11 points, 12 rebounds and some big-time assists. He did what leaders do with his fourth-quarter heroics, scoring five of his 11 points and dishing several key assists during that time. “Mal’s best attribute is that he has a lot of attributes,” Beesley said. “He can do a lot of different things with the basketball. He can rebound, he’s battling down there all the time. He can pass. When we needed him to get to the rim and get to the line he did that for us. He can handle the ball.” For a while it appeared North would not need Jeffers-Viera’s heroics. After Trenton scored the game’s first bucket, the Knights reeled off 14 straight and would maintain a comfortable lead for the first 20 minutes. With their leading scorer on the bench with three fouls, WWPN got a lift from Ryan Jean-Baptiste, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half. “Ryan did great,” Jeffers-Viera said. “The past couple games he hadn’t been making shots. Today they were focusing on me, I got a lot of fouls and he did what we needed him to do.” West Windsor forged two 14-point leads and was up 30-18 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter. But Trenton (5-6), which has been inconsistent so far, showed how good it can be by ratcheting up its defense, forcing turnovers and getting transition buckets. Thomas Munoz, who returned after missing several games with injury, got all eight of his points on fast-break buckets. Trenton’s halfcourt defense and fullcourt press became intense, forcing 11 second-half turnovers after North had just four in the first half. With 54 seconds left, Aivaye Ingram’s steal and layup cut the margin to 37-35. West Windsor then threw the ball away but Trenton missed a 3-pointer. Jeffers-Viera grabbed the rebound and threw a long outlet to Amos-Whitfield for a layup in a foreshadowing of what was to come. Dixon gave Trenton hope with a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds left, but WW-PN got the back-breaker on the ensuing inbounds play. It was a heady effort by West Windsor to stay calm in beating Trenton for the third straight time. “We’re very old, we have a lot of guys who have played a lot of games,” said Beesley, who joked that he felt a lot older after the game. “A lot of these guys played as sophomores and juniors. They really punched us in the mouth and we took it. We’ve been working on that all year, taking punches and taking those runs so we can battle back. We did a good job today in a tough environment.” Jeffers-Viera recalled an earlier game against Hopewell Valley where, “We blew a 15-point lead, so we’ve been working on how to deal with pressure. We’ve been getting better at it.” Much of the win was due to another outstanding defensive effort. WWPN entered the game allowing 43.8 points per game and held a team to under 40 for the fourth time. It was Trenton’s lowest output of the season as the Tornadoes shot just 16-for-46. Juan Sanchez, who averaged 25 per game in the previous five, was held to eight. “We do a pretty good job defensively,” said Beesley, who has done a stellar job in revitalizing the program. “Our goal is to keep teams under 49. We’re working hard on the other end, we’re active, we know where people are. We’re very old, when we see a scouting report and tell them this or that, it sticks in their mind.” The result has been two phrases never before uttered in the same sentence – WW-P North basketball; and 10-0. “We knew we’d be good,” Jeffers-Viera said. “But I don’t think anyone thought this was coming. Any win at Trenton is a good win. They’re a tough team, they play hard. If we’re winning here,  we’re doing something good.” WW-P NORTH (41) Jeffers-Viera 4-3-11, Jean-Baptiste 6-0-14, Dadan 2-0-4, Joneja 3-0-6, Amos Whitfield 2-0-4, Mohan 1-0-2, Carter 0-0-0, Gibson 0-0-0, Tang 0-0-0. Totals: 18-3-41. TRENTON (38) Sanchez 3-2-8, Dixon 6-1-14, Ingram 2-1-5, Smith 0-0-0, Genao Ramos 0-0-0, Munoz 4-0-8, Grant 1-0-3. Totals: 16-4-38. WW-P North (10-0) 16 10 6 9 – 41 Trenton (5-6) 4 8 16 10 – 38 3-point goals: Jean-Baptiste 2 (WWN). Dixon, Grant (TCHS).