HIGHTSTOWN — High school networking helped The Peddie School land a unique talent from North Jersey, and it’s led to a dynamic, new-look Falcons boys basketball team this winter. After playing three varsity basketball seasons and graduating from Elizabeth last spring, London Carson enrolled at Peddie for a postgrad year. Carson found the school while training with former Rutgers star Geo Baker at GB Go Beyond in Woodbridge. Baker and other coaches got Carson’s AAU coach with the East Coast Cyclones in touch with Peddie, and it was the perfect fit. “When I came here and visited, it seemed like they had all I had to ask for,” Carson said. “I just came here and decided to work on my game and my academics and get better as a person.” Carson, a 6-foot-4 guard, instantly brought grit to Peddie as a two-time Group IV state champion at Elizabeth. He is currently being recruited by Division I and Division II colleges. “He’s a dynamic scorer,” Peddie coach Joe Rulewich said. “He has a nose for the basket, he’s relentless in attacking downhill. He’s really worked to improve his 3-point shooting, and he’s shooting right around 40 percent which is awesome. And his shot selection has been great.” Carson certainly fit that description Wednesday night as one of three Peddie players who scored 15 points in their 73-65 home win over Pennington. Rulewich added that the team has challenged Carson on the defensive end with matchups in their pressure schemes, and he’s taken a step forward in that regard as well to become a complete player. “I’ve been trying to work on my guard skills,” Carson said. “As I transition into college, that’s what I would be playing. I’ve been in the gym every day trying to get better at my craft.” As far as adjusting to prep basketball, Carson says the tempo of games is definitely faster because of the 30-second shot clock, and athletes are generally taller, stronger and faster. While leading a young team of mostly underclassmen, Carson feels that everything is beginning to gel because of the Falcons’ work ethic. “I feel like we’re mature even though we’re young,” Carson said. “During the summer it was actually easy meshing with the guys because we were in the same dorm staying together throughout the week for the live period, and then during the weekends we would have games, so it was fairly easy meshing with the guys.” Peddie, which entered the weekend with a 9-9 record, features one of the youngest groups in Rulewich’s 19 seasons. The Falcons have no seniors, and after Carson their top-three scorers are underclassmen. Sophomore Gabe Hornberger is another 6-foot-4 weapon who plays AAU during the summer with Carson. Freshman Ethan Nelson has started every game at point guard. Sophomores Jordan Moton and Jayden Moton transferred in from Pennington. Even Rulewich’s son, JT, is on the team now as a freshman, although for now he mostly plays junior varsity. “I think that’s what we needed this year,” Rulewich said of his program’s infusion of youth. “We’ve been an older team and we got lucky because we had some younger guys really excited about Peddie as a school, as student-athletes. This was the year to put that group together, and it just fell into place.” Rulewich believed it was a huge confidence booster for this team to win the Peddie School Invitational Tournament in December for the second straight year because most of the players will be back next year. Knocking off Pennington represented arguably Peddie’s best performance so far in Mid-Atlantic Prep League action. The Falcons have also beaten Lawrenceville and lost to Blair, Hun and Hill. They play Saturday at Mercersburg on Saturday, whom they beat in the PSIT final. As Peddie looks to grow and make noise in the final month of the season, Rulewich likes his team’s ability to guard in the full court and force teams to play fast. “Lots of teams love to play fast, but we want them to play fast a certain way, and I think our ability to force certain types of shots quick and possessions is a strength for us,” Rulewich said. “Then we try to spread it and share it, and I think those two things together are the identity of who we are in terms of our success whether it’s in a game or over the course of a season. We can’t always rely on the ball going in when we get those 3s, but we can rely on our pressure, which is what we always come back to — competing on the defensive end, especially when we’re trying to put a couple baskets together.” Peddie drilled 10 3-pointers to hold off Pennington in what was a revenge win after the Red Hawks won last year’s meeting in Pennington. It’s become a more heated rivalry in recent years with coach Chandler Fraser-Pauls elevating the Pennington program. Rulewich remembers coaching against Fraser-Pauls more than a decade ago when he was a Pennington player, so becoming colleagues has been special. “Chandler’s teams play like him: They’re fierce competitors and they just keep coming at you,” Rulewich said. “We try to be the same way defensively, so that game didn’t disappoint. That was exactly what we thought it would be, we hoped it would be, and today we just came out on top.”