HAMILTON — Karelle Miller felt some nerves as he sat on the bench in the second half of the Hamilton West boys basketball team’s season opener. But then, a few words of encouragement from head coach Brandon Johnson helped unlock his stardom. “He said, ‘Yo, the fourth quarter is your quarter. Be ready. Knock these down for us,’” Miller recalled in. “I came in, I executed.” Boy did he ever. With the game on the line, the senior guard swished a pair of clutch 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to propel Hamilton past WW-P North in a low-scoring affair on Tuesday night, 45-33. “That’s like 15 points in a game like that,” North coach Luke Beesley said. “It’s just so tight, and when they explode like that, it’s really hard for us to answer. But it’s a credit to him. He’s a good shooter. We knew it going in.” Miller finished with a game-high 17 points and five 5s, which were huge on a night when the Hornets struggled to generate offense. They turned the ball over only a handful of times, but they shot 8-for-28 in the first half and 2-for-12 in the third quarter. Then they erupted for 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the fourth quarter. “Once the jitters were out, we were just ready to go,” Miller said. “We all had to build each other up. We had to relax because we were playing at their pace, so we just had to relax, play at our own pace, and we were just ready to go.” The game featured five lead changes and nine ties, including 33-33 when Jordan Hunte buried a pair of free throws for North with 2:24 remaining. Nakye Bradshaw scored the go-ahead basket for Hamilton out a timeout, Miller created a wave of momentum with his two 3s, and then Bradshaw connected on two more field goals. It was an avalanche that had the Knights all out of sorts. They committed five turnovers in the fourth quarter. But that’s to be expected for a program which is coming off a school-record 23 wins but has five new starters. “I think we just have to find how we can get our guys in the best spot for them,” said Beesley, whose team opened last week with a win over WW-P South before falling to North Hunterdon. “It’s early in the year. We’ve got a lot more time to improve. When you have a lot of new faces, a lot of guys that haven’t had as much varsity experience, it takes time to just get comfortable within what they do well on the floor, and I think we saw that today.” Miller, meanwhile, is an established shooter in the CVC. He set Hamilton’s modern school record (since 2010) with 61 3s last season. “Just practicing my form, just shooting,” said Miller, a third-year varsity player who has been shooting a basketball since he was about six years old. “It’s really working on your 3-pointer. After practice I’m here shooting 3s, making sure I got it right for the next game. Before the games I show up an hour early, make sure I’m getting my shot right, ready to go.” Dy’zier Williams added eight points, while Luke Radoslovich, Noreon Martinez and Bradshaw all finished with six. North’s leading scorer was Adi Singh, a junior who had a career-high 13 points after mostly being a JV player last year. Aarav Mohan, Rahul Hegde and Hunte each netted six. Mohan, a 6-foot-4 forward and North’s most experienced varsity player, left the game with 6:56 remaining in the second quarter with an ankle injury. The Knight were also missing a starting guard in Kai Gibson because he’s been battling the flu. Under those circumstances, Beesley was even more proud of his team’s effort, especially defensively. North trailed by no more than three points early on and pulled ahead 29-22 early in the fourth quarter before Hamilton’s shot-making frenzy. “We’re moving guys around and we’re putting guys in different positions. As that happens, we’re not as consistent on the offensive end,” Beesley said. “So we’re gonna continue to work on that. But in our league, we feel like we can win or lose any game that we play really. So it’s an exciting opportunity each time we step on the court.” Hamilton currently has four underclassmen in the starting lineup with Miller coming off the bench. With more performances like Tuesday, he just might end up as one of the best sixth men in the CVC. “I’m just showing my team I’ve got their back, and they’ve got my back,” Miller said. “We’re just ready. We’ve got to build off this.” WW-P NORTH (33) Hunte 2-2-6, Mohan 1-2-6, Singh 5-0-13, Hegde 3-0-6, Skelton-Leon 1-0-2, Satav 1-0-2. Totals — 13-4-33. HAMILTON (45) Tucker 1-0-2, Radoslovich 3-0-6, Miller 6-0-17, Martinez 3-0-6, D. Williams 4-0-8, Bradshaw 3-0-6. Totals — 20-0-45. WW-P North (1-2) 9 9 9 6 — 33 Hamilton (1-0) 10 8 4 23 — 45 3-point goals: Singh 3 (WWPN), Miller 5 (H). ...read more read less