TRENTON — Jaydon Fulton-English joked that he needed to ice his body. He back hurt and his leg hurt from the number of fouls he absorbed in his first taste of the Trenton-Ewing boys basketball rivalry. “It was actually really fun,” the Trenton senior said after dropping a season-high 20 points in the Tornadoes’ 70-57 win Thursday night in front of a raucous home gym. “I love the crowd, all the energy. It was really good, really intense.” The 6-foot-3 wing transferred to Trenton when STEMCivics in Ewing closed down after last school year. He’s been an integral piece to the championship puzzle that the Tornadoes are assembling with averages of 12 points and six rebounds. His toughness on the inside Thursday was crucial as Trenton (6-3) made a statement against Ewing (7-2) that this is arguably the CVC’s best team. Both schools came into the game without a conference loss. Trenton High’s Aivaye Ingram gestures to his team against Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Trenton High’s Jaydon Fulton-English puts up a shot against Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Ewing’s Shawn Robertson, right, knocks over Trenton High’s Aivaye Ingram, left, as they go after a rebound during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Trenton High’s Juan Sanchez, 3 reacts to a defensive stop against Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Ewing’s Woo Cannon, left, tries to spin away from the defense of Trenton High’s Juan Sanchez, right, during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Trenton High’s Aivaye Ingram, left, dribbles the ball up the court as Ewing’s Davion Morton, right, defends during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Ewing’s Davion Morton, left, tries to lay the ball in the basket as Trenton’s Aivaye Ingram, right, goes for the block during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Trenton High players Juan Sanchez, 3, Jharris Genao Ramos, 35, Garmari Davidson, 2, and Aivaye Ingram, 5, celebrate a victory over Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Ewing’s Jeremiah Upshur, right, lays the ball in the basket against Trenton High during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Ewing coach Paul Jones reacts on the sideline against Trenton during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Trenton High coach Darryl Young reacts to a play against Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Show Caption1 of 11Trenton High’s Aivaye Ingram gestures to his team against Ewing during a CVC boys basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at Tornado Alley in Trenton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Expand Guards Juan Sanchez and Aivaye Ingram continued their stellar seasons as well with 25 points and 21 points, respectively. “I call them the Big 3: Aivaye, Juan and Jaydon,” coach Darryl Young said. “A lot of people don’t know about Jaydon, so he’s going to be a big surprise for a lot of people this year. He’s another scoring threat. He’s a slasher, he can get out and break, runs the floor well. That’s his game. He’s just a great addition for us. And also long, athletic, he defends the ball well. He fits right into our system.” Trenton took control of the game early with its defensive intensity and offensive rebounding as it forced a dozen turnovers and had 12 more field-goal attempts than Ewing in the first half to build a 39-25 halftime lead. “In practice we just let them know the importance of the tradition of this game, the pride of this game, the rivalry aspect of it,” Young said. “It goes so far back. I played in it, my son played in it, my brother played in it. It’s a big deal when Trenton and Ewing come together, so my main thing was just keeping these guys focused, challenging them to stay disciplined on the game.” Discipline was paramount throughout the second half in which the teams combined to shoot a whopping 44 free throws because of the amount of aggressive dribble penetration leading to a whistle on seemingly every possession. Fulton-English converted 8 of Trenton’s 20 made free throws on 36 attempts. Ewing shot 14 for 27 at the line. “Our plan is to always get to the line, always be aggressive, but it just kept happening. They just kept fouling,” Fulton-English said. Perhaps partly affected by the disrupted game flow, Trenton didn’t even connect on a field goal in the third quarter until Ingram dunked the ball with 43 seconds left. Yet Ewing was unable to cut its deficit to fewer than eight points for the entire second half. Defensively, Trenton held Ewing’s Terrance Traylor to seven points through three quarters. The senior finished with 17 points, which was still the second-lowest total of the season for one of the CVC’s leading scorers (20.8 points per game). “In the back court we were double-teaming him, making somebody else bring the ball up,” said Young, who considers Traylor to be one of the top guards in New Jersey. “Our main focus was to keep the ball out of his hands. I think our guys did a good job tonight. We made him work hard.” Trenton believed it was built for this moment because Young put together a brutal early-season schedule. The Tornadoes learned from losses against a trio of top-15 teams in New Jersey: Seton Hall Prep, Lenape and Gill St. Bernard’s. And they lost to Lenape (9-0) by only one point. “It just helped us out and showed us what we did wrong and helped us get better at our mistakes,” Fulton-English said. “We tend to throw the game away in close games, but we adjusted to that. We’re getting better at it now.” Trenton’s main issue at times has been rushing within its fast pace, Fulton-English said, and that was much-improved when it faced a top Central Jersey Group III team in Ewing. Young figured the Blue Devils would come out with a zone defense on Thursday, so the Tornadoes worked all week in practice on making patient passes against a zone and getting the ball to the middle of the floor. Now, Trenton feels that it’s in control of the Colonial Division and wants to dominate January before the CVC Tournament gets underway in February, followed by the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament. The goal with this senior-heavy group is to win at least a sectional title for the first time in three years. Knocking off Ewing for the first time in three years was a good omen. “They’ve seen everything. They’re battle-tested early,” Young said. “We’re Trenton. We’re going to duck nobody, and I want my kids to see the best players, because I think that motivates you as a kid to get better.” EWING (57) Robertson 1-6-8, Morton 1-1-3, Traylor 7-3-17, M. Upshur 5-2-12, J. Upshur 2-2-6, Jason Carter 2-0-6, Andino 1-0-2, Jaxon Carter 1-0-3. Totals — 20-14-57. TRENTON (70) Fulton-English 6-8-20, Sanchez 8-5-25, Ramos 1-0-2, Ingram 7-7-21, Davidson 1-0-2. Totals — 23-20-70. Ewing (7-2) 13 12 11 21 — 57 Trenton (6-3) 17 22 9 22 — 70 3-point goals: Jason Carter 2, Jaxon Carter (E), Sanchez 4 (T). ...read more read less