The Shore Daily, 1/24/15
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It was another wild night of boys basketball, headlined by, of course, No. 4 Freehold Township taking down No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy to end the Colts' 20-game divisional winning streak in Class A North.
Tyree Wilson had 22 points to lead the way in a 71-68 win that marked the first time the Colts lost to a Shore Conference opponent since falling to Point Beach in last year's Shore Conference Tournament championship game. Matt Manley was in the house to see the upset, which came two games after the Patriots themselves were upset by unranked Manalapan on Tuesday. Seniors Dan Saunders and Kyle Czajkowski, who didn't play in a blowout loss to CBA in the season opener because of injuries, combined for 22 points last night.
Freehold Township is a team that rides momentum as much as any team in the Shore, and the Patriots came out blazing, starting the game on a 19-5 run and holding on despite a monster game by CBA junior Pat Andree, who poured in 30 points and is now only four away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
It was all about which team would exploit the other's weakness the most. Freehold Township is deeper and more athletic at guard than CBA, while the Colts are bigger and more talented in the frontcourt than the Patriots. Freehold Township's guards won the day, consistently getting into the lane and creating baskets, to give the Patriots a slight glimmer of hope in Class A North by trimming CBA's lead in the division to two games as we head down the stretch. Freehold Township is also now in the lead to win the public division title.
Outside of Neptune, Freehold Township has probably had more success against CBA than any other team in Shore Conference history. The Patriots have now won on their home floor against the Colts in three out of the last four seasons and have beaten them eight times since 2004, when they registered their first win in school history against CBA with a team led by scoring machine Manny Ubilla. Other than Neptune, I can't think of a team in Shore history that can say it has eight wins over CBA, and all of them have come under coach Brian Golub. Lakewood would be my only other guess, but they don't play that frequently.
I took in Manasquan's 52-45 win over Rumson that the Warriors controlled from the opening tip before the Bulldogs made it a five-point game inside the final minute thanks to an 18-point fourth-quarter explosion by junior guard Brendan Barry, who finished with 27 points. It was a pretty standard Manasquan performance, meaning solid pressure on the ball, good help defense and shot-blocking in the middle, as forwards Ryan Jensen and Kyle Bradshaw swatted a combined seven shots.
While Manasquan's offense still needs work between careless turnovers and missing gimmes at the rim, the defense is good enough to take them deep into the postseason. A positive sign on Friday was also the Warriors' foul shooting, as they went 16-for-19 after entering the game shooting 56 percent from the line as a team. They also had a great student section, which Jensen said was their best since last season's state playoff game at home. They were definitely the most patriotic fans in the Shore on Friday night.
As for Rumson, Barry's supporting cast had a particularly rough night, so you don't expect that to happen too many times. The Bulldogs are still a postseason threat, especially because Barry can create so well. His release is so quick that he only needs about a foot of space to get off a stepback 3-pointer, and if you lunge after he jab steps, he will blow right by you and get into the lane. He is a very smart player, equally adept at scoring off the dribble and moving without the ball off screens to get a look on a catch-and-shoot. He also has range from the parking lot.
Manasquan contained Barry for three quarters while erasing the whole rest of Rumson's team, which shot 7-for-31 from the field in the game, including 1-for-14 in the first half when Rumson only scored 11 points. The win kept Manasquan tied for first place in Class A Central with Shore Regional, which took care of Raritan as Kevin Bloodgood moved within 13 points of 1,000 for his career.
One game after Manalapan upset Freehold Township, the Braves fell 57-50 to a solid Marlboro team thanks to 16 points by George Elghoul. Class A North has just cannibalized itself this season, so I'm interested to see how those teams do in the tournaments once they get away from playing each other. Howell also continued its resurgent season by beating Middletown South to move to 8-6, as Aaron Trimble dropped 19 and Will Kocsis continued a solid season with 17 points and 8 boards.
Neptune is quietly building steam after a rough stretch put the Scarlet Fliers behind the eight-ball. They routed Matawan, 57-37, behind 15 points from sophomore guard Barry Brown for their third straight win to get them to 6-7 for the season.
Central picked up a quality nondivisional win over No. 9 Wall, 61-44, in a classic letdown game for the Crimson Knights. Wall had just blown a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a brutal loss to Red Bank a night earlier and had to come back and face a rejuvenated Central team that has added sophomore center Elijah Barnes, who is eligible after sitting out 30 days following his transfer from Freehold Boro. Barnes, who tormented Wall while on the Colonials last year, did it again last night with 22 points.
Congrats are in order for Keyport coach Phil Recco, who picked up his 100th career win in a victory over Ranney thanks to 13 points and 9 rebounds by junior Travis Alvarez. He has built a solid, competitive program at the small Group I school.
Now the question becomes, who's No. 1? CBA has been No. 1 all season but lost last night, No. 2 Red Bank lost to Red Bank Catholic on Tuesday, No. 4 Freehold Township lost to unranked Manalapan earlier in the week, No. 5 Rumson just lost to No. 8 Manasquan, No. 7 Colts Neck lost to No. 9 Wall, Wall just lost back-to-back games, and No. 10 Southern lost to Toms River South.
By logic, which hasn't had much to do with this season, No. 3 Toms River North could move up, as the Mariners only have one loss and won the WOBM Classic, which featured Freehold Township. Lakewood should also be right in the discussion. Freehold Township may have had an argument if it beat Manalapan, although it would seem a little strange given that CBA is still in first place in A North by two games. It all adds up to a big headache. Having done many of these rankings over the years, here is my best advice to Matt when he does the next Top 10 for tomorrow.
Manasquan also had a big win in Class A Central over Rumson on the girls side in a match-up of Top 10 teams in the state as the Warriors pulled out a 58-55 thriller thanks to 28 points by star Marina Mabrey as well as some big buckets down the stretch by forward Victoria Galvan, who finished with 10 points. Freshman guard Dara Mabrey also added 10 points.
There also were some wrestling results of note on Friday night as Brick Memorial all but officially locked up its first outright Class A South crown since 2001 by beating Southern 32-28. Junior Anthony Mitchell had a big pin at 138 to key the win. In a highly-anticipated individual showdown, Southern's Matt Wilhelm, who won the Region VI title at 138 last season, decisioned Brick Memorial's Cliff Ruggiero, 11-7, in a match-up of the top two Region VI contenders at 160 this season.
Also, Long Branch beat Colts Neck to clinch its third straight Class B North title. On the individual side, Wall star junior Brett Donner, who was third in the state at 160 last year, made his season debut after returning from a high ankle sprain, winning by major decision at 182 in a victory over Point Boro.
Three quick football notes: Red Bank Catholic senior lineman Pat Cino picked up an offer from Division II St. Anselm College yesterday, and Howell lineman Jeremy Subjinski announced today that he has committed to Monmouth University. Also, St. John Vianney junior quarterback Anthony Brown picked up an offer from Wake Forest today to go with offers from Monmouth University, Old Dominion, New Hampshire, Liberty University and Northwestern University. Brown looks to be one of New Jersey's top quarterback prospects this coming fall.
More on Saturday:
- State powers Roselle Catholic and St. Benedict's will collide tomorrow in a showcase in Newark.
- RIP Ernie Banks. I remember meeting him at a card show when I was a little kid and he couldn't have been nicer even though I couldn't speak because I was in awe.
- Lower Cape May basketball star Lauren Holden hit the rare 2,000-point mark.
- There's a show in Sweden where journalists and a tech team hunt down online trolls in real life and expose them on TV.
On tap for today: Not a whole lot. Most of the basketball schedule and a chunk of the wrestling schedule have been wiped out by the weather. The two big wrestling matches that are still on are No. 6 Long Branch at No. 1 Howell and No. 7 Toms River South at No. 5 Brick.
I'll end with the shot of the night from Friday, which belonged to Manchester's L.J. Robinson. He got this crazy 3-point heave to fall in overtime at the buzzer to stun Lacey in a nondivisional game.
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