The Shore Daily, 1/8/15
A wild Shore Conference wrestling season continued on Wednesday night when No. 6 Jackson Memorial took down No. 3 Southern 32-23 to shake up the Class A South race in their annual divisional showdown.
The Jaguars put themselves back in the division title mix after a loss on criteria to No. 5 Brick last week. The win also boosts the division title hopes of Brick, which has never won a Class A South championship in its history. The Green Dragons took care of business against No. 10 Toms River North with a 42-24 win to remain unbeaten in the division. Their matches at rival and division favorite Brick Memorial on Jan. 17 and home against Southern on Jan. 26 are two major obstacles remaining in the quest for the division title.
The star of Jackson Memorial's win over Southern was senior 126-pounder Fred Terranova, who dominated for an eye-opening, 16-1 technical fall in just 2:45 over Chris Crane for some crucial bonus points that powered the win. Terranova, who was the District 21 champion at 106 pounds last season and finished third in Region VI, scored a decisive win over Crane, who was the District 24 champion at 120 last season. Check out the highlights from that bout here by Bob Badders.
On the basketball side, it was a light night, but there was one thing of note. Senior forward Kyle Bradshaw, a transfer from Monmouth Regional, made his debut for Manasquan after returning from a right foot injury. Bradshaw had 15 points in a 61-52 win over Bishop Ahr in his debut. A versatile talent who can score and defend, Bradshaw was under the radar because of Monmouth's struggles last season, but he should be a big addition for one of the Shore's Top 10 teams.
More on Thursday:
- Middletown North graduate and first-team All-Big Ten defensive end Shilique Calhoun is still mulling over whether to leave a year early from Michigan State to enter the NFL draft. He was projected as a first-rounder before this season.
- Amazing to see the progress of former Holmdel basketball player Timmy McDonnell, who just turned 21 on Wednesday. He was struck by a car near the campus of Rutgers on Oct. 4, leaving him in a coma with catastrophic injuries. The driver who struck him, a 30-year-old man from Somerset, has been charged with driving while intoxicated. After being treated at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, McDonnell has done his rehabilitation at the nearby Kessler Institute and is scheduled to come home on Jan. 15 and continue his rehab. He has made amazing strides (literally) in learning to walk again and regain his speech and memory. Everyone from Joe Buck to Troy Aikman has showed support with messages of "Fight, Timmy, fight!"
- Quinnipiac senior forward Sam Guastella, a former Red Bank Catholic star, was named the Quinnipiac Athlete of the Month for December.
- Colgate is off to its first 3-0 start in the Patriot League since 1998-99. Senior forward Matt McMullen (Christian Brothers Academy) grabbed a team-high seven boards to help them beat Holy Cross on Wednesday night.
- Brown University sophomore guard J.R. Hobbie (Manasquan) helped the Bears get over the .500 mark with a win earlier this week.
- Guard Nate Pacius (Academy Charter) is the leader in assists per game for a Richard Stockton College team ranked No. 12 in the country in Division III by D3Hoops.com.
- The era of former Lakewood/St. Benedict's Prep star J.R. Smith with my (ashamed to publicly admit it) favorite team, the Knicks, has come to an end with his trade to the Cavaliers, but at least we'll always have this. And this. And this.
- This good feature on the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, brings to mind two things. One, Thompson shows how a coach instilling confidence in a young player rather than tearing him down can make a big difference. Two, it brings to mind one of the greatest Jersey Shore Basketball League anecdotes of all time. The summer after Curry exploded on the national scene during Davidson's run to the Elite Eight in 2008, he was down in Belmar watching a friend play in a JSBL game. A short-handed JSBL coach who shall remain nameless needed an extra player, and he saw an athletic-looking guy in the stands at St. Rose. He went up to Curry and said, dead seriously, "Do you play basketball, son?" Curry could only nod and smile, while saying, "Yeah." (He didn't play in the game.) Classic.
- A quick book recommendation: "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League." It details the story of a man who attended St. Benedict's Prep in Newark after growing up in a rough section of East Orange and made it to Yale, and then what happened to his life after graduating. A haunting, nuanced portrait of a complex person, written by his college roommate from Yale. Worth your time.
- On tap for tonight:
A full slate of boys hoops with some intriguing games. Toms River North has a rematch with Toms River South, which it knocked off in the WOBM Classic semifinals, in a key Class A South game. Colts Neck, which has quietly taken an early lead in Class B North, faces defending champion Matawan, which is coming off a lop-sided loss to Red Bank in which star Jason Dunne was taken to the hospital for dehydration. This is an early separation game in B North.
Central travels to undefeated Lakewood in Class B South, which is the first real look locally at the Golden Eagles, who played in a tournament out in San Diego over the holidays. (Update: The Pinelands-Manchester game has been moved to Friday). Also, Pinelands heads to Manchester in another B South match-up. Pinelands is off to a 4-2 start under coach John Tierney after finishing 7-16 last season and faces a good test in the Hawks.
One wrestling match of note is Wall heading up to Jersey City to face St. Peter's Prep, the second-ranked team in the state.
Coming up:No. 4 Christian Brothers Academy hosts No. 1 Howell on Friday night at 5:30 in a huge Class A North wrestling match that should decide a division that Howell has won for nine straight years. The Rebels then come right back and wrestle Southern on Saturday, so it's a big week for Howell.
Saturday is the annual Boardwalk Hoop Group Showcase at Long Branch High School featuring five Shore Conference match-ups in what is always a great day of hoops. This year's schedule, which starts at noon, is highlighted by the annual CBA-St. Anthony game. I'll have a more in-depth look at the Boardwalk showcase tomorrow.
I'll now end with this dunk by Seattle high schooler Hafid Yassin. That is some serious bounce.
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