TOMS RIVER - Most high school basketball coaches cringe at the site of one of their players attempting a shot seven feet behind the three-point line, let alone encourage their players to do it.

The list of players Freehold Township boys basketball coach Brian Golub has implored to shoot the ball from that kind of distance is two players long. One is former All-Shore and Fairleigh Dickinson University guard Manny Ubilla and the other had his coming out party at the WOBM Christmas Classic quarterfinals Saturday against Manchester.

Junior Bobby Weise knocked down a tournament-record nine three-pointers and finished with a career-high 30 points to lead the Patriots - the No. 6 seed in the tournament - to a 74-66 win over No. 3 Manchester. Freehold Township will play defending tournament champion and No. 2 Toms River North Monday in the WOBM semifinals.

Freehold Township junior Bobby Weise watches one of his nine threes hit the mark on Saturday vs. Manchester. (Photo by Matt Manley)
Freehold Township junior Bobby Weise watches one of his nine threes hit the mark on Saturday vs. Manchester. (Photo by Matt Manley)
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Weise shot 10-for-12 from the field, including 9-for-11 from behind the three-point line. During the first half, he made eight of his nine three-pointers, including five straight attempts from the end of the first quarter until halftime.

"Bobby's one of the better shooters we've had in the program in a long time," said Golub, who is in his 21st season as head coach of his alma mater. "He's been one of the better shooters on the lower levels. The last two year, on the jayvees, he's made a boatload of threes. What he did today was ridiculous. Manny-Ubilla-like."

Freehold Township jumped out to a 17-13 lead after one quarter behing 12 points by Wiese and then rolled to a 40-20 halftime lead on the back of a 14-point quarter from the junior sharp-shooter.

"It's exciting playing in a building like this and one thing I wanted to do was to get out on the floor early and get used to shooting in this environment," Weise said. "I felt good in warmups and I could pretty much tell right away that my shot was good today."

Weise capped the first half with scorching final two minutes. He stole the ball on one end and pulled up from a step in front of the halfcourt logo and buried a 27-foot three-pointer to put Freehold Township ahead, 33-18. As Weise crossed halfcourt, Golub audibly yelled toward Weise, "Pull it."

"I don't really know where I am, I just know if I'm in range and if I'm open, I'm not afraid to shoot it," Weise said. "Coach has confidence in me and he always tells me that if I get a shot I like, I should shoot it."

He followed up that bomb with a three to make it 37-20, then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and after a missed three by senior Nick Facendo and an offensive rebound, he hit his eighth three of the half to make it 40-20 just before the quarter expired.

Manchester switched senior guard Jordan Torney from Facendo - who scored 31 points in Freehold Township's opening-round win over Wall - to Weise for the second half and limited him to just one three-pointer on two attempts all half. Weise hit a three and missed a quick-released three-point attempt as the third quarter expired, and both shots came in the final 30 seconds of the third.

With Manchester's defensive attention focused on Weise, Facendo, senior John Carroll and junior Steve Staklinski took up the scoring duties in the second half. Staklinski scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter - including a dunk that provided the exclamation point on the win - while Carroll poured in 10 of his 11 in the second half. Facendo scored seven of his 11 points after halftime and shot 7-for-8 from the foul line for the game.

"We don't expect him to make eight threes a half," Golub said. "Two or three a game would be nice. They took him away in the second half and he made the one that he took. We knew they weren't going to give him anything in the second half. They are way too talented and way too well-coached to not make a run, so we needed other guys to step and for the most part, that's what we got."

Manchester made a late push that was not enough to get closer than seven to Freehold Township. Senior Jordan Torney and junior L.J. Robinson each scored 20 and senior Shavar Reynolds scored 19 in the loss.

Weise was a solid contributor in each of Freehold Township's first three games, but never scored more than 10 points. He is one of four new starters complementing the returning point guard Facendo and part of a wave of new varsity players for a team that returns just two players - Facendo and Carroll - from a rotation that reached the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV championship game.

"With as many new guys as we have, it's all about knowing your role," Weise said. "I'm playing my role. I'm just trying to be the player I am, which is what everybody is trying to do right now."

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