Boys Basketball – Nocera FTs Push Holmdel Past Rumson, Into SCT

HOLMDEL – In each of the past two seasons, the Holmdel boys basketball team earned first-round home games in the Shore Conference Tournament, only to fall each time. Wednesday against Shore Conference Class A Central rival Rumson-Fair Haven, the Hornets needed to win just to get a game of any kind.

Holmdel came through in a virtual must-win home game thanks to two late free throws by senior Gerard Nocera, knocking off the Bulldogs, 46-45, to officially qualify for next week’s SCT.

“We definitely looked at this game as a must-win and we played like it,” Nocera said. “This was kind of like our first tournament game.”

Nocera scored a game-high 21 points, including both ends of a 1-and-1 with 23.3 seconds left to give his team a 46-45 lead – its first since the first minute of the third quarter. Rumson’s Jack Herrmann missed a contested shot in the paint in the final seconds and sophomore Brendan Barry’s fade-away 3-point attempt as time expired came up just short.

Nocera hit a big three to cut Rumson’s lead to 42-41 with just under two minutes left, but Rumson went back up by four on a 3-pointer by Barry on the next possession.

The Bulldogs had the ball with less than a minute to play, but Holmdel senior Jack Flanagan stole a pass near midcourt, took it the distance, and laid the ball in as he was fouled. The senior knocked down the ensuing free throw to cut Rumson’s lead to one with 41.7 seconds left.

“That was probably the play of the game right there,” Nocera said. “We were just running traps at them hoping to get a turnover, and Jack stepped up and made a huge play for us.”

Herrmann missed two free throws on the other end with 36.8 seconds left, giving Holmdel a chance to take the lead. Nocera drove into the paint and was bumped before getting a shot off, but the foul was Rumson’s seventh of the second half, giving Nocera a 1-and-1.

After knocking down the first free throw and sitting through a timeout by the Bulldogs, Nocera went back to the line and calmly knocked down the deciding foul shot.

“Getting the first one was big because at least I knew we were tied going into the timeout,” Nocera said. “Once I got back out there, I just cleared my head and focused on making a shot.”

Nocera scored 15 of his points in the first half and made just one field goal in the second half with the Bulldogs gearing up to stop one of the Shore Conference’s top scorers.

“Gerard has been our biggest scorer and teams are starting to give him that treatment where they’re going to make him earn his points,” Holmdel coach Sean Devaney said. “We need other guys to hit shots to draw some attention away from him and I think tonight, we didn’t make enough to open things up for Gerard in the second half, but we made enough to win the game. And even with the attention, he still hit a big three late in the game for us.”

The Hornets battled turnover problems in the second and third quarters, at one point turning the ball over on six straight possessions. Holmdel ultimately turned the ball over 14 times on Wednesday, but also forced 17 Rumson turnovers, including three straight Bulldogs turnovers following Barry’s three that made it 45-41.

“It was the kind of game where you felt like you were never out of it because the other team kept turning the ball over,” Devaney said. “Once we stopped giving the ball away, we gave ourselves a chance and fortunately, we were able to force a few on the other end when we really needed them.”

Junior Luke Mayell contributed nine points for Holmdel, including seven in the first half. Sophomore John Miller also scored seven key points off the bench, including a 3-pointer from the wing to end the third quarter and pull Holmdel within 33-31 heading to the fourth.

Herrmann led Rumson with 15 points while Barry chipped in 13 with three 3-pointers. The two combined for 15 of Rumson’s 21 second-half points.

The Hornets will likely be tasked with a first-round road game in next week’s SCT and should that be the case, they will try to do to a host team what Ocean did to Holmdel in each of the past two seasons – pull a first-round road upset.

“We’re certainly battle-tested heading into the tournament,” Devaney said. “I thought we’ve been tested the last few years and things didn’t work out. Maybe going in as more of an underdog, on the road, with a chip on our shoulder will be a good thing for us. Whatever we get, I think we know we can play a good game against a quality team and hopefully that’s what we’ll do.”

Box Score

Holmdel 46, Rumson-Fair Haven 45

Rumson-Fair Haven (45): Brendan Barry 5 0-0 13, Thomas Famulary 3 0-2 6, Morgan Maguire 2 0-0 4, Jack Herrmann 6 3-7 15, Alex Geiger 2 0-0 5, Tommy Johnston 1 0-0 2, Jack Luby 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Purcell 0 0-0 0, Jackson Reid 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 3-9 45

Three-pointers: Barry 3, Geiger

Holmdel (46): Luke Mayell 4 0-0 9, Jeff Harris 1 0-0 2, Matt McDonnell 0 0-0 0, Gerard Nocera 6 7-8 21, Jack Flanagan 2 1-1 5, John Miller 3 0-0 7, Kyle Rooney 1 0-0 2, Ray LaForte 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 8-9 46

Three-pointers: Mayell, Nocera 2, Miller