Boys Basketball – VOTE: Orthopaedic Institute Week 3 Player of the Week

Each week, for the remainder of the season, Shore Sports Network will recognize the top performers in each division of Shore Conference boys basketball and give the readers a chance to weigh in.

Read about the eight candidates - six divisional players of the week and two wild cards - from last week and pick the one you think has the best case as the overall Player of the Week, with the winner taking home a Surf Taco gift card. Vote once per hour in the poll at the bottom of the post until voting ends on Wednesday at 11 p.m.

James Anderson, Middletown South

Middletown South’s balance has been hard for opponents to account for, but when the Eagles have one hot hand, it is usually Anderson. The senior leads the team in scoring and had a huge week, which began with a 19-point outing on Monday in a win over No. 4 Marlboro, which also happened to be his 18th birthday. Anderson followed up the big win with a career performance, pumping in 35 points in a rout of Long Branch.

Class A North Honorable Mention: Joe Lardaro, Freehold Twp.; Jayce Schapiro, Freehold Twp.; Ryan Knorr, Manalapan; Jiasion Carpenter, Freehold Boro; Alex Ratner, Marlboro; Jack Seidler, Marlboro; Colin Farrell, CBA

Justin Rivera, Raritan

The Rockets picked up three wins in three tries last week to improve to 6-4 and Rivera played a key role in each one. The sophomore scored a team-high 18 points in a win over Shore, netted 13 in a win over Keyport and tallied 13 more to help lead a come-from-behind road win over St. Rose.

Class A Central Honorable Mention: Geoff Schroeder, Rumson-Fair Haven; Alex Baker, Holmdel; Tim McEneny, Manasquan; Kieran Flanagan, Manasquan; Casey Mulligan, Manasquan Charlie Gordinier, Red Bank Catholic; Jack Giamanco, Holmdel; Aiden Denton, Monmouth; Chris Kessler, Shore

Eugene Brown, Central

Although Central did not fare all that well as a team this week (1-3), the Golden Eagles played some stiff competition on the tail end and Brown showed up at each step along the way. The senior posted 19 points and 18 rebounds in a win over Brick on Wednesday, put up a team-high 20 in a loss to No. 2 Toms River North and tallied 12 points, nine rebounds, four steals and four blocks in a loss to St. Joseph Hammonton on Saturday.

Class A South Honorable Mention: Najae Hallenbeck, Toms River North; Matt Mahala, Jackson Memorial; Riley Engelhard, Toms River East; Jakari Spence, Toms River North; Brandon Thomas, Brick Memorial; Ryan Goodall, Toms River East

Malik Fields, Neptune

Fields is in the midst of a breakout season and this past week put that on display. The sophomore scored 17 points to go with 12 rebounds in a thrilling win over Red Bank, notched 13 points in a loss to St. John Vianney and dropped a career-high 25 on the road vs. No. 4 Marlboro in a game that saw the Scarlet Fliers lose after taking a seven-point lead to the fourth quarter.

Class B North Honorable Mention: Niles Haliburton, Matawan; Corey Miller, Ocean; Matt Kenny, Middletown North; Brian Stuart, Neptune; Pat Murray, Red Bank; Sam Fagan, Neptune; Quinn Calabrese, Wall

Chris Venturoso, Point Beach

The Garnet Gulls freshman continued to shine for a Point Beach squad that is battling to get back to .500 after a rough 2018-19 season. Venturoso opened the week with 21 points in a loss to Mater Dei, then put up 24 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Henry Hudson to help Point Beach improve to 4-5 on the season.

Class B Central Honorable Mention: Pete Gorman, Mater Dei; Grady Hendrickson, Henry Hudson; Elijah Perkins, Ranney; Chris Johnson, Keyport

Matt Lee, Point Boro

There have been a number of heroes for Point Boro during the course of its climb to the top of the B South standings: senior Alex Drucquer, senior Sam Young, sophomore Matt Lee, freshman Stephen Mellet, among others. Lee gets this week’s nod as B South Player of the Week for leading the Panthers in scoring in wins over both Pinelands on Tuesday and Barnegat on Friday. He scored 15 in the win over Pinelands and poured in 16 in a key win over the Bengals.

Class B South Honorable Mention: Ryan Savoy, Lakewood; Isaiah Gerena, Barnegat; Savon Myers, Manchester; D’Maari Brown, Manchester; Carson Howard, Lacey; Matt Weeden, Donovan Catholic; Sam Young, Point Boro; Josh Kline, Pinelands; Jordan Cohen, Lacey; Jaxon Baker, Barnegat

Wild Cards

Ryan Savoy, Lakewood

While Lakewood remains two games out of first place in B South, the Piners head into this week on a nice roll with a chance to do some damage in the second half of the season. While a lot of that has to do with the progress of some of the younger players on the roster, Savoy deserves a lot of the credit for stepping up his game. The senior scored 21 points in a 46-36 win over Jackson Liberty on Tuesday and followed with 21 more in a dominant performance vs. Manchester ��� including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Joe Lardaro, Freehold Township

This was an important week for the Patriots, who had to contend with CBA and Marlboro in Class A North play before taking on Woodbridge at the Coaches vs. Cancer Showcase at Central on Saturday. The Patriots went 2-1 with wins over CBA and Woodbridge, with Lardaro scoring 11 points vs. CBA and 15 in the win over Woodbridge. The junior forward also scored 22 in the loss at Marlboro