Boys Basketball – VOTE: Week 1 Seaview Orthopaedic Player of the Week
Each week during the 2021-22 season, Shore Sports Network will recognize the top performers in Shore Conference boys basketball and give the SSN readers a chance to pick the top one.
With seven Shore Conference divisions this year instead of six, there will be a Player of the Week in each division, plus three wild cards, giving you a pool of 10 players from which to choose every week.
Read about this week's nominees and vote for the one that strikes you as the best pick for overall Player of the Week. The top vote-getter will receive a $25 gift card to the Turning Point and a long sleeve t-shirt courtesy of Seaview Orthopaedic.
Vote in the poll at the end of the post once per hour until the poll closes at 10 p.m. on Sunday. The Player of the Week contest will revert to its regular day (Monday) beginning on Jan. 3.
Class A North Player of the Week
Will Bradley, CBA
CBA is off to a 2-0 start and the two wins are against two programs that always run out competitive teams. Bradley scored a modest nine points in a win over Holmdel, but they all came during a big first half for the Colts and were part of a balanced scoring effort in which no Colts player scored more than 13 points. Bradley then poured in a team-high 16 in a convincing road win over Freehold Township, which got CBA off on the right foot in Class A North divisional play.
Class A North Honorable Mention: Pat Lautato, CBA; Jayden Holmes-Cotter, Freehold Twp.; Jack Seidler, Marlboro; Zach Emery, Howell; Dylan McVeigh, Howell; Dylan Csik, Middletown South; Dylan Sullivan, Manalapan
Class A Central Player of the Week
C.J. Ruoff, Red Bank Catholic
The Caseys are without do-it-all 6-foot-5 guard Alex Bauman due to a muscle strain and in his absence, Ruoff is going a decent impersonation of his teammate. Through three games – all one-sided RBC wins – Ruoff is averaging 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists, which includes leading the team in scoring in wins over Toms River North (13 points) and Toms River South (17).
Class A Central Honorable Mention: Owen Sullivan, Rumson-Fair Haven; Scott Gyimesi, Rumson-Fair Haven; Tyler Burnham, Red Bank Catholic; Justin Rivera, Raritan; Alex George, Shore
Class A South Player of the Week
Nick Devane, Southern
Southern faced two critical Class A South games out of the gate in 2021-22 and after dropping the first one to Jackson Memorial, the second one at home vs. Central became a must-win for a team looking to build on a Top 10 finish in 2021 by contending for the Class A South title. It didn’t look good heading into the second half, but the Rams chipped away and in the final seconds of regulation, Nick Devane drilled the game-tying three-pointer with five seconds left. Southern went on to beat Central, 59-55, in overtime with Devane scoring a team-high 19 points – a follow-up to his team-high 14 points in the opening-night loss to the Jaguars.
Class A South Honorable Mention: Josh Michigan, Brick Memorial; Keith Adame, Jackson Memorial; Ryan Baker, Toms River North; Justin Soranno, Central; Dylan Russell, Toms River East; Jason McKelvey, Toms River East; Brian Starrett, Brick Memorial; Luke Braaten, Brick Memorial
Class B North Player of the Week
Nate Williams, St. John Vianney
Williams spent a good portion (or a bad portion from his perspective) of his team’s opening game on the bench due to foul trouble and St. John Vianney still survived the road test vs. Middletown South with Williams scoring 14 points. Since then, Williams has gone off by putting up 16 points and seven assists in a WOBM win over Wall, then scoring 71 points in two days as the Lancers took down both Neptune and Union Catholic – including a career-high 45 vs. Union Catholic. Through five games, Williams is averaging 25.2 points, five rebounds, four assists and six steals per game.
Class B North Honorable Mention: Liam Thomas, St. John Vianney; Nick Valentino, Red Bank; Matt Kenny, Middletown North; Tyler Spencer, Colts Neck; Timmy Springer, Freehold Boro
Class B Central Player of the Week
George Mitchell, Keyport
This season is a big one for Keyport and its core of experienced seniors, led by Mitchell, D.J. Thomson and Anthony Longo. In order for the Red Raiders to live up to their high hopes, beating Mater Dei Prep was a major step to take and Keyport did so with a 63-53 win over the Seraphs on Thursday. Mitchell led the way in that victory with 23 points, which followed up the 14 he scored in the season-opener vs. Keansburg earlier in the week.
Class B Central Honorable Mention: Chris Mitchell, Keyport; D.J. Thomson, Keyport; Anthony Tancredi, Mater Dei Prep; Isaac Hester, Ranney; Demitrius Harvey, Henry Hudson
Class B South Player of the Week
Savon Myers, Manchester
Myers did everything for Manchester during an All-Shore junior season and the 6-5 guard has picked up where he left off. In a season-opening win over a quality Middletown North squad, Myers exploded for 33 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and five steals to lead a 63-47 win. Fittingly enough, Manchester’s first-round opponent in the WOBM Classic was the team from the other side of Middletown and against Middletown South, Myers put up an efficient 17 points while adding 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a pair of blocked shots.
Class B South Honorable Mention: Savon Myers, Manchester; D’Maari Brown, Manchester; Jalin Butler, Donovan Catholic; Kyree Drake, Donovan Catholic; Chris Venturoso, Lacey; Troy Buxton Lacey; Rian O’Rourke, Pinelands; Alex Jenkoski, Brick; Mason Krey, Barnegat; Derrick Marsh, Lakewood
Class C North Player of the Week
Ryan Frauenheim, Manasquan
For a young Manasquan team, Frauenheim has been an early leader even though he, himself, is just a sophomore. With the experience he got in spot duty off the bench as a freshman on a 12-0 team in 2021, Frauenheim has built on it so far by putting up 20 points in each of the first two games of his junior year and averaging 16 points through Manasquan’s first three games.
Class C North Honorable Mention: Darius Adams, Manasquan; Ryan Frauenheim, Manasquan; Ta’Haj Wiggins, Monmouth; Aiden Denton, Monmouth; Luke Farrell, St. Rose; Phanique Dupree, Jackson Liberty; Stephen Mellett, Point Boro; Zyier Dean, Ocean; Ron Richardson, Ocean; Chris Mitchell, Wall; Nick DiNatale, St. Rose
Wild Cards
Josh Michigan, Brick Memorial
Brick Memorial has had more than one star during its impressive 2-0 start to the season, but Michigan’s scoring has stood out. The junior led the way with 22 points in a WOBM first-round win over Toms River North, then went off for a career-high 32 in a Mustangs rout of Toms River South in the team’s Class A South division opener.
Luke Farrell, St. Rose
Farrell is off to a solid start statistically (13.5 points per game in two games thus far) but it was his all-around performance on Monday night against another talented frontcourt player that gets the 6-6 senior a spot on the list. In St. Rose’s first division game, Farrell posted 15 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks on the offensive end and kept Jackson Liberty standout Phanique Dupree (10 points, five rebounds) in check on the other end during a 53-43 Purple Roses win.
Nick Valentino, Red Bank
The Bucs are off to a 1-2 start with top returning scoring Patrick Murray sidelined by a hamstring injury, but offense has not been a problem for the Bucs thanks to the early emergence of Valentino. The junior guard has elevated to the starting lineup and averaged 21.7 points in three games, leading Red Bank in scoring in all three – including 26 out of his team’s 53 points in a road loss to Toms River North.
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