Point Beach Boys Basketball Ready to Make More History

When Nick Catania took over the Point Beach program in the summer of 2003, 10 players showed up at the first workout.

A day later, only one returned. A year later, that player transferred to another school.

From those humble beginnings at a program that had not experienced much tangible success since the 1960s, the Garnet Gulls have evolved into a talent-laden new force in the Shore Conference, a rising power at a place that had been basketball Siberia.

“I didn't think we could get to this level, honestly,’’ Catania said about when he first took over the program at his alma mater. “We’ve just had kids who work really hard all summer to get better.’’

However, for every program milestone the Garnet Gulls hit in the last five seasons, they only had two division titles to show for it entering this year’s NJSIAA Tournament after coming up just short against Lakewood in their first Shore Conference Tournament final appearance since 1963. In only about four years, Point Beach has morphed from a scrappy underdog to a team criticized for not hanging banners commensurate with its talent.

“After we lost in the Shore Conference (Tournament) championship, we were group text messaging as a team and (senior guard) PJ (Kineavy) and I were saying, 'Our team is too good to just be remembered as a division champion,’’’ said senior center Riley Calzonetti. “We need a state championship.’’

The Garnet Gulls went out and seized one on Tuesday night in an exhilarating blast when Point Beach walloped visiting Bound Brook 69-40 to capture the Central Jersey Group I title for its first sectional championship in program history. A player like Calzonetti could especially appreciate the significance given that he grew up hearing the stories from his father's good friend, Point Beach Hall of Famer Ron Krayl. Calzonetti's father coached with Krayl on the staff at Monmouth University, and Calzonetti grew up hearing about Point Beach's last heyday in the 1960s under Krayl, who is second on the program's all time scoring list.

At 7 p.m. on Thursday, the Garnet Gulls (25-3) look to add another chapter when they face South Jersey champion Paulsboro (27-2) in the Group I semifinals at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River in a bid to reach their first Group I title game. They are hoping to repeat the feat turned in by rival Asbury Park last season when the Blue Bishops stunned a previously unbeaten Paulsboro team in the Group I semifinals at Pine Belt Arena and went on to win their second straight Group I title. The Garnet Gulls will face a determined Paulsboro squad bent on redemption, but have the firepower to go toe-to-toe with a team that has good size in the frontcourt.

Playing in front of the big crowds at Pine Belt Arena and a routinely-packed home gym is a far cry from only about six or seven years ago. Junior forward Noah Yates can remember going to games growing up where the Garnet Gulls were hard pressed to fill half the gym. Yates moved to North Carolina with his family before seventh grade because his father got a new job, but his family moved back in November 2011 and he rejoined a program in the midst of a major transformation.

“It’s like night and day now,’’ said Yates, who had 18 points in the sectional final. “The gym was never that packed back then. The beginning of the game (on Tuesday), I looked around and it was just unbelievable. I never would have thought it would end up this way with me coming back, but I’m glad it did.’’

Junior point guard Matt Farrell moved to the Point Beach sending district as an eighth-grader and befriended the school’s all-time leading scorer, current University of Rhode Island guard Jarelle Reischel, and former guard Kevin Donohue. He saw the culture shifting to one where Point Beach is nothing resembling The Little Team That Could any more, but one that is expected to be in the hunt for championships on a yearly basis.

“We feel like we can make a run to the Tournament of Champions,’’ said Farrell, who led Point Beach with 20 points against Bound Brook. “We’re very talented, and when we play like we did (against Bound Brook), we can beat anybody.’’

“Our expectations over the last three or four years have been really high, and that's what we wanted,’’ Catania said. “It would've been a disappointment (to not win the CJ Group I title), no question.”

After a hard-working group led by players like current assistant Kevin Stockhoff and former guard Jose Diaz helped Point Beach make a push toward becoming a competitive team in the mid-2000s, the clear turning point was the addition of Reischel in 2008. The 6-foot-5 swingman moved to Lavallette before his sophomore year after growing up as the son of a military father in Frankfurt, Germany.

He finished his career in 2011 as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,683 points. He also apparently established a pipeline to Germany, as current 6-foot-6 junior forward Dominique Uhl transferred from the same school in Frankfurt this summer.

In 2010, Reischel helped the Garnet Gulls reach their first sectional final in school history, but the home team was run out of the gym by Woodbury to fall short of the South Jersey Group I championship. They were determined not to repeat the disappointment of that game on Tuesday night against Bound Brook.

“We definitely made a statement letting people know we are the best team in Central Jersey (Group I),’’ Farrell said. “What Woodbury did back then, they came in and knocked them off their feet. We talked about that, and we did the exact same thing to Bound Brook. We set the tone early and just pushed them out of the door from there.’’

Point Beach also has driven home the notion that it is here to stay. After the graduation of two Division I players in Reischel and UMBC forward Jordan Wejnert, the Garnet Gulls have only come back stronger. Plus, three of their five starters (Yates, Farrell and Uhl) are all juniors who make Point Beach an instant championship contender next season.

“I feel like we've come a real long way,’’ said Calzonetti, who transferred to Point Beach from Christian Brothers Academy as a sophomore. “After my sophomore year when Jarelle graduated, people thought it was going to go back down, but we knew we weren’t going down at all.’’

“I think people just started taking notice that we work hard and now the program is where it is, and the young kids in town are taking notice,’’ Catania said.

Now Point Beach stands on the cusp of more history as it tries to make it to Rutgers on Sunday for the Group I championship game against the winner of the Waldwick-Dayton semifinal. After Tuesday’s memorable experience, why stop now?

“It's awesome to make history,’’ Farrell said. “We're never going to forget this.’’