Red Bank Falls to Ewing and Trey Lowe in Central Jersey Group III Final

EWING - It took one of the state's best juniors playing at the top of his game to bring a halt to Red Bank's inspiring state playoff run in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III championship game on Monday night.

Ewing junior guard Trey Lowe exploded for 37 points on 13-for-22 shooting for his second straight monster game in the state playoffs to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to a 73-62 win over the sixth-seeded Bucs for their third sectional title in four seasons. After winning only four games last season while weathering the stunning death of senior Albert Martin when he collapsed during a preseason scrimmage, Red Bank rebounded with an 18-11 season and its first appearance in a sectional final in 10 years. Sophomore guard Sadiq Palmer led the Bucs with 21 points in the loss.

"I told them that I've never been prouder of a team,'' head coach Scott Martin said. "How could I be?"

Like many teams this season, Red Bank had no answer for Lowe. A Division I prospect, Lowe has a combined 80 points in his last two playoffs games after putting up a career-high 43 on Hamilton West in the semifinals. On Monday night, he buried five 3-pointers and was explosive off the dribble in front of a crowd that included Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan and assistant coaches from Lehigh, Drexel, Hofstra, Seton Hall and Rider. Seton Hall offered him a scholarship following the game.

"Too much dribble penetration from the guards and too much Trey Lowe,'' Martin said. "I thought we could be physical with him and contest shots. How quick he is off the floor the second time - it looked like his hands were up there shooting it, and he didn't go down before he had the ball again."

Ewing advances to face South Jersey Group III champion Delsea at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Brick Memorial in the Group III semifinals.

With a roaring student section having made the trip to Ewing, Red Bank jumped out to a 15-12 lead after the first quarter when forward Eddie Hendrex scored six of his 10 points. The Bucs were knocking down open looks while also limiting the damage by Lowe to a pair of 3-pointers in the period.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Palmer and guard Johnny Dengler pushed Red Bank's lead to 24-19 with 6:25 left in the second quarter after Lowe had scored twice in the span of five seconds thanks to a pair of steals. Another 3-pointer by Dengler, who finished with 11 points, kept the lead at four points before Ewing closed the half with a 15-6 burst in which Lowe scored seven points. He went 6-for-6 from the field in the second quarter and had 20 points at the half to give Ewing a 40-35 lead it would not relinquish.

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"I always feel like it's going to be a good night, no matter what,'' Lowe said about getting off to a hot start. "We love the big crowds. We love when the crowds go back and forth with each other. It turns us on and gets us hyped."

Red Bank shot 3-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half to stay within striking distance, but was done in by its inability to knock down shots from deep in the second half. The Bucs went 2-for-18 from downtown after the break.

"We took five threes in one trip or something ridiculous like that,'' Martin said. "In the chaos of it, I understand. They were open threes. There wasn't a bad one among them, but they just didn't go down."

"We just had to limit the threes and jumpshots they took and give them only one shot and done,'' Lowe said. "Just getting hard rebounds and closing out on the shooters."

Lowe threw down his second dunk of the game to get Ewing rolling in the third quarter and later buried a 3-pointer for a 49-39 lead with 5:36 left in the period. Red Bank kept battling behind Palmer, who five straight points to keep the Bucs within striking distance down 57-46 heading into the fourth quarter. Red Bank's inability to knock down open looks, including two breakaway lay-ups, made it hard to keep up with the pace set by Lowe.

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The Bucs got the deficit back under double digits with a lay-up by Palmer off a dish by guard Corey Martin that cut it to 61-53, but that was as close as they would get in the fourth quarter. Red Bank shot 7-for-24 from the field in the final period, while Lowe closed strong with 12 fourth-quarter points, including a 6-for-7 showing from the foul line. His effort was complemented by guard Brian Wilkins, who added 15 points in the win and was consistently getting into the lane off the dribble on offense to set up teammates or finish.

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The future looks bright for Red Bank after its resurgent season. The Bucs graduate Dengler, Corey Martin and senior forward Jesse Mack, but return primary contributors in Palmer, Hendrex, junior guard Justin Gilson, junior forward Jimmy Ferrogine, sophomore guard Jack Navitsky, junior forward Tyler Christie and junior guard Anthony Mitchell from one of the Shore's deepest rotations this season.

"There were games I played 12 guys,'' Martin said. "All year long I said if we could get past our individual selfishness and do the one thing we say we're unanimously driven to do, which is win, then I'm going to play that many guys, but no one is going to play the minutes they want."

A simple exercise helped Martin get his players to buy into the team concept. He asked each of them to write down the number of minutes and number of shots per game they thought they deserved.

"We tallied it all up and we were about 48 shots and about 115 minutes from reality,'' Martin said. "I think that opened their eyes."

The team also played in memory of Albert Martin, whose name adorned their warm-up shirts and was never far from their minds. With about two minutes left in the game, the Red Bank student section started chanting his name.

"They're as proud of these guys as I am,'' Martin said about the Red Bank students. "They wanted this as badly as we did. To chant Albert Martin's name in the gym when we're down 13, it was just tremendous."

Box score

Ewing 73, Red Bank 62

Red Bank (62): Palmer 8 4-5 21, Dengler 4 0-0 11, Gilson 2 0-0 4, Mack 2 0-0 4, Hendrex 5 0-1 10, Martin 1 1-2 4, Christie 1 0-1 2, Ferrogine 2 0-0 4, Mitchell 1 0-0 2. Totals: 26 5-9 62.

Ewing (73): Lowe 13 6-8 37, Wilkins 7 1-2 15, Tye 2 0-0 4, Gregory 0 0-0 0, Porter 1 1-2 3, Hale 4 0-0 8, Parker 2 0-1 4, Haynes 1 0-0 2, Rowe 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30 8-12 73.

Red Bank (18-11)  15 20 11 16 - 62

Ewing (26-4)          12 28 17 15 - 73

Three-pointers: (R) Dengler 3, Palmer, Martin; (E) Lowe 5. Fouled out: None.