The Shore Daily, 3/7/15
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The state title hopes for 16 Shore Conference wrestlers are still alive heading into Saturday morning's quarterfinals at the NJSIAA Individual Championships, while three Shore boys basketball teams kept their state playoff runs alive with wins on Friday night.
I'll start with basketball, where the biggest story of the night was actually a loss, as Shore Conference Tournament champion Rumson-Fair Haven fell at home in Central Jersey Group II as the No. 4 seed to eighth-seeded Bordentown in a 62-56 stunner. It ended an outstanding, history-making 24-5 season by the Bulldogs that included their first SCT title as well as a Class A Central tri-championship. Junior Brendan Barry had 15 points in the loss along with senior Thomas Famulary, and senior Morgan Maguire led Rumson with 16.
Bordentown has now gone on the road and taken out second-seeded Lakewood and Rumson, so the Scotties have to be considered a serious threat to win it all regardless of their seed. Myron Gordon poured in 28 points on Rumson to lead Bordentown, which will play the winner of Saturday's semifinal between Matawan and Manasquan. If Manasquan wins, the championship game will be on the Warriors' home floor, and if Matawan wins, the Huskies will have to go into Bordentown's gym to try to repeat as CJ Group II champions.
The other three favorites from Friday night all advanced, as Christian Brothers Academy, Shore Regional and Point Beach all won on their home floor. CBA has rebounded from its rough loss to Rumson in the SCT final to roll over two teams so far in Non-Public South A, with Gloucester Catholic being the latest victim in a balanced scoring effort.
The Colts await the winner of Saturday's Red Bank Catholic-Camden Catholic game in the semifinals. Regardless of who wins, the semifinal game will be the rare Sunday state playoff game because the Lord sayeth that on the seventh day, ye shall ball out in a bid to reach a state sectional final. CBA will either host RBC at a time to be determined or take the long bus ride to Cherry Hill to face the Fighting Irish at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
There is no tomorrow for an all-senior starting lineup at Shore Regional that has one last crack at becoming the first sectional championship team in program history. The Blue Devils took care of Florence at home thanks to 21 points by Dan Largey and 17 by Kevin Bloodgood. Largey is now 12 points away from 1,000, and Shore will go on the road on Saturday to try to take down top-seeded Perth Amboy Tech to most likely give themselves a crack at two-time defending champion Point Beach in the final for the second straight season.
Point Beach handled Bound Brook at home and now gets another home game against seventh-seeded South Hunterdon on Saturday in a bid to reach its third straight championship game after beating Shore in last year's final. Jesse Hill had 18 points and Mike Rice added 14 to lead the way on Friday night. If Shore Regional wins, the championship will once again run through the Gulls' Nest in Point Pleasant. If Perth Amboy Tech wins, Point Beach will have to go up north to their gym in a bid for a three-peat.
There are nine more playoff games today as we whittle the field down to the sectional finalists in most brackets and the semifinals in others.
On the girls side, Manasquan, Rumson-Fair Haven and Middletown South all cruised to victory as expected. One game to watch on Saturday is Holmdel at Neptune in the quarterfinals for the right to most likely eventually face Middletown South in the Central Jersey Group III final.
WRESTLING
Sixteen Shore Conference wrestlers, including 11 of the Region VI champions, were still alive in the championship bracket heading into Saturday's quarterfinals in Atlantic City, which start at 10 a.m.
There were no major surprises, although state title hopeful Mike Russo of Jackson Liberty had to fight his way to a 1-0 decision over Somerville's Evan Drill, the son of a former state champion, at 126. Ocean's Zach Hertling had a bittersweet night as he advanced to the quarterfinals with a pair of wins but had to be removed by stretcher because of a hiatal hernia that has bothered him all season, and he is now 50-50 to wrestle on Saturday.
Getting a quarterfinal win is huge because it guarantees a medal. Anyone who reaches the semifinals is locked into a top-six finish, so Saturday morning's wrestling should be fierce. Bob Badders has the updates here, unless there is another Internet black hole in Boardwalk Hall like there was on Friday night when no reporter could tweet or update anything because there was no working wireless network. In this day and age, to not have a wireless connection at an event like this is mind-boggling. At first I thought maybe Bob had previously tweeted some unkind things about Kim Jong-un and the North Koreans had it shut down, but hopefully they got it resolved and rejoin the 21st Century for Saturday's action.
More on Saturday:
- St. Rose grad Anthony Ranaudo is fighting for the fifth spot in the Texas Rangers' starting rotation this spring.
- A Twins pitcher wears old-school stirrups so that his legally blind mom can pick him out on the field.
- Union Catholic took out defending boys basketball T of C winner St. Joseph's-Metuchen in Non-Public South A.
- Jenrry Mejia went the full Oscar Gamble for the Mets in spring training yesterday.
- Matt Harvey is back and throwing gas. It's a beautiful thing.
- The Robert Morris team coached by CBA grad Andy Toole is gunning for a berth in the NEC Tournament final today.
- The University of Virginia baseball team, ranked No. 1 in the nation, is so banged up that it may add three of four players from the school's club baseball team. Nothing like going from having fun with your friends playing on the club team to suiting up for the nation's top team.
- Today in politicians saying stupid things, an Alaska politician suggested wolves could help solve the homeless problem.
- An Army vet seeks the adventure of the Iditarod to help him cope with his past.
On tap for today:
The Central Jersey Group IV final will be set after today, with the Freehold Township-Colts Neck winner playing the Marlboro-Hillsborough winner. Colts Neck, Freehold Township and Marlboro have never won a state sectional title, and Marlboro has never reached the final, so a lot of history could go down today. Also, the Manasquan-Matawan winner will face Bordentown in the Central Jersey Group II final. The Central Jersey Group I final will also be cemented as the Perth Amboy Tech-Shore winner will face the Point Beach-South Hunterdon winner.
I'll end with Steph Curry, one of the few players who will pull off Harlem Globetrotter-style moves in an NBA game.
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