March 4, 2013 Vo lume-V Issue-5

5 Pt. Beach Girls Capture Their 1st Sectional Title

6 Shore Wrestlers Punch TheirTickets to Atlantic City

8-9Magic Mike & Twice as Nice

10 Pt. Beach On theDoorstep of History

12 Lakewood BasketballWins CJ II Title

15 Stumpy’s Corner3 2013 Senior

BasketballAll-Star Game

2VOLUME-V /

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/13 The f irs t thing fans, players , coaches and parents

want to know after the big game is always,

”Is this going to be on ”

All Shore Media has established itself as a leader in scholastic sports coverage in Monmouth and Ocean counties, providing more video highlight clips, in-depth reporting, feature stories and

regular updates than ANY OTHER OUTLET in the area.

All Shore Media Web Site Featuresn Get Video Highlights of all the important games that Shore

Conference fans will be talking about.n Catch up on the action you might have missedn Watch video clips of everything from the action early in the event to

the big finish as well as video interviews with various athletes. n www.allshoremedia.com is the most visited sports site in the shore

conference during the scholastic year n Follow us on Twitter (over 4,100 followers) and Facebook, we keep fans posted on the latest scores and news

n Established leading portal for local high school coverage.

”Is this going to be on ”

Be part of a tradition at theJersey Shore that reaches alarge and enthusiasticBasketball audience fromMonmouth and Oceancounties by having yourbusiness featured in thisyear's 2013 Open MRI ofWall Shore BasketballCoaches Senior All-StarGame official game day

program. The detailed game programput together by the All Shore Mediastaff not only recounts the past seasonand highlights this year's group ofAll-Stars, it also serves as a keepsakefor all the players, coaches and fansinvolved. Not only is the program achance for your business to reach awide and passionate audience, it is achance to become a permanent part ofa lasting memory for many members ofthe Shore Conference Basketballcommunity.

Advertising Opportunitiesfor the 2012

All-StarGame DayProgram

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All-StarGame DayProgram

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All-StarGame DayProgram

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The Shore ConferenceBasketball Coaches

Association Senior All-Star Game has carved outa proud tradition, and thesupport of local sponsorshas helped its continued growth. Open MRI is the title sponsor and the U.S.

Army and ELITE Sports Performance Centerare also sponsoring this year’s boys and girlsgames, which are on March 20 at Wall TownshipHigh School. As always, the games are a great way tosend off the Shore Conference’s top seniors in theirfinal game representing their high school. OpenMRI has become a regular sponsor involved in theSenior All-Star Games and a regular supporter ofShore Conference basketball. The U.S. Army andELITE Sports Performance Center which consists of EliteSports Therapy, RYPT & Turn 2 Sports Consulting also havebecome regular supporters of Shore Conference athletics.

This year’s games will once again feature the ShoreConference’s biggest names from the senior class on the girlsand boys side. Players like Lakewood guard Tyrice Beverette,the Manasquan tandem of Stonehill College recruit JimmyWalsh and Brown University recruit J.R. Hobbie, Harvard-

bound Manalapanguard AnthonyFirkser, ColtsNeck guard

Brandon Federici,Toms River

North’sDamien

Singleton and SollyStansbury and many morewill be in action in theboys game, whichfollows the girls game.

On the girls side, 2,000-point scorer Kelly Hughes of

Point Boro, a Boston Collegerecruit, highlights a talentedgroup that also includesJackson Memorial’s

Hannah Missry, St. JohnVianney’s Lyndsay Rowe, Middletown South’s Jackie Dluhiand Kiera Gannon, Red Bank Catholic’s Mary Kate Caverlyand many more.

There also will be a 3-point shootout sponsored by the USARMY during halftime of the boys and girls games, withplayers chosen from the all-star practices competing for long-range supremacy.

SHORE BASKETBALL COACHESASSOCIATION SENIOR ALL-STARGAME COMING MARCH 20TH

B y S c o t t S t u m p – M a n a g i n g E d i t o r

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The Point Beach gir ls basketbal l team made his tory inemphatic fashion when i t beat Shore Regional 62-47 on

March 4th in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I f inal to takehome the f irs t sect ional championship in program his tory.

It was an especially memorable night for junior point guard Katelynn Flaherty,who exploded for 40 points, including the 2,000th point of her brilliant career,in the victory. Flaherty, who played her first two seasons at Manasquan, was aperfect 16-for-16 from the foul line in the win while also grabbing six reboundsand registering five steals. Flaherty’s milestone basket to reach the rare 2,000-point mark came on a layup with 1:01 left in the game.

The other half of Point Beach’s prolific duo, sophomore guard and fellowManasquan transfer Marina Mabrey, dropped in 20 points as the tandemcombined for 60 of the Garnet Gulls’ 62 points in the win.

Point Beach advanced to face Gloucester City in the Group I semifinals insearch of its first trip to a Group final in school history.

Flaherty had 16 first-half points to help the Garnet Gulls take a 30-22 lead atthe break. Point Beach (23-1) pulled away in the third quarter, building a 46-24lead with four minutes to go as Flaherty was single-handedly outscoring Shore26-24 at that point.

Girls Basketball: Point BeachCaptures its First Sectional TitleB y S c o t t S t u m p – M a n a g i n g E d i t o r

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Ka t e l y n n F l a h e r t y a n d c o a c hM i k e F e e r s t c e l e b r a t e h e r2 , 0 0 0 t h p o i n t .

K a t e l y n n F l a h e r t y g o e s i n f o r al a y u p

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Ma r i n a Mab r e y

As the spotlight focused on one matSaturday night to see who would

become an NJSIAA Region VI championat Pine Belt Arena, it was the bouts just acouple hours prior that saw wrestlers’dreams both achieved and crushed.

With the region finalists already guaranteeingthemselves a spot in Atlantic City, wrestlers stillhad to battle for thethird and final place inan attempt to punch aticket to BoardwalkHall.

The afternoon actionsaw the likes ofJackson Liberty’sMatt Russo (120pounds) andMatawan’s GlennCross (182 pounds)win a bronze medal toearn another trip tocompete at BoardwalkHall, while 12 newwrestlers won theirthird-place match topunch their firstticket.

Rumson Fair-Haven’s Marcus Iwama, the fourthseed, was able to beat the fifth-seeded AnthonyScarcella of Raritan 7-4 at 126 to qualify for thestate tournament, the second straight year theBulldogs have had a state qualifier.

Iwama and Scarcella, who was a state qualifierlast season, are no strangers to each other. The twohave wrestled four times this season, with Iwamawinning in the district semifinals and Scarcellawinning in the regular season dual and in Friday’squarterfinal matchup.

“Both of our styles collide. I have to fight hisfunk, and he has to fight my shots,” Iwama said ofhis bouts with Scarcella. “It’s always going to be aclose match and going to be tough.”

Iwama was able to get the better part ofScarcella’s funk by scoring with a first-periodtakedown with 15 seconds remaining. He thenadded one more takedown each in the second andthe third periods for a 7-4 victory.

Friday’s loss forced Iwama to battle back throughthe wrestlebacks. He beat Toms River SouthDistrict 24 champion Zach Maikisch 5-0 and thendefeated three-time state qualifier Jared Staub ofBrick Memorial, 3-2, in the ultimate tiebreaker toset up his fourth bout of the year with Scarcella.

“We don’t have a lot of wrestlers, but the ones wedo have wrestle hard in the practice room,” Iwamasaid of the small Bulldogs team which at times hasjust 12 wrestlers in the practice room. “It feels goodto represent my school that’s not as big onwrestling as others in the region.”

Brick sophomore Kyle Wojtaszek, like Iwama,had to battle back after a Friday night quarterfinalloss before placing third at 132 pounds, one of theregion’s most balanced weight classes.

Wojtaszek, the No. 2 seed, was knocked out of thewinner’s bracket by the seventh seed and eventualchampion Ben Esposito of Howell, 3-2.

Wojtaszek then went on to defeat Point Boro’sRyan Harter, a 2011 fourth-place finisher, 4-2 indouble overtime, avenging a district semifinal losswith a 6-3 win over Neptune’s Karl Waldron, andfinally pinning Zach Wilhelm, a 2011 eighth-placestate finisher, with a spladle.

“I normally throw boots in every match andride with that, and I saw the opening and I justhit it,” Wojtaszek.

Kyle will join his older brother Dan, theRegion VI 160-pound champion, as the twoDragons representatives in Atlantic City.

Lacey will also be sending two first-timequalifiers to wrestle for a state medal. LukeFernandez (170 pounds) and Patrick Schinder(220 pounds) each recovered from being

pinned intheir semifinalbouts to capturethird.

This will markthe first timesince 1999 theLions will besending twowrestlers toAtlantic City.

Fernandez is 34-2 and now hassuffered both ofhis losses to BrickMemorial’s TylerRichardson, therunner-up at 170

pounds. Fernandez was leading 1-0 in the thirdperiod of their semifinal match when Richardsonwas able to headlock and pin Fernandez.

Fernandez then came back to pin Raritan’s KyleLynch and then beat Red Bank’s Dillon Stambaugh5-1 for third place.

“I’m not a good loser - I don’t handle it well,”Fernandez said of his loss to Richardson. “But Iwas able to respond, and I’m just glad I’m going toAC.”

Fernandez has traveled a long road to take a tripto Atlantic City. In his freshman year, Fernandezhad stints of going back and forth between thewrestling and basketball teams. At times it seemedthe only person holding Fernandez back washimself.

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B r i c k Twp . s o p h omo r e 1 3 2 - p o u n d e r K y l e Wo j t a s z e k

Shore Wrestlers Punch TheirTickets to Atlantic CityBy Josh Sternl ieb - All Shore Media Contributor

F r e e h o l d Twp . j u n i o r 11 3 - p o u n d e r N i c k D eP i e r r o

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He admitted he wasn’t physically big enough tocrack the lineup as a sophomore. Then during hisjunior year, he tore his meniscus doing a backflipbefore practice. The injury forced Fernandez tomiss most of the season, although he was able tocome back and wrestle in the District 24Tournament. After a district overtime loss lastseason, Fernandez dedicated himself to wrestlingduring the offseason.

“He’s special. He has a lot of ability and he put alot of time and effort into wrestling,” said Laceyhead coach Tom Pfister. “He’s reaping the rewardsof his hard work.”

Schinder, who came up two wins short of a trip toAtlantic City last year, recovered from beingpinned by Neptune’s John Seidle in the semifinals.He responded to the loss in dominating fashion bypinning Southern’s Jesse Bauta before majoringOcean’s Jacob Bell 16-6 for third.

A team that is usually at the bottom of thestacked Class A South division, Lacey showed theimprovements it is making as a program.

“It’s one of the most well-respected regions inthe state,” Pfister said. “To get a medal in this

region, it means that you’re doingsomething right.”

Toms River South’s Marvin Haydenhas also had an interesting path to thepodium. Hayden, only in his secondyear of wrestling, captured third placeat 285 pounds with a 3-1 win overAsbury Park’s Domingo Perez.

Hayden wrestled the majority of theyear at 220 pounds and had qualitywins at that weight, but the Indianscoaching staff thought it was inHayden’s best interest to wrestle up toadvance the furthest.

Hayden, who saidhe could havewrestled 195 poundsthis year, weighsabout 210 pounds andhad some earlystruggles adapting tothe heavier weightclass. In districts,Hayden won asemifinal match in anultimate tie breakerand a finals match inovertime.

“Everyone wassaying thatheavyweight was theeasier weight class,” Hayden said. “It reallywasn’t. I learned that the hard way. After districts Istarted wrestling with former heavyweights. Theyhelped me get better wrestling the heavierwrestlers.”

Along with the other second- and third-place

medalists, Hayden will wrestle at least one matchon Friday night in Atlantic City. A win willadvance them into a second match on Friday nightwhile a loss would finish their season.

The seven other first-time region medalists wereWall’s Denzel Tovar (106 pounds) and Brett Donner(152 pounds), Freehold Township’s Nick DePierro(113 pounds), Brick Memorial’s Alec Donovan (138pounds), Howell’s Ashanti Maurice (145 pounds),Long Branch’s Nick Pappayliou (160 pounds) andJackson Memorial’s Ken Bradley (195 pounds).

Toms R i v e r S o u t h s e n i o r h e a v ywe i g h t Ma r v i n H a y d e n

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Bottom row left to right: B.J. Clagon (Sr., TRS, 145), Rich Lewis (Sr., TRE, 138), Ben Esposito (Sr., Howell, 132), Ryan Budzek (Jr., Pt.Boro, 126), Joe Ghione (Jr., Brick Mem., 120), Kevin Corrigan (Sr., TRE, 113), Michael Russo (So., Jackson Liberty, 106)

Top row left to right: Dan O'Cone (Brick Mem., head coach Region VI COTY), Chris Serpico (Sr., Southern, 152), Dan Wojtaszek (Sr.,Brick, 160), Dae'Sean Brown (Sr., Neptune, 170), Nick Zak (Sr., Jackson Liberty, 182), Mike Oxley (Jr., CBA, 195), John Seidle

(Sr., Neptune, 220), John Appice (Sr., Manalapan, Hwt.)

ive seconds.

It was all that separatedMike Oxley from glory andthe possible end of his seasonon Saturday afternoon atPine Belt Arena.

After a thrilling semifinal victory in which he tookdown Jackson Memorial’s Ken Bradley at the buzzerfor a one-point win, the Christian Brothers Academyjunior shocked the capacity crowd by hitting a four-point move with four seconds left to defeat BrickMemorial’s Matt Moore, 5-3, and claim the NJSIAARegion VI 195-pound title.

“I don’t know what tosay, you just nevergive up,” said Oxley,who was named thetournament’sOutstanding Wrestler.“No matter whathappens you just haveto keep going.”

Moore entered as a heavy favorite, and rightfullyso. The Mustangs senior, who placed seventh in thestate tournament last season at 195, had crushedpretty much everyone in his path entering the regionfinal. In 30 bouts, Moore had 20 pins and sevenforfeit victories. The only opponents to last a full sixminutes with him were Bradley and St. Peter’s Prep’sJordan Fox. No one had scored an offensive point onhim the entire season. Outside of Toms River South’s

B.J. Clagon, there wasn’t a more dominant wrestleramong the 28 finalists.

Oxley, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, entered withquite an impressive resume himself. His only defeatshad come at the hands of Jackson Liberty’s Nick Zak,the 182-pound Region VI champ (twice) and to statechampion Johnny Sebastian of Bergen Catholic. Still,there couldn’t have been anyone in the building otherthan the CBA faithful that believed Oxley had achance. Yet it was him that finished thetournament standing on top of the medal stand.

“Region six champion...hands down it’s thebest day I’ve ever had,” Oxley said.

Moore took a 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first15 seconds and held that lead through the openingperiod. He chose defense in the second period andescaped to take a 3-0 lead into the third. Oxleychose bottom to begin the final period and Moorekept him on the mat for the first minute, but washit with a stalling warning. With nine secondsleft he was hit with another stall to make it 3-1.Then, off the restart, the magic happened. Oxleyreversed Moore to his back as the clock tickedtoward zero. There was just enough time for himto get a two count for two near-fall points,pushing him in front by two as the buzzersounded and the crowd went berserk.

“I kind of just switched my hips on him andkept moving, hoping something good wasgoing to happen, and it did,” Oxley said. “Ididn’t see an opening or anything, I just keptworking.”

Oxley was well awareof Moore’s dominancethis season and knew hecouldn’t let the match getaway early. When it wasstill 2-0 after the firstperiod he knew he was ingood shape.

“The whole match I was right

there and couldcome back at anytime,” Oxley said.“My goal was tokeep it close andnever stop.”

Oxley was a182-pounder

during the season, wrestling up at 195 just seventimes before the start of the District 22 Tournament.Moving away from Zak at 182 was understandable,but it wasn’t like things were easier at 195 withBradley and Moore lurking.

“It was a unanimous decision by my coaches, myparents and myself,” Oxley said. “I felt I had a bettershot at 195. I don’t know, there was just somethingabout it that I felt 195 was the place to go.”

For 11 minutes and 55 seconds, Oxley was not thebest wrestler on the mat. But he did what coachesendlessly preach but not all wrestlers can do: he neverstopped wrestling.

“It’sindescribable,”Oxley said.“There’snothing elseI can say.”

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By Bob BaddersSenior Staff Writer

by:

B o b B a d d e r swww.a l l shoremed ia .com

aturday was abanner day for

Neptune’s wrestlingprogram.The Scarlet Fliers

walked away with apair of region titles,tied for the most inRegion VI. SeniorDae’Sean Brownwas the first tobring home gold,defeating BrickMemorial’s TylerRichardson 11-4 at170 pounds. Brown,who was second at170 last year to Zak,became Neptune’sfirst regionchampion sinceBen Piercecaptured theheavyweight titlein 1995.

“Lastyear mycoach told me Icould be the firstregion champ forNeptune since1995, but I lostby three to NickZak,” Brownrecalled. “Thisyear I knew Ihad to get thejob done. Idon’t haveanother yearleft to comeback and tryagain.”

Brown, who haddefeated Richardsonthree times datingback to last season,scored fivetakedowns en routeto earning his100th careervictory. He is justthe third ScarletFlier wrestler toreach 100 wins,joining teammateand all-time winsleader KarlWaldron (106) andDan Staples (101).

“Every time I would go home myuncle would be like, ‘Nick Zak beatyou,' and it was always so annoying,”Brown said. “I was like, ‘Man, I haveto beat him,’ but when I saw he wasgoing to be at 182 I said, 'OK, I’m justgoing to have to pick up where I leftoff last year and go win it.'”

Brown’s win wasn’t the last time ScarletFliers fans had a chance to celebrate.Senior 220-pounder John Seidleexacted some revenge on Brick Memorial’s TylerPoling with an 8-6 victory in the region final.Poling, who was the fourth-place finisher atheavyweight last season, had defeated Seidle inthe District 23 final, 9-2. His victory gameNeptune two champs, the same as Toms RiverSouth and Jackson Liberty for tops in the ShoreConference. It is the first time Neptune has hadmultiple region champs since Vic Kennan (101),Keith Alston (135) andScott ‘Bam Bam’Bigelow (Hwt) all wontitles in 1978.Sophomore NasiyrBrown placed second at113 pounds, defeatingthe No. 2 and No. 3seeds to get there, togive Neptune three statequalifiers.

“It’s awesome, thereare no other words,”Brown said ofNeptune’s rise back toprominence. “It’s like aCinderella story. Westarted from the bottomand worked our way up.”

Now Seidle and Brown will try to bring homeNeptune’s first state medal since Rohan Meredithfinished seventh/eighth at 171 pounds in 1999.

“I really want to place in states and hopefully winit,” Brown said. “Of course winning is the goal, but Iwant to see how good I really am.”

Brown’s biggest advice to histeammates making their first trip toBoardwalk Hall?

“You can’t lookup,” he said.“There’s just toomany people.”

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Senior Dae’Sean Brown

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By Bob Badders - Senior Staff Writer

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Tied with Shore Regional at halftime of NJSIAA’sCentral Jersey Group I semifinal, top-seeded Point

Beach realized that if the Garnet Gulls wanted to positionthemselves to make history, their effort simply was goingto have to be better.

By cranking up the defensive intensity on the perimeterand sealing off the defensive boards, Point Beach rode astrong third quarter and a defensive effort that produced 20total turnovers to a 60-47 victory over the fourth-seededBlue Devils (20-7) to put them one win away from theprogram's first NJSIAA sectional title. The Garnet Gulls (24-3) will host Bound Brook at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in their firstsectional final appearance since 2010 and just their second inschool history.

"We knew we didn't play our best basketball in the firsthalf,'' said junior forward Noah Yates. "We knew that we hadto come out harder than we ever have before because wewanted to get that lead to take them out of their game. Weturned our defense into offense and started scoring.''

Junior point guard Matt Farrell led the way with a game-high 20 points along with 7 assists, Yates added 18 pointsand 10 rebounds and junior forward Dom Uhl had 10 pointsand 6 rebounds. Junior point guard Dan Pillari had 16 pointsto lead Shore, and sophomore guard Jack Byrne added 14.Senior guard P.J. Kineavy may have struggled offensively forPoint Beach in shooting 1-for-7 from the field and finishingwith four points, but he was integral defensively. He wasswitched onto Pillari in the second half and held him to twopoints after the break on 1-for-8 shooting.

"We switched Kineavy on Pillari, and that was a key to thegame,'' said Point Beach coach Nick Catania. "He took himout of their offense and then we were able to get in thepassing lanes and deny.''

The game was tied at 29 at the half thanks to 12 points byPillari and 14 by Farrell that kept it knotted up. Shore shot11-for-23 from the field in hte first half and was able togenerate second shots by outworking Point Beach on its wayto seven offensive rebounds in the half despite a distinct sizedisadvantage. Farrell rattled off all 12 of his first-half points

in the secondquarter to keepthe Garnet Gullsin the game.

"We should becontrolling theglass in thatgame withDominique,Riley(Calzonetti) andNoah, but wejust weren'tgoing after it,''Catania said."We had to bebetter on theboards.''

The GarnetGulls started thethird quarter with a 9-0 run and never trailed again. Farrellscored two buckets and also dished out an assist toCalzonetti to help fuel the run. Point Beach's ball pressure onthe perimeter, particularly by Kineavy, helped produce fiveturnovers in the quarter that led to runouts in transition. TheGarnet Gulls outscored Shore 13-4 in the period to grab a42-33 advantage going into the fourth quarter, holding theBlue Devils to 2-for-11 shooting from the field in the thirdquarter.

"Coming out in the third quarter, we talked about a quickstart,'' said Shore coach Dave Emery. "We turned the ballover a few times, which hurt. Our shots didn't fall, and give(Point Beach) credit, they played really well in the thirdquarter. I think they were a little scared perhaps at halftime,and I think they picked up their game. They're a very, verygood basketball team.''

"That's been our motto all year is to get the first threestops in the second half and set the tone,'' Farrell said.

Shore had the lead down to 48-41 after Byrne's second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter with 4:31 left in the game, but

Kineavydropped in alayup off aturnover andShore never gotcloser than eightpoints down thestretch. PointBeach forcedseven fourth-quarterturnovers anddid a solid jobdissectingShore's run-and-jump defensenear midcourt toget some easylayups.

"Our scoutingreport was that

they go to that a lot,'' Farrell said. "We had some turnoverswhen we were trying to force things at first and they made alittle run, but we just kept moving the ball."

Kineavy hit both ends of a one-and-one with 1:03remaining for a 56-47 lead, and the defense did not allowShore to score again to wrap up the win. It ended a solid yearfor a Shore team that returns the bulk of its lineup nextseason after a rare 20-win campaign for the Blue Devils.

"I think we surprised everybody, maybe even perhapsourselves,'' said Emery, who is in his first season as Shore'scoach. "They haven't finished over .500 in three years, andclearly they showed they can play with the No. 1 seed in ourbracket, so hopefully for the younger kids building for nextyear, they've already been here and maybe they'll be moreprepared. I'm very proud of the kids. They did a great job.''

As for Point Beach, history awaits. Adding an extrawrinkle to the meeting with Bound Brook is that Farrell grewup in Bridgewater before moving to the Point Pleasantsending district as an eighth-grader, so he knows several

Pt. Beach On the Doorstepof HistoryB y S c o t t S t u m p - M a n a g i n g E d i t o r

Pt. Beach junior point guard Matt Farrell

members of BoundBrook's team. This isBound Brook's firstsectional finalappearance since 1979,and Point Beach hopesto ruin it by adding asectional title to theirClass B Central crownafter coming up shortagainst Lakewood in theShore ConferenceTournamentchampionship game lastSaturday.

"That's where I usedto live, so I'm excited toplay them,'' Farrell said."We just want Riley andP.J. to go out on top (asseniors). It washeartbreaking in thelocker room (after theLakewood loss). We justcame into practice thenext day, worked hard,and now we've givenourselves a shot to makeschool history."

"Everyone's excited,''Yates said. "It's the best feeling knowing your town is behind you andhaving a huge crowd. We are going to come out as hard as we can. That(Lakewood loss) made us want it even more.We want everyone toremember this season. Wewant to put a number onthe banner.''

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F O R A D V E R T I S I N G I N F O RMA T I O NContact : Steven Meyer 732-233-4460 smeyer@al lshoremedia.com

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When star guard Tyrice Beverettelimped to the bench with a left

ankle injury and 6:18 still remaining inMonday night's NJSIAA Central JerseyGroup II championship againstManasquan, Lakewood didn't justweather the storm.

It created one.

The top-seeded Piners banded together in impressivefashion to turn a 10-point lead when Beverette exited intoa comfortable 62-49 victory over the second-seededWarriors (23-4) that gave Lakewood (26-2) its firstsectional title since 2010. The Piners left no doubt thatthey are the No. 1 team in the Shore Conference thisseason by adding a sectional crown to their Class B Southand Shore Conference Tournament championships, andthey did it with their leading scorer on the bench fornearly the entire fourth quarter.

"We said that when that our star player, our brother,falls, we have to come together as a team,'' senior forwardJared Craddox said. "We had to prevail and do it for him.He did a lot for us, and in the end we wanted to return thefavor."

Lakewood will play South Jersey Group II championMedford Tech, which beat Sterling 87-69 for its firstsectional title in program history, in the Group IIsemifinals at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Perth Amboy HighSchool. This marks the second straight year Lakewoodhas ended Manasquan's season after beating the Warriors

in last year's Central Jersey Group III semifinals at thePiner Palace.

Despite missing most of the final quarter, Beverette stillled Lakewood with 17 points along with 7 rebounds whileplaying tough defense on the perimeter on Manasquansenior standout J.R. Hobbie. Craddox added 13 points and10 rebounds, junior guard Maurice Diawara had 11 pointsand 5 rebounds, junior center Ben Watson chipped in 9points and 11 rebounds, and senior guard Erick Davis had

8 points and 6 rebounds asLakewood dominated theglass by outreboundingManasquan 44-23.

"Coach (Randy Holmes)said it's all about 'TTE' - total team effort,'' Watson said."Once someone falls down, we've got to pick them up,and we knew we had a rebounding edge on (Manasquan).''

The loss marked the end of brilliant careers for a pair of1,000-point scorers for Manasquan, as Hobbie finishedwith a game-high 23 points and senior forward JimmyWalsh, who was in the hospital with the flu on Sundaynight, had 9 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Lakewood's

Lakewood senior guard Erick Davis douses coach Randy Holmeswith the water bucket in celebration of the Piners' 62-49 win over Manasquan

to capture the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship.

Lakewood BasketballCaptures CJ Group II TitleBy Scott Stump – Managing Editor

n Sehmonyeh Allen—Neptunen Sean Armand—Jacqueline Kennedy

Onassis HS (NY)n Delvon Arrington—St. Anthony’sn Brian Baker—Colts Neck n Mustafa Barksdale—RBRn Robert Barksdale—Asbury Parkn Billy Beggans—Ocean Townshipn Kate Beriont—St. John Viannen Steve Bridgemohan—E Brunswickn Josh Brody—RBRn Brandon Brown—Freehold Boro n Yesenia Burgos—St. John Vianneyn Rashon Bruno—St. Anthony’s n Courtney Calderon—St. John Vianneyn Isaias Calderon—Neptune n Richard Calia—Holmdeln Shilique Calhoun – Middletown Northn Quarran Calhoun—Raritann Cooper Calzonetti—Neptune n Chase Campbell—Oak Hill Academy (NC)n Cleveland Cannon—Long Branchn Raheem Carter—Long Branch n Corey Chandler—East Side n Robert Cheeks—St. Anthony’s

n Rahmir Cottman—RBR n Vincent Council—Lincoln (NY)n Don Coven—Long Branch n Jared Craddox—Lakewood n Paul De Salvo—CBAn Syessence Davis—Neptune n Allen Dean—Neptune n Taquan Dean—Neptune n Dana Jean DeGennaro—RBCn Chris Delaney—CBA n Pat Delaney—CBAn Jose Diaz—Pt. Pleasant Beach n Mark Donnelly—RBR n Sean Dunne—CBA n Kristian Duravcevic—Fordham Preparatory

School (NY) n Mike Faherty—Brooklyn Polytech n Matt Farrell—Pt. Pleasant Beach n Crissie Fisher—Rumson-Fair Haven n Sarah Fisher—RBR n Adam Fleischner—Holmdel n Colin Ford—Manasquan n Glen Ford—RBC n Greg Ford—Trenton Central n Avery Gardner—Long Branch

n Billy Gilligan—RBR n Tyler Glass—Mater Dei Prep n Erica Gomez—St. John Vianney n Dana Graziano—Holmdel n Kevin Grier—CBAn Paul Halas—St. Rose n Felicia Harris—RBR n Michael Harris—Randolph n Mykel Harris—Great Mills (MD)n Ashley Hart—The Peddie Schooln Eugene “Nu Nu” Harvey—St. Benedict’s Prepn Corey Haskins—RBR n Kasey Hobbie—RBC n Norman Hobbie—Manasquan n Darien Hutton—Ewing n Nolan Ivers—Holmdel n Jasmine Jackson—Old Bridge n Rosie Jackson—St. John Vianney n Tyson Johnson—St. Mary’s HS (NY) n Billy Kiss—Long Branch n Michael Kelly—St. Anthony’s (NY)n Nick La Morte—Mater Dei n Herve Lamizana—St. Patrick’s n Erin Leahy—Rumson-Fair Haven

n Carl Little—Asbury Park n Maggie Loundy—Pt. Pleasant Beach n Charles Markens—St. Patrick n Mike Mavrinac—Middletown South n Jasmine McCall—Manalapan n Billy McCue—CBAn Christian Morris—S. Kent School (CT)n Darius Morris—Long Branch n Valerie Morris—Freehold Boro n Michael Murphy—Howell n Sachin Nagpal—Ranney School n Brian O’Reilly—Middletown South n Karen Otrupchak—RBR n Kevin Owens—Neptune n Toni Panza—St. John Vianney n Anthony Perry—St. Anthony’sn Shinece Perry—RBR n Earl Pettis—Saints John Neumann & Maria

Goretti Catholic (PA) n Simon Press—Asbury Parkn Joey Raines—Asbury Park n David Reeves—RBC n Anne Richards—The Lawrenceville Sch.n Charlie Rogers—Matawan n Amanda Rosato—St. John Vianney

n Alifiya Rangwala—The Ranney Schooln Will Sanborn—RBR n Keyron Sheard—RBR n Brian Snodgrass—Holmdel n Lauren Sokol—The Peddie Schooln Stephen Spinella—Colts Neck n Matt Stahl—Middletown Southn Missy Stavola—Rumson-Fair Haven n Jenna Strich—RBC n Scott Stump—RBC n Kim Talbot—RBC n Aaron Tarver—RBR n Terrance Todd—Neptune HS n Maurice Turpin—Long Branch n John Weldon—Freehold Boro n Dawn Werner—St. John Vianney n John Werner—St John Vianney n Kade Weston—RBRn Kayshanna Wesley— Asbury Park n Eric Yarborough— Asbury Parkn Tomora Young—RBR n Terry Zinn—RBC n Lynne Zoltowski—RBC

A SAMPL ING OF CURRENT AND FORMER MAC ALL -STARS

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trademark stifling defense limited Manasquan to 18-for-61 shooting (29 percent) from the field to help offset anight in which the Piners shot 22-for-58 (38 percent) andwent 0-for-11 from 3-point range.

"That's our staple,defense and beingconditioned,'' saidHolmes, who notedthat Lakewood ran15 suicides earlierin the day. "That'sone thing we canrely on, to wearthem down. Iwatched a couplegame films on them,and they don't reallygo deep on theirbench.''

Beverette sufferedthe injury when herolled his ankle on abaseline drive to thebasket early in thefourth quarter. Ananguished Beverettedeclined comment after the game while sitting in thelocker room with ice wrapped around his ankle. In hisabsence, five different Lakewood players scored as thePiners outscored Manasquan 21-18 in the final 6:18.Lakewood shot 11-for-17 from the foul line in the final5:18 and contested every shot by Manasquan defensivelywhile also continuing an assault on the boards that yielded20 offensive rebounds in the game.

"Coming in that was the main concern was theirrebounding,'' Hobbie said. "It was their night. They wereputting in shots, they were getting rebounds, and theywent after it.''

Lakewood only shot 2-for-12 from the field againstManasquan's 2-3 zone in the first quarter to trail 11-6, butgrabbed a 21-18 lead at the half thanks to seven second-quarter points by Beverette and a defensive effort that

limited Walsh and Hobbie to four combined second-quarter points.

Hobbie, who came in averaging 26 points per game inthe state playoffs, began to heat up in the third quarter,

buryingconsecutive 3-pointers to giveManasquan a 28-27 lead with 2:52left in the period.Lakewoodresponded with a3-point play byDiawara and abucket byBeverette in thelane for a four-point lead beforeManasquanmade it a one-point game on afoul shot byHobbie and abasket inside byWalsh.

However,Lakewood made what proved to be the decisive burstwhen it went on a 9-0 run that bridged the third and fourthquarters for a 41-31 lead after a putback by Craddox, whoshot 5-for-7 from the field and had five offensiverebounds. The Piners remained patient on offense againstManasquan's zone and then a box-and-one againstBeverette, and the dribble penetration of Diawara andBeverette forced the defensive rotations that left Craddoxand Watson in prime position for putbacks on any misses.

"Even though they have one big man (Walsh), we havea lot of people who can crash the boards, so that was anadvantage for us,'' Craddox said.

Craddox also harassed Walsh into an 0-for-3 showingfrom the field in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.A rotating group of Lakewood guards led by Beveretteensured Hobbie would have to work for his points, as

he shot 8-for-24 from the field in the loss and 4-for-12 inthe fourth quarter.

"I just tried to body (Walsh) up and tire him out as muchas possible,'' Craddox said. "I know that I'm in bettercondition, so I just wanted to wear him out and by thefourth quarter I could just do my thing.''

After a transition bucket by Manasquan junior guardTommy Toole (11 points) cut Lakewood's lead to 41-33following Beverette's injury, Diawara responded with adriving layup and a free throw to push the lead back to 11points. A driving score by Hobbie again trimmed the leadto single digits, but Craddox answered with a putback tomake it 46-35, and the Piners never let the lead dip under10 points the rest of the way.

With two wins over the No. 2 team in the All ShoreMedia Top 10, Central Jersey Group I finalist PointBeach, and now a victory over No. 3 Manasquan, thePiners have put a stamp on their resurgence to the top ofthe Shore Conference. A tight-knit group of seniors alsoerased the memory of losing to Neptune in last season'sCentral Jersey Group III final.

"We're doubted every year,'' Craddox said. "Thisshowed we can make a statement and prove that we areNo. 1. After what happened last year, the seniors made upour minds that we can't go out like this. We have to go outwith a bang.''

"It was only fitting that we played Manasquan in theCentral Jersey Group II championship, just because weplayed Point Beach twice, we beat them twice, and theonly questionable team (for the No. 1 ranking) wasManasquan, so to finish them up at home, it was a thing ofbeauty,'' Holmes said. "Now we're the undisputed bestteam in the Shore.''

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Randy Holmeshas been a head coach or assistant on Lakewoodteams that had current New York Knicks guardJ.R. Smith and a constellation of other stars in thelast 15 years, but they never achieved the feat thePiners accomplished in this year’sShore Conference Tournament.

While the Piners have won two NJSIAAsectional titles during an 11-year stretch,they never could even reach the ShoreConference Tournament final despite allthat individual talent. For all the star-studded groups they have had, it took anego-free team whose biggest star will playfootball in college to finally returnLakewood to the mountaintop.

While it wasn't pretty, Lakewood’s 39-33victory over second-seeded Point Beachthat gave the Piners their first SCT titlesince 1991 was emblematic of what hasmade this Lakewood's most successfulseason since Holmes was a star guard forthe Piners in the early 1990s. All they careabout is winning, and it shows in the waythey share the ball and rally around oneanother.

"This is not my most talented team, but Ithink collectively, this is our best team,''Holmes said. "They bought into everythingthat I was trying to get across to them, especially on thedefensive end. They live and die for defense. They'reunselfish.

"We have no prima donna-type players. They're all bluecollar-type guys who bring their hardhats to work everyday, so I'm very happy for these guys.''

The cohesion of the Lakewood team was on full displayin a game where it would have been easy to point fingers infrustration as one shot after another clanged off the rim orone pass or another sailed out of bounds. The Piners nevereven came close to turning on one another, insteadconstantly trying to pick each other up despite shooting 15-for-41 from the field and turning the ball over 16 times.

"A couple years ago, there were so many egos on theteam, but now we came together as a unit knowing we'renot better than anybody else,'' said senior forward JaredCraddox, the son of the athletic director. "We have thatsame mentality and came up big in the end. There were noegos.''

This group learned from the mistakes of past teams andrealized that if it was going to achieve what it hoped toaccomplish, it couldn't be with everyone trying to be "TheMan" to the detriment of the team. For years under formercoach John "Pott'' Richardson, Lakewood was all aboutP.M.A., or Positive Mental Attitude, which usually adornedtheir T-shirts or warmups. Now the Piners have adopted anew slogan under Holmes, who played for Richardson.

"We're all about 'TTE,' which stands for Total TeamEffort,'' said junior guard Maurice Diowara, who tiedBeverette with a team-high 10 points. "That's what wepreached all season, and that's how we won games. Inprevious years, some people valued themselves more thanthe team, and you can't win like that.''

Holmes has been drilling that into his players' headsduring his six years as head coach, resurrecting a proudprogram that seemed to be at a crossroads in the early2000s. When Smith transferred to national power St.Benedict's Prep in Newark after two years at Lakewood, ittriggered an exodus that crippled the program at first. Smithclearly made the right choice given that he became an NBAfirst-round draft pick right out of St. Benedict's in 2004, butit also had many lesser-talented players from Lakewoodthinking the same thing would happen to them if they left.

"Seven guys left, and they almost wiped the wholeprogram out,'' Holmes said. "What we had to do as coaches

was get our players to start believing in the program again.You don't have to go to a prep school to have some success.

"J.R. is one in a million. He was a pro here at Lakewood.It doesn't pan out like that with everyone. We got thatmessage across to the younger guys, and they stuck aroundand gave me and the coaching staff a chance to develop

them and mold them."Another reason many players departed was

because Lakewood's stars were not qualifyingacademically for college and often fading into obscurity

after their careers with the Piners. That is whysenior star Tyrice Beverette is such animportant symbol because he is moving on toplay safety at Stony Brook. He is No. 1 in hisclass academically and has shown that a local

player can stay home and get academically qualified atLakewood. The Piners desperately needed to showthey could guide a young talent up through the ranks

and into college or risk getting their top players cherry-picked by non-public, prep and even other nearby publicschools.

"There's more to basketball than just shooting hoops,''Holmes said. "You've got to know how to act, you've got tobe a productive citizen, and that's what I got from coach

Richardson. All the jewels that he dropped to me, I try tospread them on to my team.''

It helps that the Piners' lone star, Beverette, only caresabout one stat - wins. Even when he might be struggling toscore, he is still a bulldog on defense who rebounds andkeeps playing hard despite his offensive game sputtering.

"Wins are how you are remembered,'' Beverette said. "Ijust want to do whatever it takes to help my team.''

That sounds an awful lot like a former guard for thePiners named Randy Holmes who went on to star at St.Peter's College in the 1990s. Holmes bleeds Lakewoodblue. During Saturday's game, he was wearing a T-shirtunder his suit featuring an old team photo of the 1991 teamthat was the last Ocean County squad to win the SCT untilthis season.

"Every practice, that team is all he's ever talked about,''Craddox said. "Now we can talk about our ownchampionship.''

Many great teams over the years that I have covered havebeen ones that their coaches secretly hated because it wasmore about managing egos and disciplinary problems thanthe enjoyment of the games. That is clearly not the casewith this Lakewood group. All you needed to do was see

the excitement of Holmesafter the final buzzer. Hehad his arms around severalplayers, jumping injubilation with a deliriousgroup of Piners like it was1991 all over again and hewas one of the ones wearinga jersey.

Not only was heexhilarated by the win, buthe had shown his blueprintworked. Subvert your ego,play as a team, and you willbe rewarded with the bigtrophy.

"I just wanted to celebratewith the guys,'' Holmessaid. "We're in it together.Total team effort.''

F O R A D V E R T I S I N G I N F O RMA T I O NContact : Steven Meyer 732-233-4460 smeyer@al lshoremedia.com

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