What a great opening weekend to start the season! I attended the Lakewood-Neptune game and what a terrific atmosphere to get the basketball juices flowing. To me, that’s what it’s all about. I couldn’t care less who won the game and you’ll never see me put out a Top Ten. Does it really matter who’s ranked where? I guess it should be important for the kids but I will never understand why adults care about that. Tell me who’s left standing at the end of the year. Speaking of the kids, here’s a few I noticed this weekend and a few thoughts after perusing the weekend boxscores.
Tyrice Beverette and Jameer Jones make up a dynamic backcourt for Lakewood. Both of them defend and make big plays. Beverette looks like the type of kid who just helps you win without doing any one thing in spectacular fashion. He’s solid, my type of player….Fuquan McDonald was far and away the best player on the floor for Neptune. He was tougher than I’ve ever seen him and he looks to have extended his shooting range out to 17 ft. or so…Point Boro’s Shawn Cooke started his season off nicely with 24 points against a decent Manchester team. Cooke did most of his damage from the foul line where he is deadly. And you know I’m partial to kids who can knock down free throws. He looks visibly stronger and that’s an asset for any guard who likes to attack the rim and get to the line…Brick Memorial guard Vince Lombardi, who I described as ” the best guard nobody talks about” in a recent blog, went off for 29 against Wall in the WOBM. Lombardi is another kid who looks visibly stronger. You can tell the kids who work hard in the offseason. Lombardi obviously did and it’s paying off….Lacey knocked off a good Southern team in its opener and then toppled always tough Point Boro in the WOBM to get off to a great start. Lacey’s Logan McDonald showed a nice touch for a big kid, knocking down 3 treys against Southern…I was very impressed with Tom River South’s sophomore point guard Marquis Davis. He was poised and showed the ability to get into the lane and finish. He has a great floater in the lane and that’s unusual for a young kid. I also liked the fact that he had no problem demanding the ball at crunch time and settled things down when the moment called for it. He has a chance to be very good. South knocked off Barnegat in a mini-upset and I should also mention the effort of senior Zach Ligouri. He didn’t light up the scorebook but he is physical and plays very hard and had a presence on the floor. I like that….Central’s Jeremy Wozniak is a pretty good player with a nice stroke. Good size and shoots with confidence…Colts Neck played Toms River North on Friday night in a game between two good teams. Hunter Wysocki was solid as usual for Colts Neck with 15 points for a Cougar team that is loaded with firepower. Senior guard Sean O’Reilly is a proven scorer and junior guard Brandon Federici is a lethal shooter. Federici only had 6 points against TRN but erupted for 31 points in Colt’s Neck’s win over Freehold Boro. Federici is big at 6′ 3″ and, if left alone, is almost automatic from behind the arc. Tom’s River North also had a couple of players who impressed. I thought forward Karl Blum was a tough kid who finished well and guard Alex Levchenko has a nice jumper and also gets to the line….Jackson Memorial had an easy win over an outmanned Brick team in its opener and the kid who may be their not so secret weapon is forward Brandon Holup. He’s easily 6’7″ and had no problem stepping out and knocking down some three’s. He has a nice easy stroke that looks repeatable and he may open some more eyes as the season progresses…Speaking of shooters, one of the best at the Shore is junior J.R. Hobbie of Manasquan. He had 20 in Squan’s opening win. Another kid with good size and touch from the perimeter.
I’ll finish off my look at the opening few days of the season with a quick look at who’s making their free throws early in the season.
Colts Neck (15-20)- No surprise. They’re a good shooting team.
Point Boro- (24-31) That’s a lot of takes and a lot of makes. Sign of a tough team.
Neptune shot an unfortunate (11-26) from the line against Lakewood and lost by 4. In their next game they shot (11-18) and won by 5. Free throws count.
That’s it for now folks. Remember, it’s a kids game. I’m the Shore Scout and I’ll be watching.
December 21, 2011 at 4:54 pm |
What about Christian Garcia ex player for the Freehold Boro colonials on getting rookie of the week, 2 weeks in a row for Rutgers in Newark, just wanted to put that out their.CONGRATS!
December 22, 2011 at 1:18 pm |
Hey Shore Scout! Good to see you back. If you have Optimum Cable go to MSG Varsity Interactive (614) to watch the St. Rose/AP game and tell me what you think. 3 best players from B-Central were doing their thing. SR G Mark Kukoda, AP F Thomond Hammary and AP G Amir Conover should all be in the running for an All-Shore spot at the end of the season.
December 22, 2011 at 4:07 pm |
There are many people myself included which find it creepy that you talk about teenage boys but do not sign your name to it.