BOYS HOOPS: EXTRAS FROM SUPER TUESDAY

A pretty exciting day on the boys side, as you couldn’t go wrong if you went to Freehold Twp.-Middletown South, Neptune-Monmouth or St. Rose-Keyport as well as Howell edging Middletown North in the final seconds as well.
I was at Freehold Township-Middletown South, as the Patriots took sole control of first place in the rugged Class A North. Here are a few quick impressions from the game that weren’t in the game story:

That jump ball call with the possession arrow going Freehold Township’s way with 12 seconds left in regulation that allowed the Patriots to tie the game and send it to overtime will be debated for a while.
Middletown South has the one intangible, heart, that you can’t teach, and I’ve seen it on display a couple of times this season.
We’ll really see what the Eagles have got after losing Kyle Cancillieri and having to now play Christian Brothers Academy. You can rally around the temporary adrenaline from an in-game injury that night, but the real question is how you regroup for a whole game two days later when reality has sunk in. If Cancillieri somehow gives it a go, I would think he would be severely limited. When you hear the words “high ankle sprain,” that’s not good.
Freehold Township center Max Lit has the size to be a major threat on the low block, and if he can start finishing when he gets hit inside and makes his free throws, look out.
Patriots point guard Tyler McKinnon is one of the fastest players I have seen this season. He causes a lot of trouble by getting into the paint and can finish in traffic. He is prone to the occasional wild shot, but he is one of the best things you can have late in a game when time is running out and the offense breaks down – someone who can make something out of nothing. Kevin Fischer and Corey Csakai also have that ability, but not quite the speed that McKinnon has.
Middletown South guard Garret Thiel is in the running for the first-team DigitalSports All-Star team. The Patriots were regularly running a double team at him, yet he still made some big shots and some huge free throws. Just a fearless player.
Freehold Township’s Brian Golub, the reigning DigitalSports Coach of the Year from last season, and Middletown South’s Kevin Cullen, both have to be in the discussion for this season’s Coach of the Year thus far. Cullen had black magic marker residue smudged all over his forehead after the game because he was furiously diagramming up plays and defenses to help fuel a comeback from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to nearly win the game in regulation. His attitude as a player has rubbed off on his team, as Cullen is a former standout and 3-point bomber at South from the mid-1990s who played on some highly successful teams. If someone gave him space, he shot it in their face. That’s the type of fearlessness that gives a Rob Callori the confidence to come off the bench and hit three huge 3-pointers in the second half when the Patriots were daring anyone but Thiel to make a big shot. Pete Clabby also made some big threes in the game.
Chris Ballester has become Freehold Township’s big play guy in crucial spots. He had the game-winning tip-in against CBA and the game-tying lay-up with six seconds left in regulation yesterday. Not only that, he always seems to be the one that grabs the key offensive rebound to keep a crucial possession alive or tips a loose ball to a teammate in a big spot. He also did a nice Dr. Phil act with Corey Csakai to calm him down before he sank the game-winning foul shot with 3.7 seconds left in overtime.

As for the other games, here are a few quick thoughts

Monmouth matches up well with Neptune, and again pushed them to the brink in a 63-60 loss. The Falcons lost in the final eight seconds last night and have lost to the No. 1 Scarlet Fliers twice by a combined five points. Sophomore guard Neil Thompson is rapidly becoming a big-game player, while Neptune guard Jabari Joyner has quietly buried a lot of big 3-pointers for the Fliers this season.
Keyport has been a nice story this season. I know the Red Raiders beat a St. Rose team without two injured starters, but a win over St. Rose is definitely one the Red Raiders will take to the bank because they haven’t come too often over the years. Senior point guard Eric Devlin has been a big key for Keyport’s surge this season, as they already have 10 wins after winning seven games all of last season. They also are still in striking distance of the Class B Central title if they win out and Asbury Park loses to St. Rose on Thursday. As for the Purple Roses, Chris Heine has become their big-shot guy in the final seconds of close games, as his 3-point bomb from 30 feet sent it to triple overtime last night before Keyport won 72-69. It was a bad week for the Purple Roses to have the injury bug hit Brian Poppert (ankle) and Joey Quinn (broken nose), considering Keyport and Asbury Park are the two other top contenders in the division.
CBA is starting to kick it into high gear, and senior point guard Dallas Ouano returns from injury on Monday to further their depth. They rolled over Colts Neck, and Mike Kuhn snapped out of an offensive slump with 22 points to fuel the win. Next up is Middletown South. What a difference a few days makes. Last week, they lost to Freehold Township at the buzzer and new coach Geoff Billet was the Antichrist who had to be shipped to Siberia and the whole team had to be replaced. Now they are the talented team gaining more experience, confidence and momentum and Billet is the coach making shrewd decisions to shuffle the lineup to make the Colts look like a team that will be right there in the end in the Shore Conference Tournament. You gotta love it. That’s life at the top.
Rumson has qualified for the state tournament on the heels of a four-win season, so congrats to the Bulldogs (9-5). Junior guard Matt Blumel might be the most improved player in the Shore (somewhere, Randy Foye is smiling). He has gone from someone who barely played last season to one of the top 10 or so guards in the conference.
Think Lakewood was happy about its first loss ever to Pinelands in their inaugural meeting this season? The Piners beat the Wildcats 72-45 last night in the rematch as Neptune transfer Jacob Grant continues to play well.
Brick Memorial edged Lacey, 49-47, to take over second place in Class A South, and now the Mustangs welcome first-place Toms River North to their building on Thursday night in a bid to make the division race interesting in this final stretch. Coach Ed Sarluca Jr. has done a nice job with a young team this season and we’ll see if they can make a big splash on Thursday against a Mariners team that has not lost since the season opener.
Red Bank’s Matt Pebole is really showing his full talent this season as he had 26 points in a win over Red Bank Catholic last night. After being mainly a garbageman who played defense and cleaned up offensive rebounds behind the star tandem of Kyle Fitzgerald and Casey Peters the last two seasons, the Red Bank senior has shown there is much more to his offensive game than he showed while waiting his turn. He has good range for a 6-foot-4 forward and good touch around the glass and off the dribble.