CBA, Neptune set to battle for Shore’s top spot
A North looks to be
the class of the
local hoops scene
JERRY WOLKOWITZ CBA’s Chris Kenny hauls in a rebound during the Colts’ win in Freehold Township on Friday night.
The Shore Conference basketball scene appears to be a little lopsided this season, with Class A North staking its claim as the top division once again.
But there may be a new leader of the A North pack this year, as the Neptune Scarlet Fliers, led by the Louisville-bound Taquan Dean, look to unseat Christian Brothers Academy as the division, and the Shore’s, top team.
But the boys at CBA will not lie down for the Fliers and will look to prove that CBA does not skip a beat, even after losing a bunch of players from last year’s 25-1 Shore Conference championship squad.
CBA is off to a flying start once again, after topping Freehold Township on Friday and getting a big early-season win over a strong Don Bosco team on Sunday at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall University in South Orange.
The Colts, who have not lost to a Shore Conference opponent since a 1999 loss to Red Bank Regional in the Shore Conference Tournament final, used a brilliant defensive third-quarter to top Don Bosco and notch their first big win of the year.
Both teams came out shooting well, with CBA holding a 31-29 lead at the half. But once the third quarter began, CBA began to exert its dominance. Player of the Game Bill Smith, one of only two key returners for the Colts this year, started things off with a three-pointer, and CBA tightened its defense on the other end of the court. The result was a 23-7 run that effectively put the game out of reach. The Colts’ defense was so strong that Bosco made only four field goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
Smith finished the game with 18 points and seven assists. Monmouth University-bound senior Chris Kenny also played well, delivering 13 points, as senior Pat Discepola added 14.
Both Smith and Kenny will need to play well this year if the Colts have any hopes to continue their local dominance. The loss of Eric Hazard, a second team All-Shore player last year, will hurt CBA’s chances. Hazard transferred to St. Benedict’s, Holmdel.
The Colts’ win was an impressive start to the season and may have given them a bit of an edge over Neptune in the early-season polls. The Scarlet Fliers fell to St. Patrick’s in the Seton Hall tournament’s other game, 67-58.
Taquan Dean showed why he is the Shore’s top player, dropping 22 points on the Celtics, but St. Patrick’s size advantage eventually wore down the Fliers’ defense and proved to be too much for Neptune in the end.
However, just the fact that Neptune stayed competitive with St. Patrick’s, one the state’s most respected basketball programs, proves that Dean and company are an extremely dangerous team.
The battle for the top spot in the Shore and A North will begin on Jan. 15, when Neptune travels to Lincroft for the teams’ first meeting of the year and what could be a preview of this year’s SCT final.
Neptune is still smarting from three losses to the Colts last year and has not been shy about its desire to knock CBA out the spot atop the Shore Conference.
But there’s more to A North than just CBA and Neptune. The division also contains a trio of teams who will be dangerous on the courts this year, starting with Freehold Township.
The Patriots return a number of players from last year’s 12-11 squad, including senior guard Andrew Impastato (18 ppg, 5 apg) and senior forward Ryan Brown (10 ppg, 7 rpg). Both Impastato and Brown are solid players who can carry the team at any time. But the Pats also return a solid core of varsity players who, when playing together, could pose a serious challenge to both CBA and Neptune.
Middletown North is another team that should pose a threat to Shore teams this year. First-year coach Will Mayer and his team return senior forward Jason Krol (12 ppg, 7 rpg) from last year’s 15-8 team and have a crop of talented newcomers who could make an immediate impact.
The Lions are a bit of a question mark due to their overall lack of experience but could develop into one of the Shore’s better teams by season’s end.
The Middletown South Eagles are also fairly young but do return junior forward Pat Clabby (11 ppg. 6 rpg) and senior Steve Sakosits from last year’s 19-7 squad. The Eagles are another team with some talented young players and could be another surprising squad as the season progresses.
So with Neptune and CBA battling for the top spot and a trio of teams fighting to be mentioned in the same breath as the Shore’s elite teams, the Class A North race should be an interesting one this year. Both the Scarlet Fliers and the Colts will view anything short of a division championship and a SCT title as a missed opportunity.
But while they’re battling each other for the title as the Shore’s top team, they had better be careful not to overlook the teams from their own back yards. CBA looks to have come back to the pack a little bit, while Neptune has closed the gap on its own.
And in the meantime, the rest of A North is just looking to join the fun and possibly knock off a sleeping giant along the way.