By Mike White
Staff Writer
Teams in the A South Division of the Shore Conference learned the hard way that playing man-to-man defense against the Jackson High School boys’ basketball team can lead to problems.
The Jaguars proved to be difficult to match-up inside as Kenny Simms and Justin Fields spent the first half of the season schooling players from around the division on the finer points of low-post play.
"Teams who have seen us the first time through are now starting to make adjustments defensively," Jackson coach Mike Antenucci said. "We’ve seen more zone in the past couple of games than we did earlier in the season. I get the feeling we’re going to see a lot more of it as we face conference teams a second time around."
In fact, Jackson needed the sharp perimeter shooting of senior guard Jeff Warner to produce a 57-52 victory over a scrappy visiting Brick Memorial team last Friday night.
Warner paced the Jags with a team-high 17 points as Jackson improved to 9-2 overall and 6-0 in the conference. What was impressive about Warner’s performance was his outside shooting. Warner drained five three-point goals to lift the Jags over an aggressive Green Dragon zone defense.
"There is no doubt he is the best perimeter shooter we have on this team," Antenucci said. "He stepped it up that night and knocked down some very big shots at key points in the game. He is a streaky kind of shooter. If he gets hot, he can hit five or six in a row. Brick Memorial did a good job of doubling down on our big guys. That left guys like Warner open on the perimeter and he made them pay."
Simms finished with nine points, while teammate Jack Oliver added eight. Lead guard Ryan Mogila had six points and a handful of assists. Fields, Jackson’s leading scorer, was held to just five points.
"We need to make adjustments as a team if a defense is taking away our inside game," Antenucci said. "I thought we did a good job of making the necessary changes. Brick was a hard-nosed, scrappy team. We had to fight to get that victory. I keep telling the kids that it is going to take teamwork in order for us to stay on the winning track."
Jackson survived a scare earlier in the week against Toms River East. The Jags needed overtime to escape with the win.
Fields scored the winning basket off an assist from Mogila as time expired in the extra frame.
"Our kids responded in the overtime period," Antenucci said. "They (TRE) hit a shot at the buzzer at the end of regulation to force overtime. A lot of teams might have packed it in. But we didn’t. Our kids dug in and managed to hold on for the victory."
Jackson faces its most difficult part of the schedule in the next week. Antenucci refers to the four consecutive road game stint as the "long haul."
The Jags traveled to Lakewood Wednesday and followed with away games at Toms River North (Jan. 24), Pinelands (Jan. 27) and Southern (Jan. 28).
"This stretch of the schedule will reveal a little something about this squad," Antenucci said. "We know the advantage of playing at home. On the road is another story. If we come through these four games in seven days’ time okay, it’ll prove we’re a threat on the road."
It appears Jackson will earn a berth into both the state and Shore Conference tournaments. The cut-off date for the state tournament is Feb. 8. Jackson needs to post a .500 overall record in order to qualify.
Antenucci says he can’t help but to look ahead.
"We’re very conscious about both tournaments," he said. "That’s why we want to make sure we finish the regular season strong. These tournaments are all about where you are seeded. We want to earn a good seed so that we can play a couple of home games. When you the face the kind of competition that we’ll be going up against, it’s nice to play on your own court with your fans supporting you."
Lakewood falls to Central Regional
The Piners fell to 3-4 overall with a 52-49 overtime loss against Central in a Shore Conference B South match-up last Friday night.
Freshman guard Chris Smith led the Piners with a team-high 16 points.
Sophomore lead guard Tyron Trottman added 14 points and junior center Robert Duriet contributed nine as Lakewood was outscored by a 7-3 margin in the extra period.