By Mike White
Staff Writer
VERONICA YANKOWSKI Jackson’s Kenny Simms dribbles past a Lakewood defender during the Jaguars’ loss to the Piners on Jan. 22 in Lakewood.
JACKSON — Following a three-point setback against Lakewood, Jackson High School boys’ basketball coach Mike Antenucci was dismayed with his team’s free throw shooting. The Jaguars connected on only eight of 20 foul shots.
The first-year Jackson coach made cashing in at the charity stripe a priority.
"When you make just eight of 20 attempts it’s difficult to win close games," Antenucci said. "It is an area that has been giving us trouble for a while now. We’ve been shooting just 55 percent from the line. We can’t afford to continue to shoot like that and expect to win games. Against the better teams, free throw shooting is very important."
Jackson improved its foul shooting a little bit in a 53-44 victory over host Toms River North last Friday night in a Shore Conference A South game.
The Jags made 14 of 26 free throws as they improved to 10-3 overall and 7-0 in the conference.
"We’d like to be shooting 75 or 80 percent from the line," Antenucci said. "If we’re getting people to the foul line, that means we’re getting the ball inside. Now, we have to finish at the foul line."
After getting off to a shaky first quarter, Jackson settled down and took a 24-16 lead into half-time.
"We struggled against their full court pressure early," Antenucci said. "We made a couple of poor decisions with the ball. But then we settled down and started to play our game."
Jackson used a balanced scoring attack against TRN. Justin Fields paced the Jags with 13 points. Carl Benning added 12 while Kenny Simms contributed 11. Lead guard Ryan Mogila added nine points and six assists.
"We got better shot selection in the second half," Antenucci said. "TRN is a scrappy team. They were fighting for their lives in the division. They came in 4-2 and needed to knock us off badly. They are a solid team."
Jackson is scheduled to host Brick 6:30 p.m. Friday.
"We handled them pretty easily the first time around," Antenucci said. "But we don’t take anything for granted. We still need to go out and execute offensively, make foul shots and rebound."