The Brick Memorial High School boys basketball team goes into Friday night’s season opener at home against Toms River South wiped out. Twelve seniors graduated from last year’s 19-8 team that won Shore Conference A South, its third conference title in five years.
That includes Matt O’Brien, who was named to the All-Shore Conference A South team and played for the Ocean team in the All-Star game against Monmouth. O’Brien averaged 15.5 points per game. Ed Sarluca, his coach, was named A South Coach of the Year.
In fact, 6-foot, 3-inch junior Alex Sliazis was the only non-senior on the roster who got noticeable playing time.
“We’re looking for him to be a leader next year,” Sarluca said after last season.
Also departed is Steve Zrowka, a 12 ppg scorer who was named to the All-Shore ConferenceASouth second team.
There also are players from the junior varsity team that won 18 games and a freshman team that picked up many of its 10 victories at the end of the season
“We’re excited to turn to the junior varsity [players] and, hopefully, continue the success,” Sarluca said. “It was helpful to be in transition during the spring and summer and [assistant coach] Evan Rizitello did a good job of working with them, so we don’t have to start from scratch. They had to figure out the varsity game is a lot faster and harder and more demanding.”
So is Sarluca worried?
“So far, so good,” he said. “We have a lot of new guys looking to get varsity experience. They’re all working hard. We look like we’ll be competitive for a championship.”
That means taking on Southern and Toms River High School North, which Sarluca considers the top contenders. Senior guards Drew Atheras and Joe Perri suited up on varsity last season and must take care of the ball with Sliazis and score from the outside on a team that has good size in junior forwards Tim O’Shea, Jahmere Calhoun, Rob Hirzel, Bill Hoch and Will Wowkanyn, who all measure about 6 feet, 4 inches. Juniors Imere Meredith and Jay Jay Oliver give depth at guard.
“We haven’t yet figured out [the dynamic of] this team but we’ll look to run and for them to leave good spacing and good passing,” Sarluca said. “When they do that well, we can be very good. And we’ll play aggres- sive defense. We have good athletes and can take advantage of that style. So, in that sense on offense and defense, we’ll be similar to previous years.”
Sarluca has the same staff as last year with Jason Bloom as his assistant, Evan Rizitello coaching the junior varsity and Dave Shilanskas taking the freshmen. But Sarluca had to divide his attention at times during preseason with his other duties as secondary coach of the football team that reached the NJSIAA Group IV, Central Jersey championship game for the second straight year on Dec. 5.
“It’s part of my job,” Sarluca said. “I give everything to both teams and find time for my family. I love doing it. It was an unbelievable thing what our kids did [in football]. Nobody believed they could do it, other than the people who mattered most — the players and the coaches. It was a tremendous experience. I was proud to be a part of it and was sad to see the way it ended. But it showed if you stick to your guns what obstacles you can overcome.”
Sarluca feels that lesson can carry over to other sports, including basketball where he said the team “was like a family” with little changes in the roster over the last three years as it made the Shore Conference and NJSIAA tournaments last season after finishing a game shy of qualifying the previous year. The team ended last season with a 79-74 loss to Freehold Township. Zrowka missed the last two games of the season with a thigh injury.
“That hurt us a little bit,” he said. “He was one of our go-to guys.”
Also, 11-for-25 free-throw shooting took its toll in that game as Brick Memorial squandered a 10-point lead with three minutes left.
“We all grew up together,” Sarluca said. “We played well together and did not depend on one person. We had a lot of guys step up. There were games we went 10 or 11 deep. Thirteen guys contributed.”
That included Jose Ramos, who poured in 10 ppg, as well as Kyle Cherrick, who worked hard to come back at the end of the season from a broken hand suffered in late February. Also contributing were Brian Rushalski, Matt Heard, Justin Sculthorpe, Ishiere Meredith, Anthony Lepore, Alex Berardi, Brian Staub and Christian Lagnese.
But Sarluca feels the group is ready to cut its teeth and continue the legacy of success. With only four seniors on this roster, that can continue next year as well.
“What we’ve created from when Ron Gerlufsen coached before me and what has continued is having a lot of guys, who played before, coming back to help out, whether it’s a practice or two or just helping on the bench,” Sarluca said. “One of our goals was to create a tradition.”
It has eased the rebuilding of the team for this season.