By Jeff Appelblatt
Freehold High School’s boys’ basketball team just can’t seem to score late in games. It appears that no one wants to be responsible for late shots for the Colonials, and not many players look to shoot the ball early in the game either.
The team been knocking time off the clock moving the ball around, but it’s lacking the points necessary to win.
That was displayed in one of the team’s latest contests Jan. 26 against Neptune High School. Freehold played from behind all game, with the team scoring only two points in the second quarter and losing, 21-8, by halftime.
However, the Colonials kept Neptune’s offense quiet in the second half, leaving the door open. It was just that when time started to wind down, Freehold found itself playing keep away rather than finding the path to the hoop. As a result, the strong defense Freehold displayed went unrewarded, and Neptune won, 42-33.
“The idea is to have a plan, practice the plan and execute the plan,” Freehold coach Jesse Ryan said after the game. “Tonight, the game plan was be patient [with the] low score. [Neptune] likes to play slow. We wanted to go slow with them, because they have more fire power than we do.”
When Freehold (2-15) found itself down by nine points after three quarters, there was no question that the club needed to score. Chris Cassandra, who led the Colonials with 10 points, rolled to the hoop a few times in the second half, trying to take over Freehold’s offense, but it never seemed like Freehold would have enough time in the game to match or pass the Scarlet Fliers’ point total.
Ryan was still happy how his athletes played. He was happy that Neptune (10-6) never had a chance to run away with the game.
“I felt like we worked hard. We made some great plays. We played great defense on a lot of possessions. I feel proud of the way we played,” Ryan said. “We look for good shots. Shot selection is a point of emphasis for us. We want to score; it’s not that we don’t want to score. We just want them to be patient.”
It just seems that no matter how the Colonials have run their offense this year, the team has failed at the ultimate goal of winning. Other than a pair of wins against Manalapan High School, Freehold has been on the losing end of games.
Early in the season, guard Ashante Worthy tried to carry the offense for Freehold. He scored 93 points in his first seven games. Freehold won one of those games. Worthy has put in 43 points in the team’s last seven, scoring double figures just once. Again, Freehold won one of the seven.
Despite the lack of wins, Ryan is still able to continue on with his head up and his fist up outside the locker room, ready to tell each one of his players “good game” when they exit.
“You got to try to build them up,” Ryan said. “Even in a winning season, it’s about building them up.
“And we can always count on these guys to play hard.”
Since day one this year, the coach said it wasn’t all about the wins. He said it was about playing hard and competing.
“They hate losing. Everybody hates losing,” the coach said. “It’s a matter of having all our guys on the same page on the same night [and] following the same plan and executing.”
The Colonials host Marlboro High School (11-4) in Freehold Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m.