BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer
The Christian Brothers Academy basketball team is back in a familiar place this week — the Shore Conference semifinals.
After 17 straight appearances in the league’s Final Four, the Colts were knocked off in the quarterfinals a year ago. For the first time since 1986, the Shore Conference semifinals didn’t include CBA.
But the hiatus didn’t last very long as the Colts beat St. Rose in the quarterfinals on Sunday at Brookdale Community College to earn a spot in yesterday’s semifinals. Second-seeded CBA, now 21-2 and winners of 15 straight, faced No. 3 seed Lakewood at the Ritacco Center in Toms River. Lakewood edged Freehold 56-55 in another quarterfinal contest on Sunday.
“Last year, we lost in the quarterfinals, so getting back to the semifinals is a return for us,” veteran coach Ed Wicelinski said. “And we’re happy to be there.”
He’ll be even happier if the Colts can return to Saturday’s title game, something they’ve done quite a few times in Wicelinski’s 25 years as coach, including the 2003 season when they won the Shore Conference crown.
But Wicelinski has been coaching long enough to know the past, no matter how successful, has little or no bearing on the present.
“Each season, we start all over,” he explained. “We kind of put the past to bed and just focus on this season.”
The Colts have certainly been pretty focused this season. Their only two losses came against perennial powerhouses St. Raymond of the Bronx, N.Y., in the Holiday Jubilee back in December, and to St. Anthony on Jan. 8. That was six weeks ago, and CBA hasn’t lost since. But Wicelinski is quick to point out the postseason is a different animal and that every game is tough. Wednesday’s semifinal will be no exception.
“Lakewood is 18-3, so that won’t be an easy team we play,” he said. “Plus, they’re in another division so we haven’t played them this year.”
The fact that CBA is the highest remaining seed, after No. 1 Raritan was upset by Msgr. Donovan on Friday, doesn’t matter to Wicelinski, either.
“Seeds don’t matter,” he insisted. “You’ve got to win games now, as evidenced by the 17th seed beating the No. 1 team. And that same night, we played the 18th seed, Colts Neck, and we only won by a point (38-37). We were lucky, too. They out-played us. They out-coached us. We were just more lucky.
“So, seeds don’t mean anything in a tournament.”
Indeed. Besides the top seed getting knocked off, No. 12 Long Branch upset No. 5 Lacey in the first round, and then stunned No. 4 Red Bank 60-56 in another quarterfinal game on Sunday.
But perhaps one thing that does matter come the postseason is senior leadership, and the Colts have plenty of that. CBA, which was able to recover from its narrow win over Colts Neck to win by 11 points over St. Rose, have started four seniors all season.
Sean Stolzenthaler, Kevin Sidoti and Dan Gallagher comprise CBA’s effective three-guard offense. The 5-foot-11 Gallagher is averaging 10 points a game, while the 6-foot Stolzenthaler averages 8.0 ppg and the 6-1 Sidoti checks in at six points a game.
The other starting senior is Brian Freiberger, a 6-5 forward who averages eight points and five rebounds a game.
But the Colts’ best offensive threat this season has been an underclassman, Dan Werner, a 6-foot-7 junior forward who’s averaging 16.6 points and seven rebounds a game, both team highs.
In fact, Werner scored 17 points in CBA’s thrilling win over Colts Neck, including the winning basket on a layup with eight seconds to go off a nice pass from Stolzenthaler.
But the rest of the team combined for only 21 points that night.
“Earlier in the season, we had three or four players scoring in double figures every game,” Wicelinski noted. “I’d like to see us get back to that. It’s much harder to play against a team that has balance scoring instead of a team that is led by one player.”
The key to the Colts’ success this season, however, hasn’t been their offense, but rather their defense.
“We’re very versatile on offense and can play a number of styles,” Wicelinski said. “But defense has probably been our main point all year. That and just enough offense to win.
“We had a 10-game stretch this season where we allowed an average of under 40 points a game,” he added. “We play mostly man-to-man defense. We might play a little matchup zone, but mostly man-to-man. It’s very basic. We’re not flashy, but steady.”
The Colts have also been getting valuable contributions off their bench from senior guard Dennis Sargisoff; juniors Tim Andree, a 6-8 center, and forward Craig Woehnker; and sophomore guard Spencer Van Wagoner.
CBA will need all nine players in the rotation to step up if the Colts hope to hang another Shore Conference banner in their gym, and then make some noise in the state tournament, which begins next week.
Success in the state tourney is something else the CBA basketball program is very familiar with. The Colts won the Parochial A South Jersey state championship in 2000, the same year they lost in the overall state final. Under Wicelinski, CBA has won the overall New Jersey state title in 1984, ’85 and ’95.
Can 2005 be the Colts’ year again?
“That’s hard to say,” Wicelinski concluded. “Every game from here on will be really, really tough. Everybody plays with the mind-set of ‘Lose and you’re out,’ so all the games get just a little tougher.”