Christian Brothers Academy basketball coach Geoff Billett did not dispute the opinions of some high school analysts and fans that his team is having a “down” year thus far. Compared, that is, to past seasons. But he feels it is only a matter of a short time span before his team comes out of it and recaptures its customary dominance in the Shore. “I still have high expectations for this team,” said Billett after the Colts took charge in the second half and beat Point Pleasant Beach, 41-36, in the Boardwalk Hoop Group
Showcase on Jan. 14 at
Long Branch High
School. Billet said it was “nice bouncing back” for his 6-4 team after coming off a 65-46 loss last week to Middletown North in a Shore Conference A North Division clash that ended a four-game win streak. It was only the third time CBA has lost to Middletown North, two of them in the last two seasons.
“We usually feel our way through December and hit our stride in January,” said Billett. “This team is going to take a little longer. Down the road over the next few years, I think we’ll maybe be a little more talented than we are now. The guys we have are pretty talented, but the seniors are very experienced players who got a lot of playing time over the years. But I think this team will still do well in the end.”
One of those young players, sophomore Evan Gordinier, got a season-high 13 points and got the showcase’s Outstanding Player award for CBA. Kieran Hughes added a dozen points.
“This was a building block,” Gordinier said of the Showcase victory. “We didn’t play hard in the first half of some games, and that’s the key. This time we played harder and got out on defense.”
Playing hard, especially on defense and under the boards, and throwing good passes for high percentage shots is essential since Gordinier, at 6- 4, is the tallest starter.
“We don’t have a lot of good one-on-one players on offense and have to execute with screens and be unselfish,” said Billett. “These are not guys who can create. They need to be patient taking shots. This is not a team that can score in the 60s and 70s, although we did it twice in our win streak. That’s how we’ll have to play this season. We don’t have a lot of individual athleticism. We have to stay within ourselves and score in the 50s. Our defense has been very good all year.”
But Billett admitted that his team perhaps stayed too much with man-to-man against Middletown North. “We go back and forth with that and zone. We’re still trying to get an identity, and I’m still trying to figure out what works best. In this game [Point Pleasant Beach], we mixed it up in the first half and had a lot of success with the zone, so we stuck with it in the second half.”
Point Pleasant Beach (7-4) had the biggest lead by either team in the first half when it held a 13-10 edge before CBA closed the half with a 7-2 burst for a 17-15 lead it never lost. It opened the second half with seven straight points, including a jumper and a three-pointer by Gordinier, for a 25-15 lead with 3:20 left in the third quarter before Point Pleasant Beach scored 11 seconds later. Billett said holding Point Pleasant Beach to four points in the third quarter off a zone that forced it to miss deep shots and turn the ball over was a key to the victory.
Point Pleasant Beach pulled to 32-28 when Gordinier and senior Eric Shaw answered with layups to restore the lead to 36-28. Hughes hit a layup off a pinpoint pass from Shaw for a secure 39-31 lead down the stretch.
“We took a step back against Middletown North, and that’s why this game was a good rebound game to get that taste out of our mouths,” said Billett. “It’s a springboard into this week.”
CBA played Manalapan on Jan. 17 and hosts Freehold Township two days later.
Freehold Township beat the Colts by two points in their first meeting in Freehold.