Shore Sports Networks 2016 Shore Conference Tournament Basketball Finals

February 25, 2016 Volume-VIII Issue-4

The first thing fans, players, coaches & parents want to know after the big game is always,

�Is this going to be on

?�

Shore Sports Network has established itself as a leader in scholastic sports coverage in Monmouth and Ocean counties, providing more video highlight clips, in-depth reporting, feature stories and regular updates than aNy OtHer Outlet in the area.

Shore Sports Network Website Features

n Get Video Highlights of all the important games that Shore Conference fans will be talking about. n Catch up on the action you might have missed n Watch video clips of everything from the action early in the event to the big finish as well as video interviews with various athletes. n www.shoresportsnetwork.com is the most visited sports site in the Shore Conference during the scholastic year n Follow us on Twitter (over 16,000 followers) & Facebook, we keep fans posted on the latest scores and news n Established leading portal for local high school coverage.

SteveMEYER Shore Sports Network Director High School Division s t ev e. m e y er @t own s qu a re m edi a. co m 7 3 2 - 2 3 3 - 4 4 6 0

KevinWILLIAMS S h o r e S p o r t s N e t w o r k Director k ev i n . w i l l i am s @ t ow n s qu a re m ed i a. c om

Senior C ontent Providers BobBadders // badders@allshoremedia.com MattManley // Mmanley21@gmail.com

Shore Sports Network Journal is published by: T o w n s q u a r e M e d i a 8 Robbins Street Toms River, NJ 08753

Copyright 2016 Townsquare Media All rights reserved Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Shore Sports Network is prohibited

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US ARMY Shows its Support for the Shore

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Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game “We’re excited to be involved in the community of 47 schools in the Shore Conference and we’re really excited to have the opportunity to reach out to the community as a whole.”

he annual Shore Conference Senior All-Star Games are less than a month away and this year’s installment is set to be bigger and better than ever. The girls-boys double-header shifts venues from Wall High School to the 2,300-seat Pine Belt Arena in Toms River and for the first time will feature a Slam Dunk contest at halftime of the boys game.

The festivities all take place on March 23rd with the backing of the U.S. Army, this year’s title sponsor. The Army has been a proud partner of the Shore Sports Network during year-round coverage, particularly during the basketball season, and has taken the lead in supporting this year’s allstar double-header.”

“This is my third week in the area as a company commander and from a personal standpoint, I’m fired up to be part of the event,” Capt. Carl Hartman of the U.S. Army said . “Basketball is one of those sports that personifies the scholar, warrior athlete. It’s a team sport; you can’t rely on the individual to accomplish what the entire group wants to accomplish.

While the all-star game will remain open only to senior players, the Slam Dunk contest will be open to players of all ages on varsity boys basketball teams in the Shore Conference. There will also be a three-point shoot-out during halftime of the girls game that will be open to girls senior all-star participants.

Roster for the games will be released later this week and the dunk contest selection process announced shortly thereafter.

Powered By

The top player in each of the senior all-star games will receive the Arthur W. Harmon Jr. Most Valuable Player Award, named after the late Art Harmon, a long-time official in the Shore Conference.

Check our website for more information: www.shoresportsnetwork.com

ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE 2016 ALL-STAR

GAME DAY PROGRAM

B e part of a tradition at the Jersey Shore that

reaches a large and enthusiastic Basketball audience from Monmouth and Ocean counties by having your business featured in this year's 2016 uS arMy Shore Basketball Coaches Senior allStar Game official game day program. the detailed game program put together by the Shore Sports Network staff not only recounts the past season and highlights this year's group of allStars, it also serves as a keepsake for all the players, coaches and fans involved. Not only is the program a chance for your business to reach a wide and passionate audience, it is a chance to become a permanent part of a lasting memory for many members of the Shore Conference Basketball community.

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the US Army continues the Honor of presenting the Basketball Teams of the Week During the boys basketball season, Shore Sports Network

will be selecting an Army Strong Team of the Week, sponsored by the U.S. Army. The feature team will be selected based on performance from the prior week of action.

Week Seven

Lakewood Week Six

Mater Dei Prep

Coach Ben Gamble and his Mater Dei boys basketball team accept the Army Strong Team of the Week from Staff Sgt. Nicholas Sullivan

In a season with plenty of great weeks and perhaps some even better weeks to come, the Mater Dei Prep boys basketball team had its most accomplished stretch of the season from Jan. 31 to the end of last week. That stretch was worthy of the week six Shore Sports Network Army Strong Team of the Week award of the season.

The Seraphs scored an impressive 57-49 win over St. Joseph of Montvale on Jan. 31 in a battle between two teams ranked in the top 20 in the state at the time, according to NJ.com. Mater Dei followed by beating Ranney, 64-52, for the second time this season to clinch a share of a division title for the first time since 2005. The Seraphs went on to clinch the outright title on Tuesday against St. Rose on Tuesday and completed an unbeaten B Central season by beating Asbury Park on Thursday.

During its resurgent season, Mater Dei has relied on a deep roster and balanced lineup that was on display

during its Team-of-the-Week performance. Junior Elijah Barnes scored 15 points to take home the MVP of the Valerie Fund Showcase game against St. Joseph, then scored 17 in the win over Ranney.

Seniors NyQuan McCombs and Kyle Elliot were instrumental in both wins, with McCombs averaging 14 points in the two games while defending and limiting the top scorer on each team – Nate Garvey of St. Joe’s and Bryan Antoine of Ranney. Elliot, meanwhile, finished strong in both games with six of his eight points in the fourth quarter against St. Joseph and all 15 of his points in the second half against Ranney.

With Thursday’s win over Asbury Park, Mater Dei extended its winning streak to 16 straight games and will look to make it 17 against Notre Dame on Saturday before heading into the Shore Conference Tournament – potentially as the No. 1 seed.

Head Coach Randy Holmes and his Lakewood Piners boys basketball team accept the Army Strong Team of the Week from Staff Sgt. Caroline Thiel.

Before being named the Shore Sports Network Army Strong Team of the Week for its efforts last week, the Lakewood boys basketball team played a key role in another team winning the award just three weeks earlier.

Manchester defeated Lakewood at the buzzer in mid-January to snap the Piners’ 45-game Class B South winning streak and in addition to earning themselves recognition, the Hawks also earned Lakewood’s ire.

Last week, the Piners exacted their revenge over Manchester by beating the Hawks, 71-65, to clinch the outright Class B South championship – the Piners’ sixth straight division championship.

Senior Amir Tyler scored 24 points in the win – part of a big week for the two-sport star heading to Temple University next year on a football scholarship. Three days prior to the big win over Manchester, Tyler scored 27 points in a 91-52 win over Point Pleasant Borough, which included the 1,000th point of his high school career.

Two days after Lakewood defeated Manchester to clinch the division title, Tyler hit the go-ahead floater in the lane with 10 seconds left to lift Lakewood to a 69-66 win over Newark Tech. Tyler scored 22 points in that game.

Lakewood carried its strong week into the Shore Conference Tournament this week – a run that continued Thursday with a 77-66 win over Point Pleasant Beach. Thursday was also a revenge game for Lakewood, which lost at home as a No. 2 seed to No. 15 Point Beach in last year’s SCT round of 16.

Tyler scored 24 points to go along with eight assists and seven steals to lead Lakewood on Thursday night. Junior Adiam Palmer added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Piners, who opened up a 22-point lead by the end of the third quarter to take full control.

Week 1

Ranney 4

Week 2

RFH

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

TR North Manchester Colts Neck VOLUME-VIII

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Lakewood will take on No. 2 CBA and attempt to hand the Colts their first loss against a Shore Conference opponent this season at 11 a.m. Sunday at Collins Arena on the campus of Brookdale Community College.

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SHORESPORTSNETWORK.COM

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Sct Is Truly The Highlight Of The Basketball Season

B y Kevin Williams - Shore Sports Network Director

Taking nothing away from the

NJSIAA Tournament of Champions and even our own WOBM Christmas Classic, the highlight of the basketball season is the Shore Conference Tournament.

The reason is you are guaranteed matchups involving local teams and along the way you are likely to have games featuring rivalries on the court and in the stands. There is nothing like games with rabid student sections and what’s better than the “Colt Crazies” dressed in their favorite beach attire, the Squan fans blacked out and the Rumson “Dawgpound” in red, white and blue? It’s what makes the event truly special year in and year out.

The SCT has tradition, dating back to 1937 when Keyport beat Atlantic Highlands 31-22 for the championship. No, I was not there but I’ve seen most of the championship games since the mid 1970’s. Some great memories along the way, none better than 1982 when Toms River South stunned Neptune. One of my fondest memories came two years later

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in the girls final when Southern beat Neptune on a Jill Spaschak jumper at the buzzer at Brick Memorial. That game stands out because the 1984 Rams and Brick in 1972 (first year there was a girl’s division) are the only Ocean County girls team to win the Shore Conference Tournament.

Three of the four teams playing in this year’s championship games have great SCT pedigree. CBA will aim for its 17th SCT championship (second to Neptune’s 22) when they face Mater Dei Prep. However recent history has not been kind to the Colts as they have lost in the finals the last two years and are probably still smarting a bit from a year ago when they were pounded by Rumson 50-24 in a game I witnessed but still don’t believe. CBA’s last title came in 2010 which ended a stretch in which they hoisted the championship trophy 7 times in 11 years.

As for Mater Dei Prep this is just their second trip to the finals, having lost to CBA in 1984 when they were just Mater Dei without the Prep. The Seraphs’ story over the last year is an amazing one from the school almost closing to their emergence as a basketball power thanks to nine transfer players and a new head coach.

On the girls side you have Manasquan making what’s become almost an annual visit to the MAC at Monmouth University. The two-time defending champions have reached

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the finals four times in the last five years with the lone constant being a Mabrey in the lineup. After beating St. Rose in 2014 and 2015 the Warriors will now face the school with the greatest success in SCT history. St. John Vianney has won the girls title 12 times, including an amazing stretch between 1994-99 when they won six in a row. However the Lancers have not won it all since 2005 which must seem like an eternity for alumni and loyal fans. Dawn Karpell, who won the SCT three times as a player for SJV will now try and collect her first title as the head coach.

This year’s tournament has featured some great games which will live on for years to come and topping that list is Manasquan’s triple-overtime win over Rumson in the boys quarterfinals. That game had just about everything and those who were at Brookdale will not soon forget what they saw.

Amazingly just a day later those same two schools hooked up in a girls semifinal at the Pine Belt Arena and in another classic it was the Warriors winning again in overtime…just one extra session in this one.

What memories will be made Saturday night? If you’re reading this in your seat at the MAC then you’ll be able to provide a first-hand account.

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Donovan Catholic Hires Former Manalapan Coach, Rutgers Qb Tom Tarver As Head Coach

By Bob Badders – Senior Managing Editor

Donovan Catholic has hired Tom

feeling of getting back to running a program, it was just too attractive a position to ignore.”

As an administrator for over 10 years, Tarver’s attention to academics also made the decision easy for Gomulka.

Tarver as its next head football “We’ve elevated our program to a good place, and we “He is big on the educational piece of the academic coach, athletic director Joe didn’t want to lose that momentum,” Gomulka said. “We athlete,” Gomulka said. “He not only wants to be good in Gomulka told Shore Sports were looking for that person who could move us forward football, but to excel in academics.”

Network on Thursday. and Tom had all the right answers for us.”

The hiring was announced to Donovan Catholic’s players on Wednesday morning.

Tarver replaces Dan Duddy, who resigned on November 24 after 10 seasons as the Griffins’ head coach. Currently an assistant principal at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Jackson, Tarver was previously the head coach at Manalapan from 2000 through 2003 where he went 2121. He led the Braves to their first sectional final in 2003, which included a stunning upset of Brick, was was the No. 1 team in the Shore with the top-ranked offense and defense, in the first round of the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs.

“There was an opportunity I saw at Donovan, and the more I thought about it the more excited I got,” Tarver said. “Getting back into the Shore Conference and the

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At most schools administrators are not permitted to coach, but Tarver’s position as an administrator in Jackson did not effect the hiring process for either Jackson or Donovan Catholic.

“Nothing would be really effected here that would prevent me from doing my job as an administrator,” Tarver said. “So, it made a lot of sense for me to take a look at the Donovan Catholic program.”

What made Tarver such an appealing choice for Gomulka was his desire to get back on the field as a coach after 12 seasons away from the game.

“He has a burning passion for football. It’s not out of his soul, and that’s a good thing,” Gomulka said.

“Different coaches come for different reasons, and his is purely for the love of football.”

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Tarver was a star quarterback for Jackson Memorial as a three-year starter during the 1984-1986 seasons. He went 32-7 as a starer for the Jaguars, including leading Jackson to an 8-1 record and the No. 1 ranking in the Shore Conference in 1985. He was a first-team All-Ocean County and first-team All-Shore selection in both his junior and senior seasons, and also earned second-team All-State honors in each season.

Tarver was a scholarship player at Rutgers where he was a two-year starter. He was named the Scarlet Knights’ starting quarterback in 1990, and finished his career with 3,607 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Tarver’s hiring fills the last open head-coaching position in the Shore Conference.

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(#1)

ST. JOHN VIANNEY

“Lady Lancers”

(24-1)

By Matt Manleyp – Senior Staff Editor

Road to the Final: Defeated Wall, Colts Neck and St. Rose

W

hen Dawn Karpell was a standout guard at St. John Vianney High School, Shore Conference Tournament championships were just part of the annual experience.

Now the head coach at her alma mater, Karpell – known as Dawn Werner during her playing days – has led her Lady Lancers to more wins than any Shore Conference team during her tenure by a comfortable margin. Since the 2006-07 season, St. John Vianney has won five NJSIAA Non-Public A championships and even won a Tournament of Champions title in 2009.

Yet somehow, despite all the wins during the regular season and the exceedingly strong track record in the NJSIAA Tournament, the Lancers have not won a Shore Conference Tournament title since Karpell took over.

“It’s not something that bothers me for my own sake,” said Karpell, who was part of three Shore Conference championship teams in her four years as a player. “I have won this tournament as a player and I just really want our players, particularly the seniors, to have a chance to experience winning this

tournament.”

The headscratching drought is equal parts bad luck, bad timing and great competition. Since the 2008-09 season, the Shore Conference has had a team in the Tournament of Champions final in six out of the seven years and in three of those instances, two Shore teams played one another in the championship game.

“This has always been a very good conference and in the last eight or 10 years, it has gone to a different level,” Karpell said.

“I feel like we’ve had some teams that were

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good enough to win it and came close, but when there are this many quality teams, it just take one slipup or one bad day and you’re probably going to get beat.”

Injuries have also set the Lancers back in past years and they continue to do so this year.

Senior guard Kellie Crouch was set to be a returning starter this season and managed to return from a stress fracture in her foot before the injury ultimately shut her down for the season.

“I look back at this senior group and they’ve played without a key player due to injury every year they’ve been in this tournament,” Karpell said. “We’re at the point where we know what we’re going into battle with and their eyes are on that prize.”

Even dealing with attrition and playing in a conference that houses some of the state’s best teams year-in and year-out, St. John Vianney has come close in the past.

The Lancers have not played in the championship game since 2011, but came painfully close to reaching the final two years ago as a No. 1 seed before losing to Manasquan at the buzzer in the semifinals.

Of all the years that the Lancers came so close to winning a championship – they lost to Neptune by two points in the 2 0 0 9 final and fell to the Scarlet Fliers again in the 2011 championship game – this more than any other year is set up for them to win the conference.

The cupboard of talent is never bare at St. John Vianney and it won’t be next year either, but the other p r i m a r y contenders for the Shore Conference Tournament title are deep with returning talent for next year and St. John Vianney’s group of seniors is what has separated them from the rest of the field all year.

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Senior point guard Kelly Campbell leads that senior group and is looking to deliver the program its first SCT title in 10 years before heading to play her college ball at DePaul. Fellow senior starters Gigi Caponegro, Tina Lebron and Vanessa Pinho are also looking to contribute to that cause, as are seniors Zoe Pero and Megan Furch off the deep Lancers bench.

“Every day in practice and in games, we can tell that if she could, she would be right out there with us,” Caponegro said of Karpell. “She definitely deserves to win and we’d like to help her win it.”

St. John Vianney’s last roadblock in its journey toward an elusive conference title under Karpell is two-time defending champion Manasquan. The Warriors graduated Gatorade N.J. Player of the Year, 2,500-point scorer and current University of Notre Dame standout Marina Mabrey, as well as starting guard Courtney Hagaman, but have been able to adapt and thrive with its next wave of talent.

The Warriors have no seniors in their starting lineup this year and will bring back center Victoria Galvan, who lost this entire season to a torn ACL. With the Lancers and St. Rose sporting lineups of players who will all be back, the time to strike is now for St. John Vianney.

“It means a lot just to be in it because none of us have made it this far yet,” Caponegro said. “We’re just going to get to work at practice, scout (Manasquan) and be as prepared as we can.”

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(#3)

Manasquan

“Warriors” (20-5)

By Matt Manleyp – Senior Staff Editor

Road to the Final: Defeated Donovan Catholic, RBC & Rumson As a matter of record, Kukoda was not even the first choice to take over the program – the initial offer went to former Brick Memorial coach Ken Fischer, but he decided not to take the job shortly after it was given to him. Kukoda then accepted the offer and while she wasn’t the initial choice, she turned out to be the right one.

In just three-plus years on the job as

the Manasquan High School girls basketball head coach, Lisa Kukoda has had a rather charmed experience.

In just her second season on the job, Marina Mabrey – the top player in the Shore Conference – transferred back into the program a little more than a year after leaving and the Warriors won the Shore Conference Tournament for the first time since 1983.

Despite winning two Shore Conference championships and a T of C title, this season is as much an illustration of the direction of the program as any of the four Kukoda has coached. The team went a respectable 14-6 in her first season and won the W O B M Christmas Classic the following year even before Mabrey

As a senior, Mabrey was the top player in the state and a McDonald’s AllAmerican who led Manasquan to the 2015 NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title after losing in the championship game one year earlier.

Now, despite losing a McDonald’s All-American to graduation, Kukoda has Manasquan back in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game seeking its third straight title when the Warriors take on St. John Vianney at Monmouth University on Saturday.

“It says a lot about this group that they’ve been able to fight through adversity, with all of us being able to adjust,” Kukoda said. “I needed to change our entire plan going into the season once we developed some injuries and the girls were able to adjust to that while also being able to do different things on the court and recognize their strengths and their roles for us.”

transferred back from Point Beach in the first few days of January, 2014.

The groundwork laid during that first season-and-a-half without a McDonald’s AllAmerican has allowed the Warriors to make a smooth transition to life without Mabrey leading the way.

Amid all of the early success, it is easy to forget that Kukoda did not take over a ready-made winner when she accepted the job in the summer of 2012. Manasquan was coming off a Tournament of Champions title that past March with current University of Michigan sophomore Katelynn Flaherty transitioning to her junior year of high school and Mabrey preparing for her sophomore season, but by the time Kukoda took over, both had decided to transfer to Point Pleasant Beach.

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“They’re out to prove that they’re talented players,” Kukoda said of her team. “We obviously miss Marina a ton, but they’re out to prove that this is their team now.”

While nobody on Manasquan – or any other N.J. player this year, for that matter – is the caliber of the senior version of Marina Mabrey, the

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Warriors still have plenty of talent. Junior Stella Clark has been a major contributor since her freshman year and has assumed more of a scoring role after being more of a facilitator and spot-up shooter last year.

“The last two years, I was more of the point guard who set the plays up and made sure everybody was in the right spot because we had other scorers,” Clark said. “As people graduated and roles changed, I just really needed to step up. Marina was scoring 20 points for us, so that’s 20 points we had to replace and I needed to pick up a lot of that.”

Mabrey’s younger sister, sophomore Dara Mabrey, has also been an impact player from day one and her three-pointer in the final seconds of regulation in Monday’s win over Rumson helped catapult the Warriors back into the championship game.

Junior Addie Masonius moved from a key bench role to the starting lineup and her younger sister, Faith, has been one of the state’s top freshmen during her rookie season.

“We’re talented on the court, but when we become the better team on the court, that’s when he have something special,” Kukoda said.

“The work ethic that this group has really has been unparalleled and that’s a credit to them and their desire to show that their still in this.

This is still their title to defend.”

The striking thing about that list of players from a coaching perspective is that it is completely void of seniors. This Manasquan group still has a full year to play together after this year’s run and Mabrey and Faith Masonius each have multiple years left to add to the trophy case at their school.

“We have that edge to us,” Dara Mabrey said. “Everyone around us thought we wouldn’t be good enough to make it back here and it just feels good to prove them all wrong.”

In addition to the returning players from this year’s team,

the Warriors should also welcome back current junior Victoria Galvan, who lost her entire junior season to a torn ACL. Both Galvan and senior Gillian Black suffered torn ACLs, leaving Kukoda and the Warriors without two players who played significant time last year.

According to the tournament seeding, the No. 3 Warriors will be the underdog Saturday evening at Monmouth’s Multipurpose Activities Center against top-seeded St. John Vianney, but Manasquan played the Lancers close in each of the two regular-season meetings between the teams – the first of which went to overtime. If Manasquan can find a way to win on Saturday, not only will the Warriors claim a third consecutive title – something that only Vianney, Neptune and Asbury Park have done – but they could open up the possibility of four, perhaps even five, straight championships given the youth on hand.

The only other team to win five in a row? St. John Vianney, which won six straight from 1994 to 1999.

Girls Player Photos by:

Mark Brown b51photography.com Ray Rich Photography: rayrichphotography.smugmug.com Rob Samuels: boofacephotography.com Eric Braun: ericbraunphotography.smugmug.com

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2016 SCT Championship Girls Team Rosters

NO

3 4 5 12 13 14 15 20 21 22 25 31 32 33 34 44 45 50

Saint John Vianney

PLAYER

Abby Anderko Courtney Dobrzynski Kellie Crouch Julia Ramos Sarah Karpell Riley Kehoe Kimi Evans Kelly Campbell Zoe Pero Madison Doring Gabrielle Caponegro Tina Lebron Megan Furch Vanessa Pinho Samantha Mikos Sarah Furch Brelynn Bellamy Sajada Bonner

Head Coach:

Dawn Karpell

HT

5’8 5’11 5’5 5’5 5’7 5’5 6’3 5’9 5’10 5’10 6’ 5’5 5’11 5’5 5’10 5’11 5’11 5’11

YR

Jr. Jr. Sr. Jr. Fr. Jr. Jr. Sr. Sr. So. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Fr. So. Fr. Fr.

Assistants: Darren Ault, Steph Guzman, Frank Mohler

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NO

2 3 5 10 11 12 14 20 21 22 23 25 30 33

PLAYER

Manasquan

HT

YR

5’6

Jr.

Kathryn Mahon

5’4

Addie Masonius

5’6

Stella Clark

5’5

Carly Geissler

5’6

Annie Heeman Dara Mabrey Elena Hart

Nikki Stevens

Fr. Jr.

5’6

So.

5’6

So.

5’10

Jr.

Jr.

So.

Maggie Kelly

5’10

So.

Erin Howard

5’8

Sr.

Jackie Kurtz

Emma McMenaman Faith Masonius Gillian Black

Head Coach:

Lisa Kukoda

5’11

Jr.

5’9

So.

5’8

Sr.

6’1

Fr.

Assistants: Luke Sinkhorn, Ryan McGrath, Brenan Gordon

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2016 SCT Championship Boys Team Rosters

NO

1 2 3 4 5 10 12 15 21 22 23 24 30 31 32

Mater Dei Prep

PLAYER

Marvin Pierre

HT

6’2

Christian Brothers Academy

YR

NO

Jr.

NyQuan McCombs

5’10

Sr.

2

Kyle Devaney

5’6

So.

4

6’3

Sr.

10

5’11

So.

15

Bryan Harris

6’3

Elijah Mitchell

6’3

Dylan Jara

6’

Thomas Hannafin Kenneth Jones Kyle Elliot

Joshua Green

Maleek McKnight

6’2

6’3

6’1

Sr.

3

Jr.

5

Jr.

Sr.

Sr.

20 24

Jr.

22

Jr.

25

Jr.

41

Kelvin Harris

5’11

So.

Elijah Barnes

6’7

Jr.

Sean Krueger Gregory Jara

Head Coach:

Ben Gamble

5’11 5’11

12

Assistants: Jason Reid, Michael Pineiro, Drew Eldridge

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PLAYER

HT

YR

John Salcedo

5’11

Sr.

Lucas Waraksa

5’10

Jr.

Shane Gaudio

5’9

Ronald Meehan

6’3

Jack Boyan

Chris Lautato Matt Lautato

Robert Mahala

6’1

5’9

5’9

Sr. Jr.

Jr.

Jr.

6’3

So.

Sam Houston

6’3

Sr.

Nick Mugavero

6’1

Sr.

Jack McGuire Joe Siegle

Pat Andree

Head Coach:

Geoff Billet

6’7 6’2 6’8

Jr.

Sr. Sr. Sr.

Assistants: Bill Hazleton, Bob O’Connor, David Walsh, Courter Smith

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(#1)

Mater De i Prep “Seraphs”

(22-1)

By Matt Manleyp – Senior Staff Editor

Road to the Final: Defeated No. 16 Marlboro 60-42, No. 8 Ranney 47-39 and No. 4 Toms River North 62-50

F

or the previous decade, the Mater Dei Prep boys basketball team has been mostly irrelevant in the Shore Conference Tournament landscape, but a long run of mediocre results is not what would have made the Seraphs’ appearance in Saturday’s Shore Conference Tournament final as the favorite against perennial power Christian Brothers Academy so implausible a year ago.

Mater Dei’s ascension back to prominence began not with the program turnover that would actually come to pass, but rather with a near-fatal experience.

At this time last year, members of the student body, faculty and administration were working tirelessly to raise more than $1 million to cover the operating deficit that the Diocese of Trenton and St. Mary’s Parish cited as the reason the school would have to shut down at the end of the school year.

The “Save Our Seraphs” effort turned out to be a success and the Diocese approved a proposal for the school to reopen independent of the Parish and as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose finances would be overseen by a board of trustees.

In light of the tireless effort of those involved and the community collaboration required to keep the school open, a trip to the Shore Conference Tournament final one year after the school was on the brink of shutting its doors for good should universally be a feelgood story.

That has not necessarily been the case, however. In order to survive in a more competitive climate for non-public schools, the board of trustees and the

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administration set out to revamp the athletic program and as part of that pursuit, declined to rehire 19-year boys basketball head coach and Mater Dei alumnus Bob Klatt.

Meanwhile, as the Mater Dei community scrambled to keep the doors to its school open, another Catholic School nearby would not be so lucky. As much as Mater Dei’s good fortune to survive and reopen following a bout with financial hardship was essential to the Seraphs basketball team reaching the cusp of a first ever Shore Conference title, this run by the basketball team would not have happened without the closing of Cardinal McCarrick High School in South Amboy following the 2014-15 school year.

Cardinal McCarrick’s announced closing by the Diocese of Metuchen left Ben Gamble – a longtime St. Anthony assistant under Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley and head coach at McCarrick for just one year – without a team to coach and his players without team to play for and a school to attend.

With Gamble on the market following a 20-win season at Cardinal McCarrick and the powers that be at Mater Dei seeking to adapt following a near-death experience, Klatt was informed of the board’s decision this past June 10 by Athletic Director Dennis Tobin and Gamble was hired the next day.

Klatt, who teaches at St. John Vianney and landed on coach Matt Kukoda’s staff at Wall High School, is a well-respected coach and a highlyregarded individual among the Shore Conference community and his unceremonious dismissal drew the ire of some Shore coaching confidants.

“First and foremost, I’m thrilled that the school is still open,” said Pinelands boys basketball coach John Tierney, who is a Class of 1997 Mater Dei graduate, a former assistant under Klatt and the uncle of Seraphs sophomore starting quarterback Kyle Devaney, who is on the basketball team as well. “I’m happy for coach Gamble and I’ve been really impressed with how they play and how they carry themselves. So from that perspective, I think for them to be so close to closing and now be in the championship game, it is a great story.

“At the same time, my heart is with coach Klatt and the way they handled his situation was wrong. He is my coaching mentor and a big reason the school is still open is because of the

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time he put in. I just think the way they handled him was wrong. It’s great to see the atmosphere they had for the game at Brookdale on Sunday, but it’s hard to feel totally good about it because it still hurts me what they did to him.”

Adding to any residual bitterness that Klatt’s dismissal might have caused among the Shore coaches, Mater Dei’s roster turnover did not win opposing coaches and observers over either. Four Cardinal McCarrick players followed Gamble over to Mater Dei and five more transfers from three different schools – Marist, Rahway and Central Regional – followed.

“I don’t want to take away from the individual talent that’s there,” said Henry Hudson coach Vinnie Whitehead, who has been coaching various sports at Henry Hudson for 42 years and is also a recent inductee into the NJSIAA Hall of Fame. “I was upset to find out Klatt was released and we came to find that they brought in a bunch of kids from an area that’s not the Shore area. I don’t know what the restrictions are on where non-public schools can draw kids, but there are other non-public schools closer to where these kids are coming from.

“Different schools have different restrictions on where they can draw from and it’s not a level playing field.”

The Class B Central division that Mater Dei won for the first time since 2005 this year is comprised of Group I public schools and lower-enrollment non-public schools.

The division was only a short time ago regarded as a lesscompetitive division has now become one of the top talent pools in the Shore Conference. Henry Hudson is also in that division and while the Admirals made the Shore Conference Tournament for the first time in 10 years this season, they did so despite a 4-10 record against teams in the division.

“There are personal things too,” Whitehead said. “We have our kids here from the Atlantic Highlands program and they were looking to be in one of top three positions in the (division) this year and

all of a sudden, you have this wave of talent show up out of nowhere in a division of small schools. There is also the issue that kids on my team and others in the division who have worked hard to earn some recognition for themselves, and two or the three Mater Dei kids – who are very talented – come along and take some of those spots for All-Division teams and things like that.”

Gamble has acknowledged that the summer camps he runs give him exposure to players from different areas and vice versa, but when it comes to the subject of the criticism that comes in today’s sports landscape in which teams rely on transfers to compete, the Mater Dei coach is quick to call out the critics.

While Whitehead and Henry Hudson are in one camp, coach Dennis Devaney and St. Rose have gone from perennial favorite to chasing two powerhouse programs in Mater Dei and Ranney. Although St. Rose faces a steep task in overcoming those teams to reach the perch atop the division, Devaney mostly welcomes the challenge.

"I'll take games like (against Ranney and Mater Dei) over a game where we win by 40 and it's over in the first quarter," said Devaney, who is in his 30th season at St. Rose. "You don't play sports to play those games.

Athletes want to compete and play good competition and that's what I've been trying to tell (our) guys about the teams we're playing. We're getting better because we have to get better to compete with these kinds of teams."

“When people say stuff like that, I say ‘The kids had to go somewhere,’” Gamble said. “I don’t understand why they say that. In fact, not only were they looking at this school, but they were looking at a lot of other schools. Cardinal McCarrick closed. What were they supposed to do? After that, some other kids came along and wanted the academic advantage Mater Dei presents and saw the new beginning with the athletics.

The most adversely affected players within the Mater Dei program have been players who played on last year’s team but have lost playing time to the transfers this season. A number of those players left the team after beginning the year on the roster and now, just Tom Hannafin and Sean Kroeger remain.

Hanafin has seen some playing time over the course of the season, but did not played in either of Mater Dei’s win over Ranney and Toms River North.

“It’s sad that people look at a bunch of kids that way.

They had to go somewhere and they and their families are just trying to do what’s in their best interest.”

Gamble is not without his defenders either, both in the process and in the results.

understands the situation,” said Tahj Holden, who is also in his first year as boys basketball coach at the Ranney School and has overseen the program’s first 20-win season thanks to a standout freshman class.

“Those McCarrick kids didn’t have anywhere to go and there was an opportunity there for Ben to get a job again and for those guys to play with their coach. Once you had that group there, the school becomes a little more attractive now that there is some real talent there and a coach with Ben’s background.”

Despite the decreased role, Hannafin maintains that all of the change has been for the better.

“You hear a lot of the grumbling, but I don’t think everybody

“It was an adjustment at first, but when you see how good these guys are and how good the team is

playing, it became a lot easier to buy in,” Hannafin said. “To see the school support us like they have makes it all worth it, especially with everything that happened last year. It’s pretty crazy.”

Saturday night at the Multipurpose Activities Center on the campus of Monmouth University, Mater Dei’s student section – self-titled the “Stage Crew” because they spend home games cheering from the stage behind the basket on the far end of the St. Mary’s School gymnasium – will pack a section of the stands and cheer for what they hope will be the first SCT title in school history in its first championship game appearance since losing to CBA in 1984.

There might be some who take exception to that, but those students will be cheering for more than just a group of players who were mostly at different schools last year. They will be celebrating the fact that they are still part of Mater Dei, and that did not look like a possibility one year ago, just like a Shore Conference Tournament title did not look like a possibility a year ago.

The circumstances may not be ideal for everyone involved: Gamble has had to change jobs, his players have jumped from school to school, Mater Dei holdovers have taken decreased roles on the team and opposing coaches who conduct the business of their programs differently may fall behind.

But with everything the Mater Dei community has endured, idealism has had to take a back seat. All that matters to them is that they are still a school community, one that will take another opportunity – win or lose on Saturday – to celebrate that fact, all with the eyes of the Shore watching.

Mater Dei Prep (23-1, 14-0 in Class B Central) Head Coach: Ben Gamble, first season Prior SCt Final appearances: 1 SCt Championships: 0

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(#2) Christian Brothers Academy

“Colts”

(21-3)

By Matt Manleyp – Senior Staff Editor

Road to the Final: Defeated No. 15 Middletown North 73-40, No. 7 Lakewood 63-42 and No. 3 Manasquan 53-41

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n a program that preaches the team concept and requires its players to eschew individual accomplishment with a total focus on the collective effort, Pat Andree might be the closest thing Christian Brothers Academy has ever had to a player that reached “program savior” status.

After entering the program during a downturn in its performance, Andree has been at the center of the Colts’ resurgence and will lead his team into the Shore Conference Tournament championship game for a third straight season looking to cement his and his senior class’s legacy by winning the first SCT title for CBA since 2010.

As it stands, Andree is the alltime leading scorer in the program and is likely to eclipse the 2,000point mark for his career by the end of the season. In addition to the three SCT finals appearances, Andree has led CBA to three consecutive Shore Conference Class A North titles and to an NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A championship last year. He did all of that while leading the team in scoring in each of his four high school seasons.

"I want to win the Shore Conference,” Andree said. “I haven't won that yet, so that's my number one goal. If we do that and I don't get 2,000 (points), I'll be plenty happy."

Andree began his high school career as a varsity player and while history will rightfully portray him as one of the best players in the storied program’s history because of his four years of excellence, the reality

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is that Andree was a freshman starter due to the desperation of the program at the time as much as it was for of his ability.

Freshman varsity starters at CBA are rare and Andree got his opportunity partially on his own accord: he was a 6-foot-7-inch youngster with NBAthree-point range and advanced polish on the offensive end. He also came in with considerable hype due to his last name: his older brother, Tim, was a CBA standout who went on to walk-on at the University of Notre Dame.

In years past though, that might have profiled as more of a supporting player on a typical CBA team, but within the context of its 16 Shore Conference championships in a span of 27 seasons, the 2012-13 Colts were not a typical CBA team.

A year prior to Andree’s arrival, CBA had to fight its way to a winning record and entered the Shore Conference Tournament as a No. 15 seed. The Colts came up short of a Shore Conference Tournament title the year before as well, but entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and lost a close game to the Point Pleasant Beach team led

by Jarelle Reischel.

In Andree’s first season, the team still had its warts, but improved to the No. 8 seed in the tournament. The Colts failed, however, to reach the quarterfinals, losing at the buzzer to No. 24 seed Matawan, which sported a team full of sophomores and juniors.

The struggle in 2012 and the surprising exit in 2013 were two of the lower points during more than a quarter century of overall

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dominance by CBA, but better days were ahead. The Colts lost to top-seeded Point Beach in the 2014 SCT championship game and drew the No. 1 seed in last year’s tournament before suffering a stunning 50-24 loss to No. 11 Rumson-Fair Haven.

In its two SCT championship losses of the past two seasons, C B A h a s played the role of underdog in 2014 and favorite in 2015. As the No. 2 seed playing topseeded Mater Dei Prep – a team that has nine transfers and has won 20 straight games since suffering its only loss of the season on Jan. 3 to defending Non-Public A champion Pope John – CBA is once again the underdog, but with a twist.

This year’s Colts team starts five seniors – Andree, Jack McGuire,

John Salcedo, Sam Houston and Jack Boyan – and brings in another in Nick Mugavero as the first man off the bench.

If anything, the last two seasons have shown that it will take a complete team effort to win the championship and not just the excellence of one player. As a sophomore, Andree was the only player to score in double-figures for CBA in the 49-41 loss to Point Beach and last year, he scored only seven points in the championship game as the entire team struggled to put the ball in the basket.

In the final go-round for him and fellow returning starters McGuire and Salcedo, Andree is looking to cap his distinguished career by winning the title that every other CBA great since 1984 has experienced.

"We have a little chip on our shoulder,” Andree said. “We wanted the one seed and they took it from us. We haven't lost in the Shore Conference, they haven't lost in the Shore Conference either and it should be a great game."

CBa (21-3, 13-0 in Class a North)

Head Coach: Geoff Billet, 10th season

Prior SCt Final appearances: 24

SCt Championships: 16 (1984-85, 1987-88, 1990, 1993-1996, 2000-01, 2003, 2005-06, 2009-10)

"We don't like how the last two turned out, obviously, but we're the underdog this time," Andree said. "We love being the underdogs and we can't wait to go out and prove that CBA's the team to beat this year.”

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Most Titles:

1976: 1. Neptune (22) 2. CBA (16) 1975: 3. (tie) Lakewood, Red Bank (8) 1974: 5. Manasquan (6) 1973: Most Consecutive Titles: Neptune, 7 (1961-67) 1972: 1971: 2015: Rumson-FH 50, CBA 24 1970: 2014: Point Beach 49, CBA 41 1969: 2013: Lakewood 39, Point Beach 33 1968: 2012: Neptune 37, Colts Neck 33 1967: 2011: Raritan 43, Rumson-FH 35 1966: 2010: CBA 60 Middletown South 44 1965: 2009: CBA 58 Neptune 49 1964: 2008: Neptune 67 Monsignor Donovan 52 1963: 2007: Freehold Township 55 CBA 49 1962: 2006: CBA 65 Monsignor Donovan 56 1961: 2005: CBA 57 Manasquan 41 1960: 2004: Raritan 60 Neptune 58 1959: 2003: CBA 44 Raritan 30 1958: 2002: Neptune 57 CBA 47 1957: 2001: CBA 56 Neptune 39 1956: 2000: CBA 60 Neptune 38 1955: 1999: Red Bank 44 CBA 43 1998: Neptune 55 Red Bank 48 (OT) 1954: 1997: Long Branch 44 CBA 42 1996: CBA 64 Toms River North 58 1953: 1995: CBA 58 Lakewood 57 1994: CBA 51 Long Branch 38 1952: 1993: CBA 60 Red Bank 52 1992: Red Bank 60 CBA 54 1951: 1991: Lakewood 86 Lacey 67 1950: 1990: CBA 42 Neptune 30 1949: 1989: Lakewood 79 Neptune 77 (OT) 1948: 1988: CBA 57 Lakewood 55 1947: 1987: CBA 58 Asbury Park 55 1946: 1986: Asbury Park 61 Lakewood 60 1945: 1985: CBA 70 Asbury Park 63 1944: 1984: CBA 58 Mater Dei 51 1943: 1983: Red Bank 61 CBA 58 1942: 1982: Toms River South 83 Neptune 80 1941: 1981: Neptune 59 Long Branch 28 1940: 1980: Neptune 72 Manasquan 45 1939: 1979: Middletown South 73 Red Bank 68 1938: 1978: Asbury Park 41 Long Branch 37 1937: 1977: Long Branch 65 Lakewood 49

Neptune 59 Long Branch 54 Lakewood 55 Neptune 45 Lakewood 65 Wall 60 Ocean 71 Neptune 63 Neptune 80 Manasquan 66 Ocean 65 Henry Hudson 56 Long Branch 88 Neptune 67 Henry Hudson 56 Long Branch 53 Lakewood 61 Ocean 55 Neptune 48 Lakewood 45 Neptune 61 Lakewood 44 Neptune 63 Lakewood 56 Neptune 59 Matawan 53 Neptune 66 Point Pleasant Beach 54 Neptune 82 Keyport 58 Neptune 69 Keyport 60 Matawan 62 Manasquan 59 Red Bank 68 Matawan 47 Lakewood 59 Atlantic Highlands 57 Manasquan 79 Red Bank 56 Red Bank 55 Lakewood 51 (Class A) Manasquan 76 Neptune 65 (Class B) Matawan 70 Point Pleasant Beach 56 (CLass A) Neptune 73 Manasquan 52 (Class B) Atlantic Highlands 62 Hoffman 59 (Group II) Red Bank 60 Neptune 55 (Group I) Hoffman 53 Atlantic Highlands 41 (Group II) Neptune 60 Manasquan 39 (Group I) Hoffman 56 Atlantic Highlands 53 (OT) Neptune 61 Hoffman 52 Red Bank 56 Neptune 52 Neptune 71 Atlantic Highlands 45 Manasquan 58 Freehold 48 Manasquan 57 Point Pleasant Beach 25 Red Bank 34 Manasquan 27 Manasquan 31 Red Bank 26 Lakewood 40 Toms River 36 Neptune 32 Manasquan 25 Neptune 42 Manasquan 40 Manasquan 35 Neptune 32 (OT) Hoffman 33 Manasquan 31 Neptune 41 Manasquan 38 Atlantic Highlands 28 Neptune 22 Keyport 31 Atlantic Highlands 22

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Most Titles:

1. St. John Vianney (12) 2. Neptune (7) 3. Red Bank Catholic (6) 4. Asbury Park (4) 5. (tie) St. Rose, Manasquan (3)

Most Consecutive Titles: St. John Vianney,(6) 1994-1999 2015: 2014: 2013: 2012: 2011: 2010: 2009: 2008: 2007: 2006: 2005: 2004: 2003: 2002: 2001: 2000: 1999: 1998:

Manasquan 69, St. Rose 60 Manasquan 61, St. Rose 41 Red Bank Catholic 50, Point Boro 46 St. Rose 65, Manasquan 56 Neptune 57, St. John Vianney 48 Neptune 60, Colts Neck 50 Neptune 56, St. John Vianney 54 Colts Neck 66, Red Bank Catholic 53 Red Bank Catholic 34, Rumson-FH 31 Red Bank Catholic 41, Rumson-FH 31 St. John Vianney 47, Monmouth 30 St. John Vianney 56, Toms River North 47 Red Bank Catholic 48, Marlboro 46 St. John Vianney 39, Marlboro 36 Red Bank Catholic 44, St. John Vianney 39 Red Bank Catholic 62, St. John Vianney 56 St. John Vianney 56, Red Bank Catholic 52 St. John Vianney 45, Red Bank 34

1997: 1996: 1995: 1994: 1993: 1992: 1991: 1990: 1989: 1988: 1987: 1986: 1985: 1984: 1983: 1982: 1981: 1980: 1979: 1978: 1977: 1976: 1975: 1974: 1973: 1972:

St. John Vianney 59, Red Bank Catholic 45 St. John Vianney 53, Red Bank Catholic 47 St. John Vianney 61, Red Bank Catholic 55 St. John Vianney 86, Red Bank 46 St. Rose 67, St. John Vianney 57 St. John Vianney 54, St. Rose 50 St. John Vianney 58, Keyport 47 St. John Vianney 59, Toms River East 48 Neptune 79, St. John Vianney 49 Neptune 70, Raritan 48 Neptune 61, Manasquan 46 St. Rose 55, Freehold Twp. 52 Middletown South 50, Neptune 48 Southern 42, Neptune 40 Manasquan 43, Lakewood 36 Neptune 59, Rumson-FH 46 Manasquan 45, Middletown North 35 Freehold Twp. 70, Brick 47 Middletown South 46, Asbury Park 43 Shore 48, Asbury Park 45 Asbury Park 56, Shore 33 Asbury Park 83, Lakewood 56 Asbury Park 51, Toms River South 27 Asbury Park 45, Long Branch 37 (OT) Shore 43, Brick 41 Brick 37, Point Boro 27

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SPECIAL THANK YOU to all the photographers that allow us to use their photos throughout our publication and website Mark Brown b51photography.com Ray Rich Photography: rayrichphotography.smugmug.com Rob Samuels: boofacephotography.com Eric Braun: ericbraunphotography.smugmug.com

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