High School Season Ends

I couldn’t even guess as to the number of high school basketball games I’ve seen in my lifetime but its well over a thousand and I don’t remember a more dramatic ending than the one which took place last night in the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament at the Ritacco Center. With 1.5 seconds left in overtime Monsignor Donovan trailed Colts Neck 53-51 and had just called their final time out to set up a play. What head coach Michael Kearney had diagrammed during that time-out was not open so Tim Price inbounded the ball to 6’4 senior Tom Carter just a few steps from half court. With no time to do anything Carter caught the ball and chucked it and after the buzzer sounded it swished through the net to give Donovan a most improbable 54-53 victory and set off a wild celebration. The joy you feel for the Griffins can only be matched by the agony for the Cougars, who had victory snatched from them on a prayer….that, was answered.

Now the Griffins must come down to earth and get ready for Saturday night’s championship game against the shore’s best team…Neptune. The Scarlet Fliers cruised into the final with a 15-point win over Monmouth Regional in the other semifinal. Neptune by the way beat Mon Don 69-66 in a regular season game earlier this month in Toms River.

Saturday’s final at 7:30 will be broadcast live on the Shore Sports Network (1160/310AM) as will the girls championship game between Colts Neck and Red Bank Catholic (5pm) at the Ritacco Center.

The Lakewood BlueClaws will host their annual job fair Saturday from 9am-2pm at FirstEnergy Park. Anyone interested in a part-time job to work on the game-day staff can fill out an application and interview on the spot tomorrow. Applicants must be at least 16-years old.

The Jackson Memorial High School Athletic Department will hold their Winter Sports Night on Monday, March 17th at 6:30 in the Fine Arts Auditorium. The ceremony is for varsity letter winners and their parents only and the evening will include the induction of Rachel Goodale and Donna Maher into the Jaguars Athletic Hall of Fame.