Shore Tournament

Ocean County does not get much respect when it comes to basketball and to be honest has not been really deserving of it, especially when you look at recent Shore Conference Tournament history. However going into last night semifinals there was a strong possibility of the first All-Ocean boy’s championship game in 20 years. I was so excited about this that I went into my archives and brought out the bracket sheet from 1991 when Lakewood beat Lacey 86-67 in the finals at Brick Memorial. Turns out I can put the sheet away for another year because for the 20th straight February the Shore Conference champions will come from Monmouth County as Raritan and Rumson spoiled the brief Ocean County party.

In the opener at Brookdale Community College 13th seeded Rumson continued their magical tournament ride with a 52-47 victory over Point Pleasant Beach. The Bulldogs were sparked by the smallest player on the court as 5’7 Kevin “Pookie” Alter hit four 3-pointers and made all eight of his free throws to score a team-high 20pts. Rumson had never even made it to the semifinals before this year and now they are a win away from an unlikely championship. Rice University-bound Jarelle Reischel led the Garnett Gulls with 25 points as their bid for a first-ever Shore title came to an end.

The nightcap saw what many, including yours truly witness what might have been the most dominating performance in recent Shore Conference Tournament history.
6’8 junior center Michael Aaman scored 34 points and grabbed 23 rebounds, 16 on the offensive end to lead 3rd seeded Raritan past #2 Lakewood 59-46. Aaman, who has already made a verbal commitment to Wagner, scored 15 of his points in the first quarter and added 10 in the 4th to put away the Piners, who were seeking their first title since 1991. Friday’s championship matchup between the Rockets and Bulldogs will be there third of the season with Raritan winning the first two rather easily.

As bad as the dry spell is for Ocean County boy’s teams, it’s worse for the girls.
Brick won the inaugural girls title in 1972 and Southern captured the crown in 1984 but when Neptune faces St. John Vianney Friday night at Monmouth University it will be the 27th consecutive year a Monmouth County team has emerged Shore Conference champion.

A quick football coaching note. Mark Ciccotelli is leaving Freehold Boro after 7 years to take the head coaching job at Neptune. Ciccotelli’s hiring leaves coaching vacancies at Freehold, Jackson Memorial, Brick Township and Point Beach.