JSBL: Dean, Larson Ford Seize First Win; Clutch Play Powers Sea View Jeep

MANASQUAN — Since graduating from Red Bank Regional High School in 2025, Zayier Dean has traveled to literal great lengths to find his basketball home during the school year.

Come the summer months, however, he has made his home in the Jersey Shore Basketball League as one of the circuit’s youngest players. Playing for Larson Ford, Dean is quickly earning the trust of his teammates to run the offense, and on Thursday night, he paid off that trust by leading Larson to its first win of the season.

Dean scored a team-high 25 points to go with five assists and three steals and helped close out Larson’s 93-89 win over RKE Athletic that snapped the team’s three-game losing streak to open the summer at Manasquan High School.

Larson Ford led by as many as 19 but let its considerable lead slip away late in the fourth quarter, only for Dean to lead a strong closing push that put the game away. With a little more than a minute to go and his team ahead by two, Dean cleared out the pain and blew past his man for a layup that extended the Larson lead to four.

“As the point guard of the team, that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Dean said. “I have to take control of the team, make sure everybody knows where they are supposed to be. I feel most comfortable with the ball in my hands, and they know that.”

Dean is in his fourth year at the JSBL, although his first two seasons were during high school, when he was just testing the waters. Last year, after graduating from Red Bank, Dean was a regular and performed like the thing he was: one of the league’s youngest players. He still holds that moniker this season, but his year playing at NJCAA Division I JUCO Western Texas boosted his game and supplied him with more ammunition with which to thrive against the veterans of the JSBL — many of them sharpened by careers at four-year Division I programs and, in some cases, professional leagues.

“My first year here, I subbed in for somebody after my sophomore year,” Dean said. “I got to see what it was like, and every year since I have played in (the JSBL), I have just improved and improved, learning the game. These guys out here are pros: they are more consistent, they are stronger, so I’m learning what I need to do in order to get to the next level.”

As a freshman at the Texas junior college, Dean averaged 7.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting 37 percent from the field, 31 percent from three-point range, and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line. He also averaged 3.7 turnovers, giving him a balance of production to build on and holes in his game to fill.

“I know I didn’t do as well as I wanted to,” Dean said. “Granted, I hold myself to a very high standard; I know what I can do, and I know my abilities. It was alright, but next year, I’m looking to have a way better season and double my numbers in every category.”

Prior to heading to Texas to begin his college journey, Dean was a three-time All-Shore selection while playing at both Ocean Township and Red Bank Regional High Schools in Monmouth County. Dean played his first two high-school years at Ocean, transferred to Red Bank for his junior year, and led the Bucs to back-to-back 20-win seasons, with the final season culminating in a First-Team All-Shore selection by Shore Sports Insider.

Although Dean was no stranger to changing scenery in high school after leaving Ocean for Red Bank, adjusting to life halfway across the country in a remote area of the largest state in the continental U.S. has been a major life adjustment.

“If you love the game of basketball, you tell yourself you are willing to do anything and go anywhere to live out your dream,” Dean said. “When you really put yourself in those shoes, and you end up in the middle of nowhere, with no family to go to, there is nothing to take your mind off basketball. It’s just school and basketball. It will test you to see how much you really love the game.”

Dean has since transferred to a slightly closer school, Northern Oklahoma College, another NJCAA Division I JUCO, hoping to play his way into a spot at an NCAA Division I program. For now, the six-foot guard is enjoying his time closer to home while playing in a summer league that lets him spread his wings as a point guard. It also helps that Dean has a JSBL role model to follow in former Monmouth University star Justin Robinson — a 5-foot-7 point guard who has dominated the JSBL while also holding down a professional career in Europe.

“That’s like my big brother,” Dean said of Robinson. “I talk to him about a lot of things, and I can go to him with any questions I have. He’s very open, and he has a lot of experience, so he’s been very helpful to me. We have built a very good connection over the past few years.”

Shahid Muhammad (Florida State) contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, and two blocked shots; Malik Wineglass (Harris-Stowe) chipped in 15 points, and Isiah McCallum (Paul Quinn) posted 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the victory. Five RKE players cracked double-figure scoring, led by Nick Davidson’s (Bloomfield) 25 points and a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds) with two blocks by former CBA center Dane Moran (Dickinson).

Sea View Jeep Survives WCT

Speaking of Justin Robinson, Sea View Jeep leaned on the former Monmouth star, former Christian Brothers Academy center Josh Cohen, and another former Monmouth sharp-shooter in Jesse Steele to pull out a 111-108 win over WCT amid some late-game drama in the second game of Thursday’s JSBL double-header.

Like Larson Ford in Game 1, Sea View coughed up a double-digit second-half lead and fell behind by seven points with under five minutes to go. Robinson and Cohen kept the game close on the offensive end, the defense delivered a wave of stops, and Steele knocked down a pair of clutch three-pointers in the final 1:30.

The first of Steele’s threes came in transition after a WCT turnover and tied the game, 106-106, with 1:20 left to play. Former Lakewood star Ryan Savoy knocked down the go-ahead jumper for WCT on the other end, but Steele responded with another three-pointer to catapult Sea View into the lead, 109-108, with 56 seconds left. After a turnover by WCT, Robinson pulled up from just beyond the free-throw line for a jumper that stretched SeaView’s lead to 111-108 with 15 seconds left. Jacob Morales (FDU-Florham) fired up a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds that came up short.

Cohen — the 6-foot-10 center who played his final season of college basketball at USC after stops at St. Francis of Pa. and the University of Massachusetts — led Sea View with a game-high 32 points and 16 rebounds. Robinson threw in 29 points while dishing out 10 assists and plucking six rebounds and three steals. Steele added 18 points while swiping three steals.

Morales poured in 26 points, and Monmouth University wing and former Manasquan standout Jack Collins led WCT with 27 points and 10 assists. Manasquan alumnus Quinn Peters also kicked in 18 points, and Savoy finished with 12.