Chris Smith’s Homecoming Highlights Thursday JSBL Slate

MANASQUAN — Chris Smith lost count of how many countries he has lived in and forget recounting how many countries in which he has played basketball.

The well-traveled Smith first left home following his junior year at Lakewood High School and ever since, he has gone wherever the game takes him. For a few weeks this summer, that means returning to the Jersey Shore to chase a championship in the Jersey Shore Basketball League.

In his first JSBL game of 2025, Smith poured in 35 points and handed out nine assists to key his Intern Helpers squad to a 132-107 win over RKE Athletic on Thursday on the final night of the league’s regular season.

“I love it because I’m from here,” the 37-year-old Smith said of taking the floor at Manasquan High School for the JSBL. “A lot of the younger guys probably haven’t seen me play in my older years, but this is where it started. At 15, 16 years old, playing against grown men like myself now, so you’ve got to come back and give back to the game.”

Smith played two seasons at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark before heading to Louisville for his college years. He then spent a stint with the New York Knicks before setting out on an international career, most of which he spent in Israel. He now plays professionally in Colombia, where he lives with his wife and three-year-old daughter.

“Whenever I leave, I’m always leaving something and someone behind,” Smith said of the challenges of being an international athlete. “My daughter is at home in Colombia. I have had to leave my family in Jersey whenever I went away, whether it was Louisville or overseas. Now, it’s my daughter, but she’ll be here next week. Still, you’re always leaving something behind.

“I have been to so many places. This is actually my first time living in South America, but I have been to just about everywhere: Asia, Africa, Europe — so many continents. Each culture is different, the basketball is different, and now it’s about keeping my family happy.”

In addition to pursuing a JSBL title with Intern Helpers, Smith is in the management group of the Jersey Shore Breaks professional team based out of Brick and also suits up for the team as its top scorer from the past season at 22.2 points per game. Smith is one of four Breaks players who played for Intern Helpers on Thursday night. Christian Lyons, Ray Salnave and Emmett Hall are the others.

“We want to make that like the home base for the local guys and New Jersey natives who want to keep doing this,” Smith said.

The Jersey Shore ties for Smith run deeper than just the name of the Breaks franchise. The team is coached by Randy Holmes — the former Lakewood basketball star and head coach, who is now the head coach of Jackson Memorial High School and also coaches Intern Helpers. Holmes has known the Smith family — which also includes Chris’s older brother and former NBA guard J.R. Smith — for Chris’s entire life and was a mentor of both J.R. and Chris as they progressed as young players at Lakewood and, eventually, St. Benedict’s.

“He knew me before I was born,” Smith said of Holmes. “Me and Randy talk more than anybody. We’re like best friends. He’s like a big brother to me. It was Randy, J.R., Tommy Carroll and the guys I came up behind at Lakewood that were my role models. And Randy was the guy.”

Led by a pair of Lakewood legends, Intern Helpers surges into the JSBL Playoffs as the No. 2 seed after downing RKE on Thursday. Smith finished 11-for-26 from the field to lead the scoring effort, while Josh Treadwell and James Stanback each added 32 points and four assists apiece, with Stanback grabbing nine rebounds and six steals and Treadwell pulling down six boards.

Intern Helpers stormed out to a 29-19 lead through one quarter and put the game away with a 41-point third quarter to take a 104-80 lead into the fourth.

Nico Galette scored 40 points to go with 13 rebounds and four steals to lead RKE Athletic.

As the No. 2 seed in the JSBL playoffs, Intern Helpers will face No. 7 Ortho-NJ in next Monday’s quarterfinal. Despite only playing one game — two shy of the requisite number of regular-season games for a player to be eligible for the playoffs — Smith is eligible for the playoffs thanks to the NBA exception, which allows players who spent any time in the NBA to participate in the playoffs with just one regular-season appearance.

“I came back here to play in this game so we can win a championship,” Smith said.

 

Game 2: Sterns Trailer Overcomes Spence’s Early Exit, Wins Regular-Season Crown

One night after Monmouth transfer Javion McClain set a JSBL record with 71 points in a game on Wednesday night, Jakari Spence was on pace to make a run at the 24-hour-old record.

Early in the third quarter, however, Spence — the former Toms River North star and Monmouth University guard — was ejected for persistent arguing with an official, which ended his hopes of a JSBL-best performance. His early departure, however, did not stop his Sterns Trailer team from accomplishing what it set out to do.

Spence scored 36 points in 22 minutes, then Kevin Mateo took over for a 40-point outburst that led all scorers and guided Sterns to a 118-105 win over Sea View Jeep in a game that decided the regular-season championship.

Thanks to a tight race at the top of the standings, Sterns clinched the regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the JSBL playoffs with the win, while Sea View slipped to the No. 4 seed — setting up a potential rematch between the two championships contenders in next Thursday’s semifinal round.

Spence shot 14-for-19 while also adding six rebounds and three assists. Even though his night was cut short, Spence scored enough to clinch the regular-season scoring championship, beating out former Monmouth University star and Sea View guard Justin Robinson after Robinson scored 29 in Thursday’s loss.

Jalen Gaffney and all-time Shore Conference leading scorer Bryan Antoine backed up Mateo in leading Sterns to victory. Gaffney posted 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Antoine went for 12 points and six rebounds.

Robinson led Sea View Jeep with a triple-double (29 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), while Jesse Jones led the scoring effort with 36 points to go with six boards and four assists. Chris Brady (18 points, 19 rebounds) and Reagan Burke (14 points, 10 rebounds) each added a double-double in the loss.