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Comeback Kids: Hodge Returns, Leads St. Rose Comeback vs. Manasquan

Matt Manley|December 17, 2024|Last Updated January 6, 2025

MANASQUAN — On Saturday night in Belmar, Jayden Hodge watched helplessly from the bench as his St. Rose boys basketball team scratched and clawed in an effort to come back from a double-digit deficit against Paramus Catholic in its season-opener.

Held out by Purple Roses coach Brian Lynch as a precaution following a knee injury suffered during a scrimmage at Rumson-Fair Haven on Tuesday, Hodge looked on as his team missed 24 three-point shots and failed to execute enough in a season-opening loss to an improved Paladins team that went 2-22 a year ago.

Just 48 hours later against Shore Conference Class A Central division rival Manasquan, Hodge ripped through the caution tape, took the floor with his team, and when they again trailed by double-digits in the fourth quarter, this time, Hodge did something about it.

The four-star wing from the Class of 2026 scored nine of his game-high 18 points during the fourth quarter and St. Rose — the No. 1 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — stormed back from a 12-point deficit to deny Manasquan, 50-45, and nail down a satisfying first win of the season.

“It means a lot,” Hodge said. “The game on Saturday definitely had us a little down, but we told each other to keep our heads up. We have a tough game in Manasquan — great team, great players, great coach. We just told each other to stay aggressive, stay calm, and play our game.”

Hodge suffered a bone bruise on his left knee in Tuesday’s scrimmage at Rumson-Fair Haven and walked out of the gym at Rumson on crutches, with his knee wrapped. He underwent an MRI the following day to determine if he had suffered any structural damage and he waited anxiously for the news.

“I was scared, to be honest,” Hodge said. “It happened so soon in the season. All the work I put in, I thought my season might be over. But once I heard I’m fine and that it was just a bone bruise, it was such a relief. I told my dad and my coach that I’m going to get back to work.”

Five days after sustaining the injury, Hodge was dressed in St. Rose’s opener and went through full warm-ups with his team, but was held out as a precaution. He then practiced in full on Sunday, which was enough to convince Lynch that Hodge was ready to get back on the floor against the team St. Rose defeated in last year’s Shore Conference Tournament championship game.

“I just wanted to play,” Hodge said. “They were saying for safety reasons that, ‘We’re not sure you are going to play, and if we let you play, you’re not going to play the whole game.’ I decided to play. I felt good. It was bothering me a little bit, but I just left it all out on the court.”

“You should have seen his face when I told him on Saturday night that he can’t play,” Lynch said. “He looked at me and was like, ‘Coach, are you serious? I feel better now than I did before I got hurt.’ But he scared all of us, so we aren’t going to rush him in any way. He has a big future. We’re not here to beat Paramus Catholic in the first game of the season. It was hard for him but it was the right thing.”

Before the fourth quarter, Hodge’s effort appeared to be in vain. Manasquan took a 43-31 lead when sophomore Rey Weinseimer found classmate Logan Cleveland for a layup with under 5:30 to play, which equaled the Warriors’ largest lead of the game. Hodge then answered with his second three-pointer of the game to pull St. Rose back within single-digits, then buried a corner three on the next possession to cut the Manasquan lead to 43-37.

“We weren’t playing good defense, we weren’t communicating, so we just decided to stay calm and let the game come to us,” Hodge said. “We didn’t rush anything and eventually, the shots started falling. I believe in myself, I put that work in every day, so the confidence comes from there.

“I get up every day at 6 a.m. to go shoot – three-pointers, free throws — just shooting. I just told myself that I’m not doing that work for no reason. It’s going to pay off, so I’m going to shoot that ball when I’m open. Even though I missed my first two or three, I had the confidence and I just kept shooting.”

“The great thing about Jay is even when things aren’t going the way he’d like for him, whether it’s missing shots or whatever, he just plays so hard all the time,” Lynch said of Hodge. “Go watch a really good player in high school or college. They all have something in common: they just play hard and he is one of them. It’s great that our young guys get to see that.”

The two teams traded free throws, then St. Rose ripped off a 12-0 run to go up 50-44. Senior Bryan Ebeling hit a three from the right wing to pull St. Rose within 44-41, then hit a difficult reverse layup as he was fouled following an offensive rebound to tie the game, 44-44. Ebeling’s ensuing free throw put St. Rose ahead, 45-44, with 2:30 left — its first lead since 2-0 in the opening minutes of the game.

Ebeling scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter and senior Evan Romano chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and three assists for St. Rose, while Ebeling also dished out four assists.

When Romano buried two free throws to make the score 50-44 with 18 seconds left, it capped a 19-1 run by St. Rose over a stretch of five minutes.

Weinseimer led Manasquan with 18 points and seven rebounds, but Hodge guarded Weinseimer in the fourth quarter and held him to one point and without a field goal over the final eight minutes. Weinseimer scored eight points in the first half, then poured in nine in the third quarter to help give Manasquan a 37-29 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.

“(Weinseimer) definitely got it going, especially in the third quarter,” Hodge said. “Coach told me, ‘You got him now.’ He’s a great player, so I had to guard him. I didn’t feel I was moving that well on defense yet with my knee, but I tried my best. He’s a great player and it was definitely not easy, but I think I did a good job at the end.”

Cleveland finished with 10 points and six rebounds and senior Griffin Linstra pitched in eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in the loss.

Through three-and-a-half quarters, Manasquan had committed eight turnovers and just two live-ball turnovers against St. Rose’s long, athletic defense. Down the stretch, however, the Purple Roses forced Manasquan into turnovers on four out of six possessions — all on steals that led to free-throw attempts. Manasquan’s two turnover-free possessions ended with one-of-two made free throws and four misses, including three straight in the paint after three offensive rebounds.

“I told them after the third quarter that we’re down 10 and we have to be aggressive,” Lynch said. “We’re going into our full-court presses and that’s just what we have to do. They stepped up, did a great job and that’s when the momentum changed. You could see the momentum change and I think that’s what helped us a lot.”

In rallying past Manasquan, St. Rose showed both its strengths and possible warts at the early stage of the season. Manasquan out-rebounded St. Rose by a considerable margin and confounded St. Rose’s half-court offense for most of the night. In Hodge, Romano and Ebeling, St. Rose has three third-year starters to anchor the lineup, but the Purple Roses are still adjusting to life without Shore Conference Player of the Year Matt Hodge — now at Villanova — and First-Team All-Shore forward and current Cornell freshman Gio Panzini.

“Evan and Bryan could comfortably play behind Matt and Gio last year,” Lynch said. “Now, they are the Matt and Gio of this team. Every night, they have to bring it. It’s a different role and they are capable of it, but I do think it takes some time. It’s not something that happens overnight.”

Free throws were also an issue for St. Rose, which shot 9-for-19 (47 percent) — including 1-for-8 for Hodge. Down the stretch, however, St. Rose locked in and went 8-for-11 in the fourth quarter to close out the win.

Over the course of the game, St. Rose’s supporting cast-members made their presence felt. Junior starter Tyler Cameron scored seven points — all during the first three quarters, while St. Rose was struggling to find offense. Sophomore starter Avery Lynch scored only two points, but grabbed five rebounds and came up with two steals in the final four minutes of the game.

Off the bench, St. Rose got a lift from freshman guards Izayah Cooper and Oymere Rene, as well as 6-foot-5 forward Tyler Hager. Cooper and Rene each contributed a bucket during the second quarter and provided energy on the defensive end, while Hager was disruptive in the passing lanes and in protecting the rim. Hager blocked two shots, including a clinching block when Linstra tried to drive to the basket late in the fourth quarter.

“Our bench stepped up,” Hodge said. “Even though some guys didn’t play as much, they came in with energy. Without my brother (Matt), Gio and a couple of other seniors, we are missing a lot of height and rim protection and on the glass, as you can see. They had a lot of offensive rebounds, so that’s a key for us: box out, hit the boards. That’s a key that we are missing from last year, but I think we are willing to do it. We just have to box out and go get the ball.”

For Manasquan, the loss was a bitter pill for a team that took a 13-point lead on Camden into the NJSIAA Group II semifinal, only to lose on a blown call by the officiating crew in a one-point loss. Monday’s loss was a little too familiar — right down to the purple-and-gold uniforms of the opponent — for a Manasquan team that was on the verge of pulling off a huge victory if not for a rash of turnovers against turned-up defensive pressure by a desperate, athletic team.

On the bright side for Manasquan, the Warriors were coming off a win on Saturday vs. Rutgers Prep in which senior Matteo Chiarella banked in a shot from beyond midcourt at the buzzer to cap a 64-61 Manasquan win in overtime. The Warriors pulled out the overtime thriller despite Linstra fouling out early in overtime. Weinseimer scored 26 points in that one and is averaging 21.5 points through two games to start his sophomore season, showing no ill-effects of a hip injury that ended his soccer season for Manasquan in the fall.

The two teams will meet again on Jan. 22 at St. Rose in Belmar, when St. Rose hopes it will not be so worn down. Hodge told Lynch he was feeling some pain in the final seconds on Monday night and Ebeling also limped off the floor at one point before returning. It was a knock-down, drag-out battle that St. Rose pulled out — one of many the Purple Roses expect to play this season against a loaded schedule.

“Sometimes I look at our out-of-conference schedule and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, where are our wins coming from,'” Lynch said. “All of them are top of New Jersey or high-level out-of-state teams. We could be the first team to not lose a game in the Jersey Shore and not make the Shore Conference Tournament. We could be 12-13 and it would be the craziest thing ever. There is a little nervousness in our schedule being so tough and we have young guys that have to grow up quick and tonight was a night when guys had to grow up.”

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