Defending Champs Upset Unbeaten No. 1 Seed; ACI/Robin’s Nest, Sterns Trailer Reach JSBL Final

MANASQUAN — Throughout the Jersey Shore Basketball League regular season and one round of the playoffs, County Line Auto Body never experienced defeat. Facing defending JSBL champion ACI/Robin’s Nest in the league semifinals Wednesday at Manasquan High School, County Line never took a lead.

Thanks to a late-arriving collection of players, ACI/Robin’s Nest stormed out to an early lead. It made it to the finish line without trailing the No. 1 seed in the tournament, scoring a resounding 110-87 win over County Line to carry its championship defense back to the championship game for a second straight year.

Five ACI players cracked double-figure scoring with three — Dwaine Jones, Jared Kimbrough and Samier Kinsler — each exceeding 20. Jones led all scorers with 25 points while also contributing seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, while former Neptune High School teammate Kimbrough posted 24 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Kinsler poured in 22 points while dishing out five assists.

“We all left our egos at the door,” Kimbrough said. “We share the ball on offense, communicate on defense — the easy things that help the team win. Going out and executing and playing hard, that is something we should be doing regardless, so we all check ourselves at the door, and we all hold ourselves accountable.”

Both Jones and Kimbrough shot 10-for-15 from the field to highlight an efficient second half for the ACI offense, which shot 60.5 percent (26-for-43) after the break, led by an awakening from Kimbrough. After scoring four points on 1-for-4 shooting in the first half, Kimbrough erupted for 20 on 9-for-11 shooting in the second half, including a three-pointer with 6:22 left that broke an 83-83 tie.

“Even when we played in high school together, we had a pretty good connection,” Kimbrough said of his rapport with Jones. “That’s something that doesn’t go away. It’s something that has just always gotten better. It’s like wine: over time it gets better.”

While ACI/Robin’s Nest never trailed in Wednesday’s semifinal, County Line rallied to tie the game twice in the second half. The JSBL regular-season champions opened the game with only six players before reinforcements arrived late in the first quarter due to a longer-than-expected commute from North Jersey and Philadelphia. ACI built a 28-17 lead through one quarter, but County Line cut the deficit to 48-42 by halftime and tied it for the first time, 68-68, on three-pointers by Josh Treadwell on back-to-back trips.

ACI counted with an 11-3 run to end the third quarter. In the final minute of the fourth quarter, County Line center Markus Kennedy picked up his fifth foul and left the court visibly and audibly frustrated by the officiating.

“I’m the centerpiece of the offense, so it doesn’t really matter if there is another big out there,” Kimbrough said. “I just have to be involved in the pick-and-rolls and whatever I’ve got to do. Overall, the message is just be aggressive.”

Down its biggest player, County Line had even more trouble contending with Kimbrough, who warmed up in the third quarter and helped his team close out the victory, but not before County Line again tied the game, 83-83, on a three-pointer by Ahmad Biggins with 7:05 left. Kimbrough answered with his tie-breaking three-pointer, which ignited a 12-1 run that catapulted ACI back into a double-digit lead, 95-84. After County Line finally broke up the run, Kimbrough sent a message by skying for a thunderous one-handed slam on a drive to the basket to push the lead to 99-87 with 3:10 left.

Ibn Loyal contributed 15 points, six rebounds and four assists while Jagan Mosely added 13 points and six boards for ACI, which will take on Sterns Trailer Thursday in a rematch of last year’s JSBL championship game.

Treadwell led County Line with 24 points, with Leon Daniels pitching in 17 points and nine rebounds and Biggins netting 16 points.

“They are a tough, mental team,” Kimbrough said of County Line. “They have a lot of older guys. It felt like they have been playing together for a long time. They communicate well; they pick up 94 feet. They do all the little things physically to make you speed up, turn the ball over and stuff like that. We did a good job of composing ourselves against that.”

 

Sterns Trailer Trio Shines in Semifinal Win over Sea View Jeep

In a second semifinal that featured two teams missing key pieces, Jalen Gaffney, Rasheen Merlin and Parker Dortch played like a big three on Wednesday to lead Sterns Trailer past Sea View Jeep, 121-112, to earn a spot in the championship game for the fifth straight year.

Gaffney led all scorers across both JSBL semifinals by draining 37 points, which included 15-for-24 shooting overall and 7-for-14 from beyond the three-point line. The former UConn and Florida Atlantic guard also pulled in seven rebounds, dished out six assists and nabbed two steals.

Sterns Trailer led by as many as 19 in the third quarter, but Sea View pulled to within 106-103 with 4:26 left on three-pointers by Xander Rice and Justin Robinson. Gaffney then drained a three-pointer late in the shot clock to push the lead back to six, and Sea View never got closer than four the rest of the way.

“When (both teams) don’t play a lot of guys and guys get tired, it’s very easy to get up and down the floor,” Gaffney said. “We were able to run and kept that lead. We didn’t make a lot of dumb plays. They cut it close a couple times, but we dug in.”

Both Merlin and Dortch posted double-doubles to back up Gaffney, with Merlin going for 32 points and 10 rebounds and Dortch providing 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. The two front-court forces also contributed to a hot-shooting game for Sterns, which finished 15-for-35 from three-point range and 10-for-18 in the second half. Merlin shot 4-for-9 from distance, and Dortch was 3-for-5.

A trio of Shore Conference alumni backed up the big three, with former Manchester standouts Mason Jones and Savon Myers chipping in 11 and nine points, respectively. Myers also hauled in eight rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Former Raritan star Mike Aaman also threw in six points and seven rebounds in helping Sterns cover for the absences of Jakari Spence, Scottie Lewis and D.J. Campbell — all of whom have been significant contributors at different points during the season.

“We limited their three-point shooting in the second half, and then we got it into the big guys,” Gaffney said. “Parker, Rasheen and Big Mike — they are really big guys, and it’s easy down there for them.”

Sea View played without guards George Papas and C.J. Ruoff, which left center Josh Cohen and the Monmouth University alum trio of Robinson, Rice and Jesse Steele to carry the offense. Cohen led Sea View with 29 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals; Robinson posted 28 points and eight assists, Rice went for 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Steele finished with 23 points on 7-for-14 three-point shooting.

“We played them the first or second game, and they smacked us,” Gaffney said of facing Sea View during the regular season. “J-Rob had like 19 assists. It was crazy. We just dug down on defense, and we made shots today.”