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Jacking Threes: Lattimer’s Shooting Lifts Manasquan to 15th straight SCT Quarterfinal

Matt Manley|February 13, 2026|Last Updated February 13, 2026

MANASQUAN — For much of Manasquan’s running decade-and-a-half streak of reaching the Boys Basketball Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals, the Warriors were essentially a foregone conclusion to reach the final eight of the conference tournament.

In a few instances, though, it required a certain amount of mettle to survive the round of 16, and as the No. 7 seed in this year’s tournament, with No. 10 Freehold Township standing in the way, this was a year that Manasquan would be in for a fight to keep its streak alive.

Then, Jack Lattimer hit his first three-point attempt and the stage was set. It still would not be easy, but if a guard on this year’s blue-collar Warriors team is going to hit six three-pointers, not many teams are overcoming Manasquan under those circumstance.

Lattimer scored a career-high 21 points on 6-for-7 shooting from three-point range and the Warriors fought off Freehold Township, 58-51, to earn a spot in the Shore Conference quarterfinals for a 15th straight season.

“It definitely feels good to be going to the next round,” Lattimer said. “There is such a great tradition at Manasquan and everyone on this team loves being a part of it and wants to live up to that standard that coach (Andrew) Bilodeau and all the former players have set.”

Whether it was Manasquan’s defense-first effort in the first half or a more back-and-forth second half of trading baskets, Lattimer was in the middle of it, giving Manasquan a lift, three points at a time. Other than the six three-pointers, Lattimer’s only points came on an old-fashioned three-point play in the second quarter.

With his three out of the corner on the first possession of the game, Lattimer set the tone for a 9-6 first quarter in which he scored all of Manasquan’s points on three three-pointers. The Warriors took a 22-18 lead into halftime with Lattimer accounting for 12 of his team’s points.

“It was great to hit some shots, but it’s all my teammates finding me in open space,” Lattimer said. “Driving and kicking, getting me open shots. Our coaches have confidence in us, our teammates have confidence in us and each guy is going to show up one day. Tonight it was me.

“We still have to stick to our principle of defense. We feel like we have to keep teams in the forties, because that’s our motto: rebound and defend. That’s how we had to play them.”

In the second half, Freehold Township’s offense found a rhythm against Manasquan’s defense, even briefly taking a 26-25 lead early in the third quarter on a three-pointer by junior John O’Neill. In the fourth quarter, Manasquan hit the Patriots with a series of deflating three-pointers, two of which came from Lattimer to extend the Warriors’ lead to nine — first at 47-38 and again at 52-43.

Freehold Township, however, did not go quietly. The Patriots rattled off seven straight points to pull within 52-50 with 54 seconds left. Junior Sam Hawskby hit a fadeway jumper, classmate Dakota Lasater sank a three-pointer and junior Jake Schultzel scored in the post to cut his team’s deficit to two.

From there, Manasquan put the game away on the foul line with a 6-for-8 showing in the final 50 seconds while holding Freehold Township without a field goal when the Patriots had to score to catch up. Sophomore Sean Bilodeau made all four of his attempts for Manasquan.

Junior Logan Cleveland chipped in 11 points and six rebounds for Manasquan and the Warriors got seven points apiece from sophomores Noah Matuch and Kennedy Larned, with all 14 of their combined points coming in the second half. Larnded passed out three assists, while Matuch grabbed five rebounds and his three-pointer to open the fourth quarter extended Manasquan’s lead to 42-34.

Thursday’s game was a rematch of Manasquan’s 54-41 win over Freehold Township on Jan. 10 in Freehold. In that win, the Warriors held Schultzel and O’Neill — the Patriots’ two leading scorers — to a combined zero points. On Thursday, the two juniors struck back with a vengeance, scoring a combined 39 points. Schultzel led the way with 20 points and six rebounds before fouling out, while O’Neill contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds.

“They are very big, very athletic and very well-coached,” Lattimer said of Freehold Township. “We knew there were definitely going to be different points in the game that we were going to have to do something different. Tonight it was our shooting. We always know there are going to be runs and it’s just about playing off of our runs — taking a punch and being able to punch back.”

Manasquan, meanwhile, won despite its leading scorer, Bilodeau, going scoreless until the final minute, at which point he stepped to the free throw line for four makes that put the game away. With Lasater assigned to guard him, Bilodeau played the role of decoy and distributor, while Lattimer flourished and the trio of Cleveland, Matuch and Larned stepped up as supporting scorers.

“They put a very good defender on Sean and Sean did a good job of just playing within our offense and finding the rest of us,” Lattimer said. “If they are going to take one of us away, we’re going to share the ball and find the open guy. Tonight, it wasn’t Sean’s night to score, but he still played a really good game and when we needed him to make big free throws, he stepped up.”

With Thursday’s win, not only does Manasquan earn a chance to reach the semifinal round for a seventh straight year; the Warriors will also get another shot at second-seeded Wall, who handled Manasquan, 40-20, in the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic in December. In that game, Wall held Manasquan scoreless for the first 13:48 of the game and led, 23-4, at halftime.

“We definitely had a lot to improve on at the beginning of the year and one of the things we really talk about at Manasquan is continuing to get better every day,” Lattimer said. “The beginning of the year was tough, but we learned from games like the Wall game and just continued to work hard in practice and trusting each other. I think we’re playing our best basketball right now, so it’s definitely exciting to get another shot to prove ourselves.”

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