Lessons Learned: Red Bank Catholic Solves Ranney, Reaches SCT Semifinals

MIDDLETOWN — Had the Red Bank Catholic boys basketball team executed one more box-out the last time it faced Ranney, the Caseys would have swept the Panthers and endured far less drama on the way to winning a Shore Conference Class B North championship than they encountered.

But then they might not have been as focused as they were on Saturday, when the two division foes met for the rubber match to decide the final spot in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals Wednesday at Brookdale Community College.

RBC — the No. 3 seed in the SCT — absorbed a hot start by Ranney and a dazzling scoring performance by senior Shaan Nayar to battle past the 11th-seeded Panthers, 60-55, and secure a spot in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time in four years.

“We used it as fuel,” Hager said of the Jan. 28 loss to Ranney in double-overtime. “They celebrated a lot after that one and they deserved it. It was a big win, but we didn’t want that to happen again, so we definitely used that as motivation.”

Junior Gavin Biasi paced Red Bank Catholic with 17 points and six rebounds while shooting 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, which led a 10-for-12 showing by RBC from the line during the final five-plus minutes of the game.

Senior Ryan Saxton added 14 points for the Caseys and the 6-foot-7 Hager made his mark with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots for RBC. Hager scored on a tip-in early in the fourth quarter to give RBC a 46-45 and thanks to the sharp free-throw shooting and effective defense, the Caseys did not surrender the lead the rest of the way.

Junior Ryder Ciorciari chipped in eight points and five assists for RBC and was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to complement Biasi. Senior guard and Caseys leading scorer James Hankowski hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third quarter to account for his six points.

Both threes by Hankowski extended RBC’s lead to its largest of the game, which was nine points. After the second of Hankowski’s threes made it 35-26, Ranney began to chip away at the Caseys lead and grabbed the lead back, 43-42, when RBC fouled sophomore Jordan Rue as he was launching a 70-foot heave in the final second of the quarter. Rue hit two of the three foul shots to send Ranney to the fourth with the lead and momentum.

RBC ceded the momentum in the first quarter as well, with Ranney storming out to a 16-9 lead thanks to an eight-point start by Nayar during that stretch. The senior guard went on to score a game-high 27 points in the loss.

“We knew Shaan was going to come out hot, score a lot of buckets” Biasi said. “They are a great defensive team. They play tight on us every time, that’s how they beat us last time. We kept our composure at the end, made our free throws and came out with the win.”

“He is one of the best guards in the Shore,” Hager said. “I thought we did an alright job on him and he still got his points.”

The Caseys made their way back in the second quarter, with Biasi hitting three-pointers on back-to-back trips to give his team a 25-21 lead. Saxton then closed the quarter with RBC’s last four points and the Caseys stormed into the locker room with a 29-23 lead thanks to an 18-5 run to finish the half.

Ranney entered Saturday with four players averaging at least 10 points per game, but only Nayar cracked double-figures. With Nayar scored half the team’s points, RBC slowed down the rest of the Panthers unit, which was enough to limit their offense.

“Anyone on our team can score,” Biasi said. “We have Tyler who can score inside, we have shooters, we have guys who can get to the rim and we share the ball. I think it does probably help us when we face Ranney, because it’s kind of the same thing with them. You can try to stay with you man and then Shaan has a big game and if we would have tried to do more to stop him, their other guys might have beat us.”

As Ranney scrambled to stay afloat in the final minutes of the game, RBC drew upon its experience against the Panthers, as well as from its experience against quality opponents throughout the year. Of RBC’s six losses, three have come in overtime, the most recent of which was a 62-57 loss to Ranney in double-overtime on Jan. 28. In that game, Ranney junior Andrew Mardahaev scored on a putback at the fourth-quarter buzzer to send the game into overtime.

The loss put RBC’s hopes of a Class B North division championship in jeopardy, but the Caseys won the remainder of their division games to clinch the outright division championship.

While most of RBC’s team prepares for their first SCT semifinal experience, Hager is set for his second straight trip to the semifinals, which he also made last season as a sophomore with St. Rose. Hager transferred to Red Bank Catholic ahead of the current school year and after initially planning to pass on the basketball season to focus on baseball, he decided to play and has not regretted the decision.

“It means a lot,” RBC junior Tyler Hager said. “It’s awesome. There is always another chance, another play that we’re looking forward to and this just means we get to keep going and keep trying to prove how good we are.”

After paying back Ranney for a January loss, RBC will now attempt to pay back Wall for a December loss — a 44-34 Crimson Knights win in the first round of the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic. In that game, RBC was within four points of Wall heading to the fourth quarter, but scored only three points in the fourth and went scoreless over the final 5:30.

If the Caseys can crack the 19-1 Crimson Knights, they will earn a trip to the SCT championship game for the first time in program history.

“Wall’s a great team,” Biasi said. “They beat us in the beginning of the year. They play great defense team. We didn’t get a lot of good shots, so we’re going to have to work on our offense.”