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Point Beach Wins Round One vs. Point Boro in Fresh Division Rivalry

Matt Manley|January 10, 2026|Last Updated January 10, 2026

POINT PLEASANT BOROUGH — Out of the six players in a Point Pleasant Beach boys varsity basketball rotation that consists of two seniors and four juniors, four started games as freshmen and another is a prominent junior transfer.

The lone exception is senior Elijah Ives, whose hustle and energy earned him a varsity spot prior to this year and whose sheer improvement earned him the trust of his teammates to take some of the biggest shots in his team’s biggest rivalry game.

Ives hit a game-tying three-pointer with 1:14 left, iced the game at the free-throw line and turned in 15 points and seven rebounds to help lead the Garnet Gulls to a hard-earned road win over Point Pleasant Boro on Friday night. While the showdown between the two Point Pleasant teams is an annual event, Friday marked the first time the two teams have played one another in boys basketball as members of the same Shore Conference division.

“Props to the coaching,” Ives said. “We do it every day at practice. Every time we get into a situation like that, we have practiced it. When I get a good shot, I know I can make it and my teammates trust me.”

Four-year senior starter Jacob Edgecomb, who is closing in on his 1,000th career point, added 12 points and five rebounds, including a tie-breaking elbow jumper that gave Point Beach a 55-53 lead with 1:07 left. Junior Ryan Mahoney — Point Beach’s transfer from the Peddie School — poured in 14 points to go with three assists and three steals, while junior George Breckenridge threw in 10 points and junior Danny Cavanaugh contributed five points, nine rebounds and five assists in the victory.

Point Beach trailed by as many as 12 points in the third quarter and took its first lead of the game, 41-40, with 1:36 left in the third on a three-point play by Ives. After the Garnet Gulls entered the fourth trailing Point Boro, 42-41, Ives hit a three to give Point Beach a 46-42 edge — its largest until putting the game away at the free-throw line the final minute. Point Boro countered with eight unanswered points, with senior Jovin Steinmetz scored five of them and senior Nick Carmino hit a tie-breaking three to make it 49-46.

“Point Boro is a great team,” Edgecomb said. “They have us circled on their calendar every year and we have them circled too. It’s a big rivalry game and we knew it was going to be a dog fight from the start. Up twenty, down twenty; it didn’t matter. Neither team was giving up. Being able to play through any adversity throughout the whole game, being able to stay together to stay together as a team was really important to us.”

Mahoney scored baskets on back-to-back trips to pull Point Beach even, 50-50. A drive to the basket by junior Hunter Hynes gave Point Boro a 53-50 lead with just over 1:30 left before Ives delivered the tying three, which came after an offensive rebound by Cavanaugh.

Point Beach then forced a Point Boro turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, which set up the go-ahead basket, with Cavanaugh finding Edgecomb at the left elbow, from where he calmly knocked down the tie-breaking shot that gave his team the lead for good.

After Steinmetz made one of two free throws for Point Boro, Mahoney broke loose for a layup to make it 57-54 and after the Garnet Gulls forced another turnover, Mahoney broke loose for another layup before absorbing a foul that knocked him into the padded wall. He was removed from the game to be evaluated and Ives replaced him on the free-throw line, where he hit the second of two free throws. Ives then hit both attempts from the line on Point Beach’s next possession to cap the scoring.

While the other five players in the Point Beach rotation have had sizable roles from the time they arrived in the program, Ives has worked his way into a prominent position with the team. He averaged fewer than three points per game in 25 appearances as a sophomore and as a junior, he did not record his first game of 10 points or more until his 11th game of the season. That 14-point outing, however, was one of six games of at least 10 points over the next 11 games and Ives wound up averaging 6.2 points to go with his standout defense.

“When I came in with the varsity as a sophomore, I didn’t have the biggest role,” Ives said. “That just means you’ve got to work harder. Putting in the hard work will get you what you want.”

This year, Ives is up to 9.2 points and an even four rebounds per game for a Point Beach squad that has four players averaging at least nine points and none averaging more than 12.

“Eli has gotten better every single year,” Point Beach coach Ed Goodman said. “We work on so much skill development in practice every day, for all of our kids. I think that has translated for Eli the most, because he is able to be a scorer now rather than just provide energy. He has defended some of the best people we have played and now he is making threes, he is on the free-throw line at the end of the game. It’s a testament to all of our guys. We trust each other so much.”

The Garnet Gulls erased double-digit deficits in each half, starting with wiping out a 22-11 Point Boro lead in the second quarter with an 11-0 run that tied the game, 22-22. Point Boro then closed the half with eight unanswered points and scored the first four of the third quarter to respond to Point Beach’s 11-0 run with a 12-0 run that exploded the Panthers lead to 34-22 — the largest lead of the game for either team.

Slow starts have not been out of the norm for Point Beach, which overcame a double-digit deficit for a third straight game on Friday and has trailed by at least double-figures in four games this season — all wins.

“I trust my team,” Goodman said. “This is the most connected basketball team I have ever been a part of, whether as a player or a coach. I have never seen a team more connected, maybe to a fault sometimes. But this year, I have really taken a step back and allowed them to mature and develop into big spots, but you always have to look at the guy on the sideline because we always have to be ready to have a solution to put our kids in the best position to win.”

“We have been a family for more than the four years I’ve been here because we have always hung out outside of basketball,” Edgecomb said. “We really became very close and that shows on the court when we have that mentality that we have our brothers’ backs no matter what: down 10, down 20. We know each other and we trust each other.”

Point Beach felt its way through the start of the game on offense against Point Boro’s 2-3 zone and managed to turn the ball over a respectable nine times. On the other end, Point Beach’s high-pressure defense forced 17.

“The two bottom guys (in the Point Boro zone) play high,” Ives said. “That makes you second-guess that corner pass and you can’t just catch it and get to a shot, because they always have a guy there. It makes it a little tougher than most zones you see, so we had to feel our way through it, which is probably why we didn’t get off to the best start.”

“It was the first time we have faced a zone this year, so it took some time for us to adjust to it, three quarters really,” Goodman said. “(Point Boro) Coach (Kevin) Hynes is a hall-of-famer. He’s got 400 wins. He has never changed, only the players. He is an awesome coach, somebody I look up to in how I prepare. I take pride in how we prepare for games like this so it starts with the preparation and ends in the execution.”

Hynes and Steinmetz each scored 18 points to lead Point Boro, with Steinmetz grabbing 11 rebounds and Hynes grabbing seven. Senior Drew Cardia also chipped in six points, five assists and four steals for the Panthers.

Round one of the Point Pleasant rivalry in 2026 went to the Garnet Gulls and Point Boro will have its chance at revenge when the Panthers head across the bridge to Point Beach on Jan. 26.

“It’s the same thing with Brick Memorial,” Ives said, referring to Point Beach’s come-from-behind win over the division-rival Mustangs to open the week. “It’s a rivalry game and it gets even more intense when it’s a division game and both teams are fighting for the division title. Everyone is going to be engaged. It’s just a different atmosphere.”

“This division might be the most competitive one in the Shore,” Goodman said. “There are no days off. Coach Hynes has his guys knowing exactly what they need to do and you have to adjust to him, rather than him adjust to you. We worked on it for a couple days. We thought we would see some things that we didn’t see, so it’s preparing for a lot of different looks. My kids love this challenge and they want this opportunity, regardless of who is on our schedule or who is in our division.”

 

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