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SeaBreeze Ford Shore Conference Boys Basketball NJSIAA Scoreboard, March 1

Matt Manley|March 1, 2025|Last Updated March 9, 2025

Shore Conference Boys Basketball Scoreboard

Sponsored by SeaBreeze Ford

Saturday, March 1

NJSIAA Tournament

Sectional Quarterfinals

Central Jersey Group III

(4) Colts Neck 40, (5) Hopewell Valley 38

Junior Dillon Younger scored on a follow as time expired and the Cougars (16-9) held the Bulldogs (21-7) scoreless over the final 8:44 to advance to the sectional semifinals on Tuesday, which Colts Neck will host against No. 9 Freehold Boro.

Neither team could muster any offense in the final quarter, with both teams going scoreless from the 7:20 mark of the quarter all the way until Younger’s game-winner.

Colts Neck drained the clock on its final possession and after a timeout with 6.8 seconds left, gave the ball to senior Lukas Sloane, who attacked the paint. Sloane’s wild attempt missed the basket, but Younger crashed into the lane secured the rebound and threw up a follow-up shot that dropped in as the junior guard hit the ground.

Sloane led Colts Neck with a game-high 20 points — all of which came in the first three quarters. Senior Bryce Belcher also added nine points, including the last basket of the third quarter.

(9) Freehold Boro 60, (1) Red Bank 50

Senior Aidan Hamlin-Woolfolk scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds and the Colonials (20-7) knocked off the top-seeded Bucs (22-5) in Red Bank for the second straight year in the NJSIAA Tournament, this time sending Freehold Boro to Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at No. 4 Colts Neck.

Six Freehold Boro players scored at least seven points and the only constant in both halves when it came to scoring the ball for Freehold Boro was Hamlin-Woolfolk. Outside of junior Joe Haney, who scored two points in the second half after seven in the first, Hamlin-Woolfolk was the only Colonials player to score in both the first and second halves. Haney also grabbed six rebounds.

Freehold Boro stormed out to a 24-8 lead and settled for a 28-17 advantage at halftime. Hamlin-Woolfolk (eight points), junior Mike Cush (eight), Haney (seven) and junior Max Girandola (five) combined for all of Freehold Boro’s scoring, with two of the team’s top three scorers — seniors Brian Tassey and Qua’Mir Everett — going scoreless.

Everett, Tassey and junior Damier Lester showed up in the second half to carry the scoring, with Hamlin-Woolfolk also pitching in seven points. Everett finished with eight points and nine rebounds after battling foul trouble in the first half. Tassey put up seven points after halftime while also adding nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots for the game. Lester provided a boost off the bench with all eight of his points in the second half, including a critical three-point play to extend Freehold Boro’s lead to 35-31 after Red Bank had pulled to within one late in the third quarter.

Senior Zayier Dean closed out his career with a game-high 23 points, including 17 during Red Bank’s second-half comeback. The Bucs finally pulled even, 35-35, on a layup by Ryan Fisher in the final minute of the third quarter, but Everett answered with a floater in the lane in the final seconds to give the Colonials a 37-35 edge going to the fourth.

Lester converted his second three-point play of the game to put Freehold boro up, 44-38, and Hamlin-Woolfolk iced it with three-point play on a floater in the lane that put the Colonials ahead, 57-50, with 50 seconds to go.

Red Bank could not overcome 1-for-21 shooting from beyond the three-point line, including misses on its first 16 attempts. Zayier Dean finally ended the drought by banking in a step-back three-pointer to pull the Bucs within 52-48 with 2:24 left.

Central Jersey Group I

(3) Point Beach 62, (11) Henry Hudson 60

Junior Jacob Edgecomb hit the game-winning shot with one second left and the Garnet Gulls (20-7) finished off a memorable win over the Admirals (18-9) to reach the sectional semifinals on Tuesday.

Senior Scottie Crowley hit two game-tying free throws with 13.8 seconds left, giving Henry Hudson a chance to win the game on its next possession. Edgecomb, however, had other ideas. The left-handed junior guard picked off a crosscourt pass with six seconds left, navigated into the frontcourt and hit a driving, right-handed shot in the paint. Henry Hudson had no timeouts remaining to stop the clock.

Crowley turned in a career-best performance with 29 points and 11 rebounds for Point Beach, which squandered a 12-point fourth quarter lead before pulling out the victory.

Point Beach led, 54-42, and later went up, 56-45, on a layup by sophomore Danny Cavanaugh with under five minutes to go. Cavanaugh, however, was called for his second technical foul of the game, which disqualified him the rest of the way. The 6-4 sophomore was a major factor in the game, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds and his loss was a problem for Point Beach, who also lost starting point guard Tyler Preston to his fifth foul with more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Preston finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists beforing fouling out.

With Point Beach down two starters for the final four-plus minutes, Henry Hudson made its move. The Admirals set sail on a 12-0 run that gave them the lead, with sophomore JoJo Newell and senior Jack Fitzpatrick hitting back-to-back three-pointers to catapult Henry Hudson into the lead for the first time all day, 57-56, with 2:19 to play.

Crowley hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game at 57-57, to which Fitzpatrick responded with a drive to the basket for a 59-57 lead. Crowley again made 1-of-2 from the line to pull Point Beach within 59-58 and Henry Hudson junior Billy Quinn knocked down the first of two free throws with 14.8 seconds left to push the Henry Hudson lead to 60-58. Quinn, however, missed the second and Crowley was fouled as he grabbed his 11th rebound of the game, giving him a chance to tie the game with two free throws.

Point Beach’s lone senior calmly sank both foul shots with 13.8 to go to tie the game, 60-60.

Fitzpatrick concluded his standout career at Henry Hudson by leading his team with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists on Saturday. Younger brother, Michael Fitzpatrick, added 13 points thanks to three first-half three-pointers and Newell finished with 11 points and six rebounds, including a pair of clutch three-pointers in the fourth quarter.

The free-throw line was a significant part of Henry Hudson’s undoing, with the Admirals shooting 14-for-27 (51.8 percent). Point Beach was only marginally better from the foul line, finishing 13-for-22 (59.1 percent).

By virtue of No. 10 New Providence beating No. 2 Middlesex in Saturday’s quarterfinal round, Point Beach will host the 10th-seeded Pioneers Tuesday with a chance to advance to the program’s first sectional final since 2018.

 

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