0006SportsOS06Mar2015

SPORTSThe Ocean Star

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 PAGE 33

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 34WRESTLING 34ICE HOCKEY 35SWIMMING 38

BY DOMINICK POLLIOTHE OCEAN STAR

POINT PLEASANT BOROUGH —In the first round of the NewJersey State InterscholasticAthletic Association [NJSI-

AA] Central Jersey Group IItournament, Point Boro de-fended its home court againstthe visiting Delran Bears.The Panthers, seeded sixth,

remain undefeated at homefor the season, beating 11th-

seeded Delran 51-36 Mondaynight.“We knew that they [Del-

ran] would be a scrappy teamand they are,” Boro coachDavid Drew said after thewin. “They fought hard.Their coach has been there anumber of years; he does a

POINT BORO 51 GIRLS BASKETBALL DELRAN 36

Panthers rout Delran,fall to Rumson-Fair Haven

STEVE WEXLER THE OCEAN STAR

Amye Zalesky [above] contributed 11 points, as well as two rebounds and steals, in the opening roundwin over Delran. Lindsey Havens [right] splits two Delran defenders for two points on Monday night.

Havens hits game-high 26 pointsin opening round win over Delran


POINT PLEASANT BEACH —Point Beach basketball coachNick Catania put it simply:“State tournament time, it’ssurvive and advance. We’retrying to win each game andget to the next one.”The Garnet Gulls not only

survived the opening roundof the Central Jersey Group Istate tournament, but theydid so with a definitive 66-42win over the 14th-seeded Ad-mirals of Henry Hudson.Despite the final score, the

Admirals gave the Gulls achallenge through the firsthalf as Point Beach shook offsome rust after not playing agame since their loss in theShore Conference Tourna-ment.The Gulls’ defense was key

right from the beginning ofthe first quarter. They playedup at midcourt and trappedwhichever Admiral attempt-ed to take up the ball.“We wanted to speed them

up,” said Nick Catania, PointBeach coach. “We wanted toget the ball out of their ballhandlers’ hands and make

POINT BEACH 66 BOYS BASKETBALL HENRY HUDSON 42

Garnet Gulls advance in statesFrauenheim led

Point Beach with agame-high 15 points


Mike Rice [in white] dribbles around an Admiral defender. Rice finished the win with 12 points.


Mike Frauenheim [in white] puts up a contested layup against HenryHudson Wednesday night. SEE GULLS PAGE 37

SEE PANTHERS PAGE 36

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COMPAGE 34 THE OCEAN STAR FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 SPORTS

DOMINICK POLLIO THE OCEAN STAR

Dominic Infante [in black] tries to gain control of his opponent in the 220-pound bout at Pine BeltArena.

DOMINICK POLLIO THE OCEAN STAR

Brian Grainer [left] and head coach Pat Brady [right] look on as their wrestlers compete Saturday morn-ing.

POINT PLEASANT BOROUGH WRESTLING NOTEBOOK

Road to Atlantic City ends during semifinals


TOMS RIVER — The road toAtlantic City was cut shortlast weekend when DanNobbs and Dominic Infantecompeted in the Region 6tournament for Point Boro.It was a packed Pine Belt

Arena at Toms River NorthHigh School, and everywrestler there was looking topunch their ticket to Board-walk Hall in Atlantic City,making for fierce competi-tion in every bout.Prior to Saturday’s bouts,

Nobbs competed Friday inthe quarterfinals. He waslooking to repeat last year’strip to A.C. but he had to getthrough Toms River South’sCole Corrigan first.While Corrigan was seed-

ed seventh, he has beenNobbs’ fiercest competitionthis season, beating him atThe College of New JerseyPride Tournament at the be-ginning of the season.Once again, Corrigan

proved a formidable oppo-nent, defeating Nobbs by a 2-1 decision after the bout wentinto two overtime periods.While the loss was a tough

one, Nobbs still had an op-

portunity to place third dur-ing Saturday’s wrestlebacks.In another close bout

against Brick Memorial’s JoseBocalman, Nobbs lost in a 1-0decision, closing the door ona standout career from thesenior.It is always heartbreaking

to see a wrestler of Nobbs’caliber lose in a big tourna-ment like Region 6, but ittakes nothing away fromwhat he has provided thePoint Boro wrestling pro-gram with over the course offour years. Head coach Pat Brady nev-

er faltered in his opinion ofNobbs and is proud to havecoached him.“When you put in as much

time as we do with these ath-letes, it’s almost impossible tofind the right words, espe-cially minutes after their ca-reer has ended,” said Brady. “Ilike to give the wrestler sometime to do some self-reflect-ing before I let them knowwhat they meant to this pro-gram and to me as a coach.”“The truth is though, there

really are no words that canexpress how much a DanNobbs means to Point Borowrestling,” Brady continued.“It’s hard to find someonewhose skills on the mat andleadership ability in thewrestling room are both atthis high of a level. To me,Dan is one of the all-time

great Point Boro wrestlingcaptains.”Brady’s point about Nobbs’

skills as a captain are impor-tant, because Nobbs trulyembodied being a team play-er in a sport that many viewas individual.Assistant coach Brian

Grainer was more than im-pressed with Nobbs’ team-driven attitude, saying, “DanNobbs is a team guy, which isimpressive considering all ofthe individual accolades hehas earned in his career. Danwas always focused on whatwe could accomplish as team.That’s what Dan is all about,that’s what Point Borowrestling is all about.”While Nobbs is on his way

out, Infante will have onemore season with the Pan-thers.In Friday’s quarterfinal, In-

fante matched up againstBrick Township’s Ray Fat-taruso in the 220-poundweight class. Fattaruso beatInfante at the District 23 tour-nament to take first place.Infante was not going to

lose twice as he pinned Fat-taruso in the second periodof their match. The victoryadvanced Infante to Satur-day’s semifinal round.He lost by a 7-6 decision to

top-seeded Chad Freshnockof Middletown North.“It’s not easy to get your

wrestler mentally ready after

a tough semifinal loss,” saidBrady. “You really just needto tell them the truth.”The truth was that Infante

was up again in 45 minutesand needed to get his mindright with a chance to takethird.Infante had another tough

match against Colts Neck’sFred Womack, who defeatedthe Panther 3-2, eliminatinghim from going to BoardwalkHall.“One of the hardest parts

of losing a region semifinal

match is that you get droppeddown to a wrestlebackagainst an opponent who iscoming off of a win,” ex-plained Grainer. “It’s not un-common to see guys lose inthe semis, then again in thewrestlebacks. Our region isbrutal — it’s hard to get out.”While the losses were diffi-

cult, Brady is proud of In-fante and looks forward to hissenior season.“We’re proud of the way

Dom wrestled this weekend,avenging his district final loss

and having a competitiveone-point match with theeventual region champ[Freshnock],” stated Brady.“These are things he canbuild off of heading into hissenior year.”

Dominick Pollio covers sports for TheOcean Star. He can be reached at [email protected] or 732-899-7606 Ext 15. Follow him on Twitter@dompollio.

Nobbs, Infante fall shortof trip to Boardwalk Hall

in Atlantic City

POINT BORO BOWLING NOTEBOOK

Panthers finish strong


POINT PLEASANT BORO — Itwas a productive season forthe boys and girls of the PointBoro bowling team.Most recently, the boys fin-

ished eighth at the South Jer-sey Group II Sectionals.Coach Ryan Speiser is proudof the performance, saying,

“Our section is loaded, andthe fact that we could finishin the bottom of the pack wasa great way to end the sea-son.”Junior Jake Collier bowled

a high game of 256 and sen-iors Quin Hornish and DerickFischer helped lead the teamto a great end of the season.“The boys definitely over-

achieved this year,” saidSpeiser. “This is a group ofyoung men where bowling istheir second or third sportthroughout the year. But theyare all competitors. Theyhate to lose.”The competitive nature

and drive to succeed helpedlead the Panthers to thirdplace in their division which,according to Speiser, is thehighest they have been inover five years. They also fin-ished 15th in the Shore Con-ference Tournament [SCT],the highest in over 10 yearsfor the Boro boys.Speiser is happy for his

seniors moving on and looksforward to the boys that willbe returning next season.“Quin Hornish and Derick

Fischer, along with juniorsJake Collier and Mason Pitts,

really helped this team be atough out for any opponentwe had all year,” Speiser said.On the girls side of the

pins, their season was noth-ing short of impressive. Thegirls boasted a second-placefinish in their strong divisionbehind Manasquan.According to Speiser, they

really hit their stride cometournament time. The teamfinished in the top 10 in theSCT for the first time in over15 years.“Then we made it into the

Tournament of Championsfor the second time in threeyears,” said Speiser. “We fin-ished third in Group II, whichis the highest we have fin-ished ever.”Senior Christine Jones did

a good job of carrying theteam late in the season andwas a player Speiser lookedat to help lead the team. MegTaulafo, Carolyn Jones, SarahKnapp and Emma Lucier allhad huge games and seriesthat put the Panthers in agreat position to performwell.“Our passion bucket was

always full,” explained Speis-er. “That helped us to anamazing season.”With a lot of firsts out of

the way for the Pantherbowlers, the players will con-tinue to work on their gamein the offseason in an effort toimprove upon this season’sresults.


Jones, Hornish & Fischerwere key pieces inteam’s success

ST. JUDENOVENA

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus beadored, glorified, loved and pre-served throughout the world, nowand forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus,pray for us. St. Jude, worker of mira-cles, pray for us. St. Jude, help of thehopeless, pray for us. Say this prayer9 times a day. Say it for 9 days. Bythe eighth day, your prayer will beanswered. It has never been known tofail. Publication must be promised.Thank you, St. Jude. BAB

During a Point Beach winover Lakewood in the ShoreConference Tournament,Jesse Hill drained a 3-point-er to open the fourth quar-ter and became a 1,000-point career scorer.It took some time to tally

up his totals, as Hill hasplayed on three differentteams in his high school ca-reer.

“I started at Mon Donfreshman and sophomoreyear, and then I went toJackson Memorial — andnow, I’m here,” said Hill. “SoI’ve pretty much been allover the place.”“When you have a guy

come in that plays such abig role it takes some timefor everyone to get used toeach other. But I thought

the transition went assmooth as it could,” saidGulls coach Nick Catania.“We were still able to winour conference and hope-fully we continue advancingin states, and he had a bigpart in all of that.”No matter where he’s

been, Hill is always a criti-cal member of the team.Currently standing 6-foot-7for Point Beach, he is reallytheir only tall threat.“Jesse’s big for us on the

glass and he contests a lotof shots in the paint. Histeammates trust him backthere so when he conteststhose shots, they can get upa bit more on their players,”said Catania. “He’s a bigpiece to our puzzle and be-ing successful.”Basketball has always

been a part of Hill’s life withan uncle who played atMoravian and cousins thatplayed in high school.It’s hard to believe, but at

one point Hill was not that

tall. Over one summer heexperienced a huge growthspurt that further improvedhis game.“It was a little different

because you have to adjustto it with dribbling and stufflike that, but it came prettyeasy,” he said with a smile.With a strong role model

in his mother and his talenton the court, Hill earned afull scholarship to play bas-ketball for Florida AtlanticUniversity [FAU].Hill is excited for the op-

portunity and hopes that hecan one day fulfill hisdream of playing basketballinternationally.While at FAU, Hill will be

studying international busi-ness.

Sneakers Plus Athlete of the Week

JESSE HILL

Sneakers PlusK-Mart Plaza, Hwy. 35, Wall 732-280-2921

Log onto our website: www.sneakersplus.comSHOP LOCAL. SHOP SNEAKERS PLUS.

Jesse Hill passes 1,000 points“He’s a big piece to

our puzzle and beingsuccessful.”

NICK CATANIACoach, Point Beach

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 35SPORTS

RAMSEY 4 ICE HOCKEY POINT BORO 2

Season ends in states


WAYNE — 18-seeded PointPleasant Boro traveled toWayne Thursday night totake on two-seeded Ramseyin the second round of theNew Jersey State Inter-scholastic Athletic Associa-tion [NJSIAA] tournament.The Rams of Ramsey werecoming off of a 10-0 win overWall while the Panthers hadjust upset Roxbury 5-4 in thefirst round.Though Point Boro lost bya score of 4-2, it was anyone’sgame for the majority of thethree periods.Ramsey opened it up witha power-play goal from JackJordan with a little over eightminutes left to go in the firstperiod.Responding early in thesecond was Ryan Carr ofPoint Boro off an assist fromteammates Owen Herringtonand Thomas Colorio.Knotted at one goal each,both teams were skating hardand looking to snag a lead be-fore the third.Alex Whelan of Ramseyfound the back of the netwith 1:17 left to go in the sec-ond. The Panthers tried to re-spond before the end of thesecond period but were un-able to get around Ramseygoalie, Tyler Harmon.

Point Boro entered thethird period down 2-1 but wasnot ready to exit the tourna-ment just yet.Three minutes into the fi-nal period Lance Nelson hit ashot off a pass from Ryan Pat-terson to even out the scoreonce again.A little over two minuteslater, Whelan put in his sec-ond goal of the game to giveRamsey a lead that the Pan-thers were unable to touch.Adding some icing on thecake for the Rams was JustinNicholson, netting a goal

with half of the third periodleft.Point Boro could not scoreagain as Ramsey moved on tothe next round of the NJSIAAtournament.Chris Belman stood tall ingoal for the Panthers with 42saves in the game. In compar-ison, Tyler Harmon, goaliefor Ramsey, only made 13saves.


Chris Belman records42 saves in goalfor the Panthers

COURTESY OF JEAN HERRINGTON

Panther sophomore Matt Kimak rips a shot against 2-seededRamsey.


CHRIS BELMAN


TOMS RIVER— In an effort tokeep the team fresh for thestate tournament, Point Borohad two preparation gamesagainst high-caliber oppo-nents. The first game wasagainst the Mariners of TomsRiver North [14-7], and thesecond game was against Ew-ing [15-6].The Panthers fell to theMariners 51-42 on the road lastThursday, and beat Ewing athome 75-69 on Saturday.Though the end result was aloss, Point Boro played hardagainst Toms River North andused the game to find whatneeded to be worked on.In the first quarter, theMariners opened up the scor-ing with two 3-pointers beforeBoro’s Amye Zalesky finallyanswered with a three of herown.Only Lindsey Havens andMegan Hughes added to thePanthers’ total before the endof the first with Point Borotrailing 11-9.Things changed in the sec-ond quarter, though, with a to-tal of 18 points scored by thePanthers.With a little over three min-utes left in the half, Zalesky hita shot from beyond the arc tocome within one point of theMariner lead.On the following offensivepossession for Toms River,Havens stole the ball and tookit the length of the court for alayup and a 22-21 lead. PointBoro kept the lead, ending thefirst half up 27-25.

The second half provedtroublesome for the Panthersand did not go as planned.The third quarter was filledwith errant passes, missed op-portunities at the free-throwline, and a lack of ball protec-tion. This resulted in PointBoro losing the lead and end-ing the third quarter down fivepoints.The Mariners capitalized ontheir lead in the final quarterputting up 12 more points tothe Panthers’ eight, despitegiving Point Boro one-and-oneshooting opportunities at theline early on. The 51-42 winwas Toms River’s 15th of theseason while it was PointBoro’s eighth loss.Leading the way for PointBoro was Zalesky, whodropped 13 points in the losswith nine of them comingfrom 3-point land. Havens andHughes both chipped in nine.

POINT BORO VS. EWINGRedemption came swiftly,but not easily, for the girls asthey took on Ewing at homeSaturday afternoon.Behind a game-high 30-point performance fromHavens, the Panthers beat theBlue Devils of Ewing 75-69 inovertime.Point Boro pieced together astrong first quarter, scoring 18points to take a seven-pointlead on Ewing heading into thesecond.The Blue Devils took over inthe second quarter dropping 21points to Point Boro’s 14, draw-ing the game even at 32 by theend of the first half.In the second half, the gamecontinued in the same back-and-forth fashion with Ewing

on top at the end of the thirdquarter 51-47.With only a four-point leadstanding in the way of remain-ing undefeated at home, thePanthers went to work in thefourth quarter.They outscored the BlueDevils by exactly four points,earning an overtime period tosettle the game.Point Boro showed its re-silience and stamina puttingup 12 points in overtime whilekeeping Ewing to six. Walkingaway with a 75-69 victoryagainst a formidable oppo-nent, the Panthers continuedefending their home courtwhile improving upon themishaps of Thursday’smatchup.“A lot of people were sayingthose two games didn’t meananything. To us they weren’tjust games, they’re anotherway to improve, to work on allof our plays,” explainedHavens. “They go to ourrecord so they’re not just an-other game. You have to tryyour hardest.”Havens added five steals,four rebounds and assists, andthree blocks to her 30-pointgame. Also contributing forPoint Boro was Hughes with19 points, seven rebounds,three assists, and two blocksand steals.As a team, the Pantherscompiled 42 rebounds, 21steals, 18 assists and nineblocks.Point Boro then went on toface the Delran Bears at homein the first round of the NewJersey State InterscholasticAthletic Association Tourna-ment on Monday [see relatedstory].

GIRLS BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Panthers stay freshfor state tournament


Lance Nelson [right] and Ryan Patterson celebrate Patterson’s game-tying goal against Ramsey.



Megan Hughes squares up a 3-point shot in Monday’s victory over the visitin Delran Bears.

heck of a job.”It definitely was a scrappy

game with both teams divingand wrestling for loose ballsin an effort to move on to thenext round of the tourna-ment. As always, defense wasthe key as both teams wereable to hit shots from almostanywhere on the court.The Bears won the tipoff

and were met by a full-courtpress from the Panthers.“We do that because we

want to dictate the pace ofthe game but Delran did agreat job of breaking thepress and then dictating thehalf court,” explained Drew.Delran struck first with a

small 3-0 run as Point Borodid their best to find thehoop.Senior Lindsey Havens

found it first for Boro, hittinga 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 runin the final minutes of thefirst quarter.Amye Zalesky contributed

a solid drive to the net, mak-ing a layup while taking afoul. She could not completethe play missing from thefree-throw line. Soon after,Havens nabbed a pass fromthe Bears and dropped it inoff the glass for two.With time running out, the

Bears broke Point Boro’s full-court press, giving them a 3-on-1 advantage.

Boro’s Ally Lassen stoodtall under the net, blockingthe shot and keeping the Pan-thers up 7-3 at the end of one.In the second quarter, both

teams found their offensiverhythm and really picked upthe pace of the game.The Bears opened up the

scoring with Jess Larson hit-ting a three and a layup whileBoro only scored one off ashot from the charity stripe.This quickly gave Delran aone-point lead.Zalesky hit two free throws

to reclaim the lead and thenplay continued and the twoteams found themselvesknotted at 12 with a little overthree minutes left to go in thehalf.Brenna Cloud stepped up

for the Bears, hitting a shotunder the basket to take atwo-point lead.With two minutes on the

clock, the Panthers put to-gether an impressive 10-2 run.Havens hit a reverse layup

to tie it at 14 followed by acrazy sequence of three jumpballs that eventually ended inBoro’s possession and led to a3-pointer from Zalesky.There was then a little too

much pushing going on forthe ref’s liking, and she is-sued a warning to playersfrom both teams.On the following inbound

pass from the Bears, Havenssnagged the ball and banked athree. She then stole the ballonce more and laid it in fortwo more before Delran’s Bri-anna Taylor hit a layup to endthe Panthers’ run.Right before the end of the

second quarter, Delran brokethrough Boro’s full-courtpress yet again and almostconverted it into some lastsecond points.Zalesky was not going to

let that stand as she went upwith two hands and not onlyblocked the Bear’s shot buttook the ball right out of thehands of the shooter. Much toher own surprise at endingup with the ball, she wascalled for traveling, givingDelran a chance at scoringwith two seconds left on theclock.The inbound pass came in

and this time Megan Hughesstepped up and blocked theshot at the buzzer to keepBoro out front 22-16 at half-time.With Delran doing a solid

job of breaking Point Boro’sfull-court press, Drew madesome adjustments before thenext half, saying, “I think thatfrustrated us a lot in the firsthalf but we made some ad-justments in the second halfand found a way to be moreaggressive and get the gameto be at our pace.”The changes played out in

their favor along with strongdefense from Brianna Skin-ner, who was playing lightsout under the basket.“When I’m going for a

loose ball I’m thinking of itlike it’s mine, I don’t wantanybody else to get awaywith it,” said Skinner after thewin. “So I work hard to try

and get it so the other teamcan’t score a basket off of it.”She snagged 14 rebounds

total, recorded three blocks,and nabbed four steals.In the third, Delran put up

10 points while the Panthersmaintained a lead with 14 oftheir own.Included in those 14 from

Boro, was a beautiful 3-point-er from Havens in her sweetspot from the corner.“We just installed that play

this year and it always seemsto work because the corner isalways my best shot,” ex-plained Havens. “I practicethat shot more than any othershot on the court.”Into the fourth quarter the

contest went and the Pan-thers continued their domi-nance over the Bears. As thequarter went on Drew tookout his starters and put in theyounger players. Speakingvolumes to the depth of theteam, the players coming inoff the bench played like theyhad been in the game fromthe tipoff.Amy Bergquist hit a solid

3-pointer only seconds afterentering the game in the finalquarter.Point Boro put up 15 points

before the final whistle win-ning the game 51-36.“I give Delran a lot of cred-

it; we knew they would begood,” stated Drew. “Weprepped a couple games andmade sure we had sometough opponents to get readyfor Delran.”Havens feels the team was

definitely better prepared forDelran because of the earliergames in the week, saying, “Ithink we took all of our angerand everything we did wrongand we perfected it, we madeit right. We really played as ateam on Saturday and I thinkthat’s what really brought ustogether to win today.”Havens, in the last home

game of her career for Boro,put up 26 points and had sixrebounds and six steals. Za-lesky dropped in 11 pointswhile Hughes added five.Point Boro then traveled to

two-seeded Rumson-FairHaven for the second roundof the NJSIAA Central JerseyGroup II tournament onWednesday.Last time they faced Rum-

son, the Panthers lost by 42points.They were unable to

avenge that loss as they fell tothe Bulldogs 65-41.The Panthers were only

down four after the firstquarter but Rumson foundtheir stride and continued tooutscore Boro in each quar-ter.Havens led the way for

Point Boro with 14 pointswhile Zalesky dropped in 10.The loss marks an end to

the Panthers’ season as theyfinish with an overall recordof 15-9.


Panthers lose on the road


Senior Lindsey Havens played the last home game of her career onMonday. She finished with a game-high 26 points.

PANTHERSFROM PAGE 33

WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 37SPORTS


Jimmy Panzini directs traffic during the win over Henry Hudson. Panzini left the game with an injury inthe beginning of the fourth quarter.

them make plays theyweren’t used to making.”

Point Beach finished thefirst quarter up 12-6 but hadto make some adjustmentsafter Admiral Kyle Rauen hitback-to-back 3-pointers.

“After 30 [Rauen] hit thetwo deep threes, we knew hecould shoot but we changedour rotations on the screenand roll,” said Catania.

The adjustment took sometime to settle in and the Ad-mirals took advantage of itearly in the second quarter.

They put together a 6-0run that brought them withintwo points of the Gulls leadbut Mike Frauenheim and therest of the Beach team werenot letting it get to them.

“You just have to keepfighting,” said Frauenheim.“You need a basket and a stopand then you just keep get-ting stops. Then shots willfall.”

Fall they did as TrevorCovey of Point Beach endedthe short Admiral run with alayup of his own as the Gulls’lead remained untouched.They entered halftime on top25-18.

The second half was whenthe Garnet Gulls settled intotheir defensive scheme andstarted pouring in some bas-kets on offense.

“I thought our second halfwe were really good defen-sively,” said Catania after thegame. “We helped each otherand we shared the ball offen-sively and we got the looseballs, we made the extra pass.We did winning things.”

Frauenheim had the hothand in the third quarter andhis energy really translated tothe rest of the team.

“I was feeling good, our de-fense turned up which alwaysleads to offense for us,” he ex-plained. “We played with in-tensity on defense and shotsstarted falling.”

Point Beach scored 20points in the third to the Ad-mirals’ nine.

Up 45-27 with one quarterto go, the Gulls continuedscoring until the final whis-tle.

Almost two minutes intothe fourth quarter, JimmyPanzini suffered an injury tothe face in an away-from-the-ball play. There was an injurytimeout as Panzini gotchecked out.

He did not return to thegame but did return to thebench with some bruising onhis face.

Jesse Hill, who remainedrelatively quiet throughoutthe game save for someblocks, drained five pointsbefore hitting the bench forsome rest as Catania startedtaking out the starters.

It was a well-balanced of-fensive showing for PointBeach as eight different play-ers put points on the boardand 12 different players gotplaying time.

Their fast-paced defenseand relentless pursuit of thebasketball made for a strongwin to open the tournament.

Frauenheim finished with15 points while Mike Riceadded 12 and Hill managed 11.For the Admirals, Rauen was

the only player to hit doubledigits with 14 points. 12 ofthose came from beyond thearc.

WHAT’S NEXTWhile the Gulls fly away

with the victory, there wasdefinitely room for improve-ment.

The first half was a bitsluggish and not the pacePoint Beach fans are used toseeing.

“When we come out withenergy, we’re a tough team tobeat,” said Frauenheim. “Sowe just need to improve onour energy and effort and weshould be good.”

As always, a team effortusually translates into a teamwin. But as the tournamentcarries on the Gulls will befacing higher caliber oppo-nents and the usual strongshowing from Hill wouldbenefit the Gulls immensely.

“Some games you’re goingto have off games and myshots aren’t going to fall butwe’re a good enough teamthat we’re going to score. I’mnot worried about that,” ex-plained Hill about his per-formance. “Next game I’mgoing to come out and be ag-gressive and look to attackand do what I do.”

Weather pending, PointBeach will be taking on fifthseeded Bound Brook tonightat home in the second roundof the tournament. Tipoff isset for 6:30 p.m.

Dominick Pollio covers sports for TheOCean Star. He can be reached [email protected] or 732-899-7606 Ext 15. Follow him on Twitter@dompollio.

Gulls to face Bound BrookGULLSFROM PAGE 33


RYAN SHEEHAN

find what you arelooking for...

Dig into theOcean Star

Classifieds!


The grand-daddy of out-door fishing and huntingshows opened yesterday inSuffern, New York and con-tinues through Sunday. Thisis the 38th Annual WorldFishing and OutdoorExposition and is located atRockland CommunityCollege Field House, just offof the New York Thruway.Show Director Tod Albertosays “The show that justkeeps getting better withnearly two million con-sumers making their waythrough the doors of theRockland CommunityCollege to see what'sarguably one of the topshows in the country.

Whether your passion isfreshwater fishing, saltwaterfishing or hunting, you'll findit all here within easy reachof most of the tri-state area.Book trips to destinationsfrom around the globe, com-pare and buy boats, see thelatest hunting and fishinggear and then buy it fromlocal independent retailers,learn from nationally recog-nized celebrities and localexperts, buy newly releasedand hard to find products toget the upper hand on yourbuddies, it’s all here.”

The show runs today from1 to 9 p.m., Saturday 9:30 a.m.to 7 p.m. and Sunday 9:30a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Adult admis-sion is $13, children 5-11 are $3and under five free. Gettingto the Rockland CommunityCollege Field House is easy.Take Exit 14B (AirmontRoad) from the New YorkState Thruway. The GPSaddress is 145 College Road.Parking at the Field House isfree. Check outwww.sportshows.com/suf-fern for more info.

On Sunday right here inour area is the 23rd AnnualAsbury Park Fishing Club’sFishing Flea Market atConvention Hall in AsburyPark. This show is the show-case flea market for some ofthe best custom plug makersfrom around the country.Doors open at 9 a.m. but I

would recommend that youget there early and get in lineto be able to get the mostsought after buys. Anglerscome from all over the EastCoast to get their hands onthese. The show normallyattracts anywhere from 800to 1,000 anglers and no one

goes away disappointed.Admission is $3 and children12 years of age and under arefree.

March 1st signaled thereopening of our striped bassfishing west of the CorliesDemarcation Line. Thatwould be waters from ourinlet mouths back into ourbays as far west as you wantto go. Backbay waters wereclosed to striped bass fishingin January and February. InMarch most anglers start outfishing the backbay watersalong the southern or west-ern shorelines which are usu-ally warmer than the ocean-front. The current weatherconditions however with allthe snow and ice has put allstriper fishing on hold. Some

backbay waters are stillfrozen so don’t look for anearly start to the season thisyear. Winter flounder seasonalso opened on March 1st.Keep in mind all saltwateranglers must register withthe New Jersey SaltwaterRecreational RegistryProgram prior to fishing in2015. Anglers who registeredin 2014 are reminded thatregistrations expire at theend of each calendar yearand must be renewed annual-ly. The registration is freeand can only be done onlinea twww.saltwaterregistry.nj.gov.

The next meeting of theManasquan Fishing Club willbe tonight at the ManasquanWomen’s Club, 62 Main St.,

Manasquan, 7:30 p.m. Theguest speaker will beMichael Davidson who is amember in good standing ofthe Society of AccreditedMarine Surveyors and theMarine Trades Associationof New Jersey. He is a MasterTechnician of the AmericanBoat & Yacht Council; a grad-uate of Chapman’s School ofSeamanship/Survey, aCertified Mercury Marineand MerCruiser Technicianand a retired USCG licensedCaptain.”

Captain Howard Bogan ofthe Big Jamaica out of Briellereports “The Jamaica isscheduled to sail on specialcod, pollock, and ling tripsevery Saturday sailing at 1a.m. For further informationcall 732-528-5014 or go towww.bigjamaica.com.”

Captain Joe of the JamaicaII out of Brielle reports“Winter schedule is 12 hourwreck trips- 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.Wednesdays, Saturdays, andSunday. Whiting every

Friday at 6 a.m.”Announcements of

Interest: March 5-8, WorldFishing and Outdoor Expo,Rockland CommunityCollege, Suffern, New York.www. spo r t s hows . com .March 6, Manasquan FishingClub monthly meeting,Manasquan Women’s Club,62 Main St 7:30 p.m. March 8,23rd Annual Asbury ParkFishing Club's IndoorFishing Flea Market,Convention Hall, Ocean andSunset Avenues in AsburyPark, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March20-22, Saltwater FishingExpo, Garden State ExhibitCenter, Somerset check outwww.sportshows.com/som-erset/index.html.

Captain Jim Freda can bereached at [email protected].

Jim Freda covers fishing for Star NewsGroup. He can be emailed at [email protected].

FISHING TIPS BY JIM FREDA

Striped bass, winter flounder openTIP OF THE WEEKFROM JIM FREDA

If you put braided line on

your reels last season it

should still be good to use

for this upcoming. Braid

has a much greater use life

than mono.

POINT BORO SWIMMING NOTEBOOK

Skimmons swims strong at Meet of Champions


POINT PLEASANT BORO — ThePanthers had strong represen-tation in the 2015 Meet ofChampions this past Sunday.Junior Joe Skimmons partici-pated in the boys’ finals in the200-yard individual medleyand the 100-yard breaststroke.

Skimmons placed seventhin the 200 individual medleywith a time of 1:54.83. Heplaced fifth in the 100 breast-stroke with a time of 58.02.

“I had done well at thecounty meet and broke acounty record, so I was confi-dent I could finish in the topeight at the Meet of Champi-ons,” said Skimmons. “I wasdefinitely happy after my per-formance because I hit mygoals.”

According to coach PatriciaRyan, though the times were

not Skimmons’ bests, theywere definitely more than im-pressive.

“Joe has a great respect forthe sport of swimming and hereally expects a lot of him-self,” said Ryan. “He seemedmore excited than nervous. Ifhe felt pressure, you wouldnever know it. He is used toswimming in big meets, andhe always has a plan, his ownroutine that works for him.”

Skimmons says he is alwaysnervous before big meets buthe channels that into focusingon proving that he deservesto be there. With results likethe ones he posted last week-end, it’s hard to disagree.

Ryan holds Skimmons inhigh esteem and appreciateshis leadership, even referringto him as “another coach ondeck.”

“He is an awesome swim-mer, exceptional student andalso a fantastic team captainand teammate,” she ex-plained. “He is always willingto help his teammates outduring practice.”

Skimmons has proven him-self a great individual swim-mer, but he also takes pride inthe Panther team. He workshard to make sure they are al-ways improving.

“I thought we had a greatseason,” said Skimmons. “Webrought in and taught somefreshmen and we developedthe upperclassmen as well.”

The Panthers had someclose meets this season wherethey fell short by three or fourpoints.

“That’s the difference be-tween someone coming infourth place instead of fifthplace for one event,” elaborat-ed Ryan. “So to lose by threeor four points in a swim meetis really tough.”

Point Boro was also miss-ing some swimmers due to in-juries. Coach Ryan feels thatto have those athletes healthywould have made a differencein those close meets.

Despite those tough losses,Ryan is happy and proud ofthe team.

On the girls’ side of thepool, Ryan feels they finished

just where they expected theyshould.

In contrast to the boys,the girls came out on top ina lot of close meets. Theywon three meets by lessthan 10 points each.

Now that the season hascome to a close, the swim-mers look to improve in theoffseason.

“The only way we are go-ing to improve as a team isto have swimmers come inwith some competitiveswimming experience,” saidRyan. “My advice to all theswimmers now is to get intoa pool and practice duringthe high school off season.”

Skimmons, only a junior,is excited for next seasonand a chance to further im-prove himself and his team.

For the boys, Ryan looksforward to returning swim-mers Jeff Poland, Alex John-son and Josih Gliddon, say-ing, “We have a great groupof juniors now, who will beseniors next year. Theyhave all improved tremen-dously during this season,

so we are really looking for-ward to them being verycompetitive again next sea-son.”

Of course, the tricky thingabout high school sports isthat players graduate andmove on.

Carolyn Kern will be onesuch swimmer departingfrom the girls team, but thelady Panthers have poten-tial in sophomore Julia Ack-erman and freshmen Han-nah Rotunno, OliviaZahorsky, and Tara Caucino.

Those girls have all swamfor club teams before.

Ryan sums up the Pantherswimmers as a great teamwith great kids and looksforward to improving in theoffseason to capitalize on animpressive season.

Dominick Pollio covers sports for TheOcean Star. He can be reached [email protected] or 732-899-7606 Ext 15. Follow him onTwitter @dompollio.

Joe Skimmons was theonly Panther to compete

at the MOC

0006SportsOS06Mar2015

Documents