Ned Stevens unhitches Sterns Trailer

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

For the first time this summer Sterns Trailer gets a notch in the loss column. Last week Sterns faced Ned Stevens for the second time this summer. Ned Stevens is one of the new squads in the Verizon FIOS Jersey Shore Basketball League this summer and is loaded with mostly Rutgers University players.

Sterns gave Ned a lesson in the first game beating them by nearly 30 points. However, the second meeting was much closer, with Sterns losing by eight points. “We played terrible,” said Blake Hamilton of Sterns Trailer. “I have to give the players on Ned Stevens credit. They played hard, clean and were very respectful during the game. No trash talk.”

Whitney Coleman, one of the point guards on Sterns Trailer summed it up perfectly. “We all played horrible. We missed foul shots, we couldn’t rebound and we didn’t make a single three-point shot,” said Coleman.

Ned Stevens took a 14-point lead over Sterns Trailer in the first quarter. “We were flat in that opening quarter. “They were faster and more aggressive,” said Ron Pastore, head coach of Sterns. “But our guys battled back in the second quarter where we outscored them 35-24.”

The second half of the game was very tight as Ned Stevens edged Sterns 17-16 in the third quarter and 36-32 in the fourth to grab a 111-103 win. It was the first win of the summer for Ned Stevens while Sterns suffered their first loss.

Pastore stated that he was missing a few key players in the loss to Ned Stevens. His big 7’ center Raheem Hamidu had to go back to New Mexico State for a week, Will Campbell, the explosive guard from Monmouth University was hurt, and Robert Cheeks, the powerful rebounding machine for Sterns was unable to make the game.

Leading Sterns Trailer in points was Dan Werner, the high school standout from CBA and two time national champion from Florida, with 24 points. Hamilton finished with 20. “I had a bad game that night, I missed six free throws,” said Hamilton. “That was it for us, we will not play that bad as a team again. I promise.”