Gianni Fiumefreddo leads Devils in quarterfinals victory

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Shore Regional senior Alex George (2) blocks a shot taken by a South Hunterdon player during the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 quarterfinals.

The tallest player on the Shore Regional High School boys’ basketball team is Gianni Fiumefreddo. At 6’5” he is a big power under the boards, however the big man can also shoot from the outside with leaser beam accuracy. He proved that on Tuesday night, as he was high scorer for the Blue Devils in their 51-33 win over South Hunterdon.

Shore Regional, the two seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 tournament hosted South Hunterdon, the seventh seed in the quarterfinals. The first half of action was very close and tight as the Devils had a 10-7 lead after the first quarter and the second had both teams adding eight points to their totals. Shore took an 18-15 lead into the halftime break.

It was the second half where the Blue Devils showed their dominance under the boards and from the outside shooting. Fiumefreddo, who at nine years old was tenth in the country in a foul shooting tournament, has developed a soft touch with precision from outside the arc. Most people think big men can’t shoot, well Fiumefreddo proves them wrong.

In clinch times during the second half Fiumefreddo made long three-point shots. He also was perfect from the foul line. Shore outscored their opponents 15-9 in the third quarter and 18-9 in the fourth. Fiumefreddo was high man with 15 points.

Fiumefreddo only played in seven varsity games as a junior. He had 11 points and 14 rebounds last season. In his final year at Shore, he has scored a total of 266 points, pulled down 142 rebounds, has 24 assists, 14 blocks and 32 steals. A big improvement and reason why the Blue Devils are 19-8 this season and playing in the semifinals.

Also having a big game for the Devils were seniors Dominick DiFiore, who finished with 14 points and Alex George who scored 12. Last week, George scored his 1,000-career point as a Blue Devil.

Shore Regional opened the tournament hosting 15 seed Keyport. It was an easy 83-46 victory for the Devils. In that win, George finished with 33 points, had seven rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals. DiFore had 12 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. Joseph Santi, senior, ended with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals.

Thursday night, February 29, Shore will host the third seed College Achieve of Asbury Park at 7:00 p.m. in the semifinals. College Achieve started the tournament with an 111-60 win over 14 seed Academy Charter, then beat 11 seed Point Beach 89-31 in their quarterfinal match.

The other semifinal game will feature fifth seed Manville traveling to top seed Henry Hudson.

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