Sea View Jeep and Sterns Trailer both win on 7-24-24

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Having his best game of the summer for Sea View Jeep was recent Monmouth University graduate Xander Rice (14), who scored 39 points in the win over WCT Warriors.

The Jersey Shore Basketball League is in its 56th season and for the past two summers they have been playing all their games at Manasquan High School. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights two games are played,, the first at 7:00 p.m. and the second starts at 8;30 p.m. There is no admission charge

Wednesday, July 24, the first game had Sea View Jeep facing and beating WCT Warriors 122-114. Leading Sea View Jeep was Xander Rice, who scored 39 points, had three rebounds, six assists and two steals. Rice is a recent graduate of Monmouth University, where his dad is the head coach. During his colligate years at Bucknell and Monmouth, he has a total of 1,750 points.

The all-time leader in scoring at Monmouth University is Justin Robinson, who has 2,000 career points for the Hawks and has been leading the JSBL in points scored for the past several years. Robinson has also been playing professionally overseas and just completed a great season in Italy. “I’m currently in contract negations and I might be sitting out this season if we don’t come to an agreement,” said Robinson.

Universo Treviso Basket is the team he plays for in Treviso, Vento. It’s a program that is in the top division of European basketball. Robinson has also played in Turkey and Russia, and there are various countries that are in contact with him. “I have a wife, child and a new baby on the way. So I have to carefully think of where I’m going to uproot my family and travel too,” said Robinson.

In the win over WCT Warriors, Robinson had what many consider an off night. He finished with 23 points, about 20 under his average of 40 plus per-game. He had eight assists and six rebounds. “I didn’t have to do that much tonight as Xander was red hot. All I had to do was give him the ball and that was easy,” added Robinson.

Also scoring 23 for Sea View Jeep was Alihan Demir, who was born in Turkey and played his college ball at Central Wyoming, Drexel and Minnesota. He currently plays professionally for Yukatel Merkezefendi Belediyesi in Denizli, Turkey. The 6’9” center also pulled in 10 rebounds for Sea View Jeep.

Leading WCT Warriors was Matawan High School and Brookdale Community College graduate and William Paterson player Andre Wells. He had 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Dan Vassey, who just completed his first season at Rutgers University, scored 28 points, had five rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

The current JSBL standing heading into the final week of regular season play, has Sea View Jeep in fourth place at 4-3. However, they are the dark horse to win the JSBL title this year as they have not had a game this summer with their full roster on the court. WCT Warriors are currently in sixth position out of the eight teams in the league.

Second Game: Sterns Trailer vs Intern Helpers

Leading Sterns Trailer to victory over the Intern Helpers was David Coit (2) with 30 points. On defense for Intern Helpers is Isaac Hester (15).

The second game of the doubleheader had the 2022 and 2023 JSBL champions, Sterns Trailer beating Intern Helpers 109-98. This is the first season for Intern Helper,s who are owned by Marc Nelson and coached by Terry Hicks.

Intern Helpers are experiencing the growing pains in the JSBL as the newbies. They have yet to win a game, but all that doesn’t matter when the playoffs start next week, as all teams will qualify to play for the 2024 title.

Ron Pastore is the general manager for Sterns Trailer, which is owned by Fred Sterns. Going into this season, the last time Sterns lost a game was back in 2022. Pastore has had to make a few changes to his team this season from players to coaches.

“We had a few Rutgers University players on our roster to start the summer. However, they are now training a lot on campus and they just don’t have the time or energy to make it down here for our games,” said Pastore. He also had to let a few players go as they just didn’t mesh with the rest of the team. “I also have asked Christine Hatfield to take over the head coaching position.” Hatfield is the first woman to head coach a JSBL team in its 56-year history.

Leading Sterns Trailer in the win was David Coit who had 30 points, two rebounds, and seven assists. The 5’11” guard from Columbus, New Jersey just completed his junior season at Northern Illinois. Kevin Mateo had 19, Parker Dortch scored 15, Larry Smith finished with 14 and Kevin Pikiell had 11 points for Sterns Trailer. Anthony Selby scored eight and Jalen Gaffney scored seven to round out the Sterns Trailer points.

Two players for Intern Helpers scored 13 points each in the loss. Justin Soranno, who is from Central Regional High School and plays at Georgian Court also had three rebounds and one steal. Alexander Lorenzo was the other player with 13 points.

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