First round of the JSBL quarterfinals is in the books

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Leading RKE Athletic with 23 points in the JSBL quarterfinal 114-111 win over Intern Helpers was Sidney Brown (2). Playing defense is Raymond Ezike.

The 56th season of the Jersey Shore Basketball League is just about complete. The 2024 playoffs started on Wednesday, July 31, with top seed RKE Athletic facing the newest team in the JSBL, Intern Helpers who joined the league this summer. It was one of the most exciting games of the summer.

All games are played at Manasquan High School with a crowded gym for the first of two quarterfinal games on Wednesday night. One of the reasons for the big draw was Earl Joseph “J.R.” Smith III, who suited up for the Intern Helps.

Smith, who was born in Freehold Borough, played two years of his high school career at Lakewood and then his junior and senior years at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, one of the best programs in the country. At 6’6” he was drafted in the first round of the 2004 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft right out of high school. He was selected 18^th in the draft by the New Orleans Hornets. He also played for the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. He won two NBA titles, one in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and in 2020 with the LA Lakers.

Three years ago, he enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University, and was on the school’s golf team. In 2023 a docuseries was created about him and his golf focus called, Redefined: J.R. Smith. He was definitely a fan favorite at Manasquan High School as he talked to his opponents and fans all night.

In the first quarter RKE held a 31-28 lead. The second quarter was very tight with RKE besting Intern Helpers 34-33 and taking a 65-61 lead into the halftime break. At one point in the first half, RKE had a 43-35 lead, which changed seven times before the half.

Going up for two of his game-high 23 points is form NBA All-Star J.R. Smith (23) of Intern Helpers. Playing defense for RKE Athletic is Dane Moran (20).

Second half started off with RKF taking a 29-23 advantage in the third quarter. However, the fourth quarter had Intern Helpers with a five-point lead with less than 50 seconds to play. Nick Davidson of RKE had just received a technical foul, and then came down and hit a three-point shot pulling his squad within two. Intern Helpers then turned the ball over on the inbound pass and Davidson got the ball and tied the game at 111 with 37 seconds to play.

Intern Helpers then gave the ball to J.R. Smith, who ran the shot clock down to three seconds and took a long three-pointer but missed. Kyle Cardaci of RKE grabbed the rebound, passed to Jack Collins who passed to Sidney Brown who found Ithiel Horton wide open who fired a three-point shot at buzzer hitting nothing but net. RKE took the 114-111 win and will play either Sea View Jeep on Monday night August 5.

Leading scorer for RKE was Brown with 23 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Horton finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Cardaci and Collins each finished with 20 points for the winners.

Intern Helpers were led by Keyron Sheard who had 33 points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals. Chris Smith, brother to J.R., had 27 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, and one steal in the loss. As for J.R., he had 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. One of his trademarks in the NBA was his three-point shooting, but in the loss to RKE he made only 1 of 15 from outside the arch.

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