Guzman and Da’Cruz lead LB over OT, 49-34

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Long Branch High School junior Quentin Fisher (2) attempts to get past Brody Bell (0) of Ocean Township. Bell is a freshman and was high man for the Spartans with 14 points in the game.

Two juniors scored more than half of the total points in the 49-34 win for Long Branch over Ocean Township on January 23. Joshua Guzman had 16 points, one rebound and two steals, while teammate Josh Da’Cruz finished with a double-double. He scored 11 points and had 12 rebounds and one block for the Green Wave.

Ocean Township hosted the B North divisional contest on Thursday night. Both schools are having a challenging season as combined they are 8-21. Out of the six teams in the division, Long Branch is sitting in third while the Spartans are fourth. Leading the division is Freehold Borough followed by Shore Regional with Monmouth Regional at fifth and Asbury Park is at the bottom.

Ocean started the game with a strong offensive showing taking an 11-9 lead on the Green Wave in the first quarter. However, the second quarter was dull as only 12 total points were scored and both teams went into the halftime break tied at 16.

Long Branch showed signs of what the team is capable of accomplishing during the third quarter when they were all on the same page. Using their speed, size and aggressive defense, they outscored the Spartans 17-6 to start the second half. That third quarter serge was enough for Long Branch to hold onto the lead as the final minutes of the game had them outscoring Ocean 16-12, taking the 49-34 win and improving to 5-10 overall and 4-3 in the division.

Three other Green Wave players scored in the victory. Havi Gonzalez and Quentin Fisher both had nine points, while Cameron Dejesus finished with four points and nine rebounds. Long Branch finished with 23 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and seven steals.

Ocean Township drops to 3-11 overall and are 3-3 in the B North division. On the bright side of the loss, Brody Hill a freshman, was the leading scorer for the Spartans with 14 points. Going into this week, he had only six points in two games. Then on January 21, in the 59-38 win over Asbury Park he scored 20 points.

Aidan Saint Louis, junior at Ocean, was next high man with eight points. He was followed by senior Noah Nguyen, who had five, and juniors Vernon Taylor scored four and Jameson MacAllister had three points.

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