Spartans down Devils 67-48

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Leading the Shore Blue Devils in scoring with 12 points was Andrew Barham (22).

It was the second game of the 2025-2026 varsity basketball season and the Spartans of Ocean Township were in West Long Branch to face the Blue Devils of Shore Regional. Ocean ran away with a 67-48 victory and improved to 2-0 on the early season.

The entire first half of action belonged to the Spartans as they took a commanding 20-9 first quarter lead. Freshman phenome Ahmad Ayyash, 6’1” forward, scored six points. Junior guard Justice Hodges also had six points hitting two, long and deep three-point buckets. Brody Bell, sophomore and Omar Ayyash, freshman each had three points.

For the Blue Devils, junior Maddox Paulin was top scorer in the opening quarter with five points. Andrew Barham, senior forward, had three points and his twin brother Ryan made one of two foul shots. The Blue Devils looked very tight in the first quarter, as they were having issues passing and ball handling.

The second quarter was the best of the night for the Spartans as they pounded the board, hit their shots and played aggressive defense. They outscored Shore, 25-10. To close out the first half, Ocean hit seven from outside the three-point arch. Omar, Bell, and Jameson MacAllister each made two from downtown for sex points each. Aidan Saint Louis, senior, had two baskets and a three-point bucket for seven points.

Shore Regional was led by senior Finn Watson in the second quarter. He had two buckets and made one of two foul shots for five points. Ryan Barham had a three-point shot and Andrew made two fouls shots. Going into the halftime break, Ocean was ahead 45-19.

Second half was more competitive as Shore outscored Ocean 11-7 in the third quarter and 18-15 in the fourth. However, it was not enough to overcome the big Spartan first half. The 67-48 loss dropped the Blue Devils to 0-2. Andrew Barham was top scorer with 12 points. He also had six rebounds, four assists and one steal. Ryan finished with nine points, Tim Decker scored eight, Paulin had seven. Rounding out the Devils scoring was Watson with five, Kedo Sayson had three while Preston Furman and Ahjmiere Banks each had two.

Spartans had two players finishing with 12 points. Saint Louis and Bell were the two top Ocean scores. Saint Louis also had four rebounds, two assists and one steal. Omar Ayyash finished with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists, while his twin brother, Ahmad Ayyash had 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists. MacAllister finished with nine points, Hodges scored six, also had three rebounds and six assists. Mark Palmer had three points while Jack Bell and Vernon Taylor each had two points.

The following day, Ocean beat Highstown 57-41 and improved to 3-0 on the season. They play in the B Central division of the Shore Conference. Divisional opponents are Monmouth Regional, Long Branch, Neptune, Raritan and Matawan.

Shore Regional suffered a 59-48 opening-season loss to Toms River South. The Blue Devils are in the C North division along with Keyport, Asbury Park, Henry Hudson and Keansburg.

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