Raritan Rockets Past Long Branch 52-40

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Quinton Fisher (3) and Jacob Klejka (14) of Long Branch team up to stop a Raritan player during the game on Friday night.

January 16, the Green Wave of Long Branch hosted the Rockets of Raritan in a boys’ Shore Conference B Central divisional basketball game. The game started off with Raritan scoring the first eight points, but the Wave battled back and when the horn sounded to end the quarter, the Rockets were up 13-10.

Both teams were shooting well and playing fast, aggressive offense to start the game. However, Long Branch had two bad quarters in the game. Raritan outscored Long Branch 16-9 in the second quarter and took a 29-10 lead into the halftime break.

Darnell Tyler, head coach of the Green Wave, must have had one heck of a locker room talk with his team. They started the second half on fire, using their speed and size to their advantage outscoring Raritan 19-11 in the third quarter.

Going into the final eight minutes, Long Branch was within striking distance as Raritan was up 40-38. However, the fourth quarter was horrible for the Green Wave as they only scored two points, while the Rockets added 12 to their total and ran away with the 52-40 victory.

Leading the Rockets was Eric Berg with 20 points. He also pulled down five rebounds and had two steals. Seven of the eight players for Raritan who played in the game scored. Mario Diamantis had 10 points, three rebounds and three assists. Anthony Fazioli finished with nine points and three rebounds. With the win Raritan is now 4-7 overall and 1-3 in the division.

Long Branch also had seven players scoring the game. Nas Hart was high man with 10 points, three rebounds and one assist. Shamar Dixson scored nine, had two rebounds and one assist. Quentin Fisher had eight points, four rebounds and three assists. Also getting eight points was Josh Da’ Cruz who pulled in nine rebounds and had two assists. Jacob DaCruz finished with three points and six rebounds, while Qua’Dir Brown had two points. Not scoring, but had a big impact on the boards was Elijah Maldonado who had five rebounds.

Long Branch drop to 4-8 overall and are 0-4 in the B Central. Monmouth Regional leads that division followed by Ocean Township, Matawan, Raritan, Neptune and Long Branch.

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