By Jeff Appelblatt
Jesse Ryan, the boys’ basketball coach at Freehold High School, wasn’t too bothered when his team lost Jan. 6, sinking his squad’s record to a dismal 1-8 record. There was much more he wanted to take away from the game aside from the final score.
For instance, there were the multiple double-figure deficits his club fought back from. Though Ocean Township High School beat the Colonials, 53-48, Ocean Township (7-2) held a 10-point lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
Freehold, much to its coach’s delight, wouldn’t give up. It got Ocean Township’s lead down to single digits by the end of the third and continued to chop into the deficit in the fourth, trailing by only a basket multiple times in the quarter.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Freehold’s coach said. “They played with heart. They played hard. They rebounded the ball. They shared the ball.”
That still wasn’t enough to outplay the Spartans.
“We didn’t get a couple of calls. A couple of shots didn’t drop,” Ryan said following the game, still remembering most how his team kept charging back. “We played with heart tonight. That’s all I could ask for.”
The shots that didn’t drop and the calls that didn’t go their way played a critical role in another loss for the Colonials.
“I take it one game at a time. I don’t even care about the record, honestly,” the coach said. “It hurts morale, but we’re just trying to get better everyday. That’s it.”
Theories may play well for coaches, but it’s apparent sometimes athletes just want to win — thinking about today, not tomorrow. It was clear junior standout Ashante Worthy was upset after the loss to Ocean Township, but Freehold’s coach wasn’t fazed by it.
“[Worthy] is good. He’s matured so much. He’s developing a college athlete’s mentality, little by little,” Ryan said about the team’s top scorer. “He’ll be fine.”
Worthy, who scored 15 points in the loss and who has led Freehold in scoring in majority of its games, wasn’t the team’s leading scorer vs. Ocean Township. It was Markee Gill that led the way with 16 points and 11 boards.
Neither contributed enough for Freehold to overcome the dominance of Andrew Seager. The 6-foot-5 junior from Ocean Township went off for a career-high 27 points against the Colonials.
Freehold’s coach liked what he saw from his team, though. In fact, he believes his guys played well enough to win on most nights.
“If we keep playing like this, good things will happen,” Ryan said.
He looked for a similar approach in the team’s game Jan. 10 at Marlboro High School (6-2), another tough challenge for the Colonials.
