By Jeff Appelblatt
As hot as Marlboro High School’s boys’ basketball team has been, it couldn’t avoid getting outplayed at Freehold High School recently. Fortunately for the Mustangs, the struggle didn’t last for more than two quarters.
Following the trip to the locker room at halftime Feb. 2 in Freehold, the Mustangs exploded in the third quarter and outscored the Colonials, 20-5. Things calmed in the fourth, but Marlboro still strolled away with another victory, 46-33.
“This wasn’t easy. They play hard every time we come here,” Marlboro coach Mike Nausedas said after the win. “We just weren’t playing defense in the first half. [But] we came out in the second, played some defense, simplified the game and we came out on top. Great win today.”
Giving up halftime leads has been all too familiar for Freehold coach Jesse Ryan.
“We played a great first half,” the coach said. “But we couldn’t finish, couldn’t play four quarters. We haven’t figured it out.”
The last time the Colonials surrendered a halftime lead only to lose was Jan. 20 against Wall High School. Similar to the game with Marlboro, Wall took over the scoring in the third quarter and tacked on another loss for Freehold, 39-33.
Freehold has been playing from behind early in most games this season. Also in most of those contests, Freehold has been unable to make a comeback — the main reason the Colonials won only two of their first 19 games.
Ryan is already looking ahead to the summer.
“We’re trying to improve in the offseason [by] playing together [and] getting chemistry,” he said. “That’s what the summer is about. Summer ball, spring together.”
At the same time, Ryan is happy his players are trying to compete and aren’t just taking off until summer.
In the loss to Marlboro, Ashante Worthy showed he didn’t start his time off early. The junior led the team in scoring through the first 13 games with about 13 points per contest. But over the next seven games, Worthy didn’t score double figures in any game. Against the Mustangs, Worthy looked for his shot and led the way for the Colonials with 15 points.
As for Marlboro, it hasn’t mattered who led the team in scoring. However, since his return from an injury Jan. 10, it’s most often been P.J. Ringel that’s carried the workload. Ringel averaged 15 points in the first nine games he saw any court time. That includes his first game back — one that the senior played fewer than 10 minutes and scored only two points.
Against Freehold, Ringel scored a team-high 15 points, and his defense has been great. Since he was a sophomore, Ringel was picking off passes left and right, poking the ball away from almost everyone. Missing time didn’t change a thing. The senior got right back into the swing of things, stealing the ball three times in the seven minutes he played in his first game and as many as eight times since.
Ringel has also taken the reins at getting himself help on offense. In the win at Freehold, he got the ball to Ryan LaRocca repeatedly, leading to four 3-pointers. In the prior two victories against Howell High School and Manalapan High School, Daniel Weiss was Ringel’s go-to guy. The senior chipped in with 21 and 12 points, respectively, adding on to Ringel’s own 25- and 13-point performances.
“That’s what he does,” Nausedas said of Ringel said after a recent win against Colts Neck High School. “He watches everybody. He picks everybody up. He makes everybody else better.”
Following the win against Freehold, Nausedas hoped that Ringel would be able to carry the team to a win over Freehold Township High School (18-1) when they met Feb. 7. The teams previously met in Ringel’s second game back, and the Patriots won that one, 51-48, despite Marlboro’s leader spending most of the game on the court and coming up with 11 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Marlboro will be back on the court Feb. 10 in Lincroft, where the team travels to face Christian Brothers Academy. The Colts (12-7) will host the Mustangs (13-4) at 6 p.m.
Freehold, meanwhile, hosted Colts Neck (10-7) Feb. 7 and will play again at Howell (5-13) Feb. 9 at 3:45 p.m.
