Not much suspense for locals heading to postseason
BY DOUG MCKENZIE Correspondent
As the winter scholastic sports regular season winds down, teams throughout the local area are beginning to shift their focus to the upcoming postseason.

Most years, these past two weeks include games or matches that decide the fate of the bubble teams hoping to earn their spots in the state tournament.

This year, however, there were few bubble teams from the local area, as most teams knew their fates well before the deadline on Saturday. For those teams fortunate enough to qualify for their respective state tournaments, they will anxiously be awaiting the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Associations release of the brackets for the tournaments.

The paring for the state wrestling tournament have already been announced, with just two local teams in position to vie for team titles this week. The Long Branch Green Wave, ranked No. 1 in the Shore and No. 2 in the state, is the team to beat in the Central Jersey Group II Tournament.

The Green Wave, fresh off repeating its Shore Conference Tournament title, was to face the winner of a match between Burlington Township (17-2) and Cinnaminson (12-7) in one semifinal last night.

On the other side of the bracket, secondseeded Raritan (14-4) was scheduled to face either Delran (15-2) or Hopewell Valley (11-2) in the other semifinal. Long Branch faced Raritan earlier this year, and posted a 6-18 victory. That match featured a showdown of two of the Shores elite grapplers, with Raritans undefeated Dan Seidenburg knocking off Long Branch's Nick Visicaro, 3-2. You know that Visicaro is hoping for another shot at Seidenburg at this point, especially with the state individual tournament around the corner.

The CJ II final is set for tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the home of the higher seed.

The Ocean Township Spartans were also ready to battle for a team title, as the second seed in the Central Jersey Group III tournament. The defending champion Spartans were to face the winner of the Wall Township (10-6)-Monroe (10-10) bout in the semifinals last night.

Brick Township (11-4) is the top seed in this bracket, and was to face either Middletown South (13-5) or Jackson Liberty (12-3) in the other semifinal.

The CJ III final will also be held tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Winners of the state sectional tournaments will advance to the group finals, scheduled for Sunday at the Ritacco Center in Toms River.

While the local wrestling teams know the path they must take to attain a team title, the same cannot be said for the local boys and girls basketball teams.

All that those teams know at this point is that they are in and for some local teams, it came down to their very last game before the cutoff.

Teams needed to have a record of .500 or better by the end of play on Saturday to qualify for the NJSIAA tournament.

On the boys' side, there was no suspense with the Monmouth Regional Golden Falcons, as the Shores seventh-ranked team cruised into its CJ Group III playoff berth. Monmouth improved to 16-2 on the year with a hard-fought 50-48 win over St. Rose on Saturday, as Anthony Gibson stole the ball and drove for the game-wining lay-up as time expired. Head coach Larry Cirignanos team has certainly made its case for a high seed in the CJ III bracket, which surprisingly will not also feature Red Bank Regional.

The Bucs needed a win on Saturday against Shore Regional in what was a battle of two bubble teams. The Blue Devils, who entered the game 7-8 on the year, got a strong 23-point effort (including 14-for-16 shooting from the foul line in the second half) from Mike Pillari, and 12 points from David Roslin to post a 49-38 victory a lock up their spot in the CJ Group I tournament.

RBR was hoping to build off the momentum gained in Friday's 63-47 win over Long Branch, but fell to 7-9 on the year instead despite 18 points from Stephen Frost.

As for the aforementioned Green Wave, they still have earned their spot in the CJ Group II tournament, though at 9-9 on the year, will likely have one of the most difficult paths to the sectional final.

Also qualifying for the state tournament on the boys side were Red Bank Catholic, who beat Holmdel, 64-62 behind 16 points from Dan Calandrillo on Friday to improve to 10-7 on the year, and Rumson-Fair Haven, who were 10-8 at the cut-off on Saturday. RBC will participate in the Non-Public South A bracket, where top-ranked Christian Brothers Academy is likely to be the top seed, while the Bulldogs will look to make a splash in the CJ Group II tournament.

All of the boys' tournaments are scheduled to begin March 2.

Prior to that, the top local teams will be looking to earn a shot at the Shore Conference Tournament championship. The cutoff for that tournament is this Saturday.

On the girls' side of play, three local teams cruised into their state tournament berths. Rumson-Fair Haven (16-4) is likely to be the top seed in a Central Jersey Group II tournament it has owned under head coach George Sourlis, while Ocean Township, at 14-5, will be among the top seeds in the CJ Group III bracket.

Red Bank Catholic is also state-tournament bound, though at 12-6 on the year, is not quite the juggernaut it has been in recent seasons. That being said, the Caseys will remain a very tough out once the girls state tournament begins March 2.