By Scott Stump - Senior Editor
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ASBURY PARK - Despite stumbling out of the gate at 3-4 amidst high preseason expectations, Monmouth's boys basketball team shook it off and is now starting to morph into the team that many thought would be a contender for a Shore Conference Tournament title in the preseason.
"Coach (Larry Cirignano) said we're losing now, but we're going to come in and hit (opponents) over the top of the head,'' sophomore guard Neil Thompson said before smiling.
There was plenty of reason to smile on Saturday, as Thompson led the Falcons to a 63-52 nondivisional win over Asbury Park in the first game of Saturday's Battle on the Boardwalk at Convention Hall. The Falcons (10-4) have now won seven straight and knocked off a Blue Bishops team that had not lost to a Shore Conference squad all season. Thompson was named Monmouth's MVP after stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Junior center Joe Willman added 16 points and Austin Whitehurst had 10 points and 5 rebounds.
"We knew we were a lot better team than the way we played early on,'' Whitehurst said. "There's more cohesion on the team now, and after we dropped out of the top 10, we wanted to prove that we belong among the elite teams in the Shore.''
The Falcons got down 10-2 while playing in a venue that is right in Asbury's backyard, but came flying back to take a 15-13 lead after one thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Whitehurst that helped the cause. After taking an 18-16 lead in the second quarter, they never trailed again, pushing the lead to 32-19 at the half after Willman and Thompson combined for 10 second-quarter points.
Monmouth sat in a 3-2 zone, baiting Asbury Park into launching deep 3-pointers and helping negate the slashing ability of Asbury Park's Darryl Jefferson and Steve Raymond while also helping generate easy buckets in transition.
"We knew they had some kids who would shoot from anywhere, which led to long rebounds, which became fast breaks for us,'' Willman said.
Out on the break is also where Thompson excels in particular, and he was pushing it down the floor at any chance and either finishing or creating easy baskets.
"I love to play at a fast pace,'' Thompson said. "We just wanted to get out and run. We knew we were playing a fast-paced, run-and-gun Asbury team, so we just didn't want to let them get them momentum like they had in the beginning.''
The lead swelled to 19 points after three quarters as Asbury Park's 19 turnovers became a factor as well, in addition to Thompson's eight points in the third quarter. However, the Blue Bishops didn't go down without a fight, as they whittled a 22-point deficit with 6:35 left in the game down to seven points with 39 seconds left in the game.
Asbury Park guard Ron Berardesco hit a pair of 3-pointers from about a foot behind the NBA 3-point line during the run and Jefferson, who was named Asbury Park's MVP, scored 10 of his 16 points to fuel the comeback. Despite missing the front end of two one-and-ones after Asbury closed the gap to seven points, Monmouth got stops on defense before senior Kyle Fagan knocked down a pair of free throws for a 61-52 lead with 28 seconds left that wrapped up the victory and kept the Falcons' momentum going.
"We knew we were a better team than we were playing (early in the season),'' Willman said. "This was a really big win for us.''
Box score
Monmouth 63, Asbury Park 52
Monmouth (63): Whitehurst 3 1-2 10, Fagan 2 3-4 7, Gilbert 1 0-0 2, Gibson 2 0-1 5, Willman 6 3-3 16, Thompson 8 2-4 18, Bard 0 0-0 0, Shelton 1 1-2 3, Kwahme 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 10-16 63.
Asbury Park (52): Jefferson 5 4-8 16, Simmons 1 1-2 3, Michel 0 0-0 0, Berardesco 4 0-0 12, Osborn 1 0-0 2, Young 3 3-7 9, Raymond 4 2-2 10. Totals: 18 10-19 52.
Monmouth (10-4) 15 17 16 15 - 63
Asbury Park (9-4) 14 5 10 23 - 52
Three-pointers: (A) Jefferson 2, Berardesco 4; (M) Whitehurst 3, Gibson, Willman.
E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com
