Keyport's Eric Devlin had the loudest following during Wednesday night's game.
Neptune Senior Terry Hicks was all smiles at the 2008 Senior All-Star game.
By NEP84
We've all played pickup games right? Pick up
games in the park when we were kids. Pick up games in the gym because
we're too lazy to go to the park now that we're too old to let the kids
run circles around us. I can recall a trip to rebounds not too long ago
where just before the summer league games were set to start there was
some good pick up running on one of the courts. Guys (and ladies)
getting some run in, shooting at will, where defense is optional.
Well folks take that scene and replace those cats with 30 or so of
the best seniors in the shore conference, all in top shape, all of whom
a couple weeks ago senior leaders on their respective teams, out there
having fun playing the game of basketball and celebrating the
culmination of all of their hard work and dedication to the sport.
There was "Meadowlark" Brodie performing the hidden ball trick on the sideline.
The was "number 25 in your scorebook but number 1 in our hearts"
Eric Devlin hearing the persistent serenade from the always present
Keyport faithful. Just for the record, Keyport is Exit 117 off the
parkway. Thanks for the reminder you guys.
Max, on several occasions, "Lit" the twine from three.
We had.....Gary Foster the point guard? He took more threes in the game than the winner of the 3 point contest.
We had Steve Spinella looking like an arena football league wide
receiver jumping the free throw line in an attempt to throw down a
putback on a miss that didn't happen. And speaking of you Mr. Spinella,
next time you need the gym, the Freehold guys said they would raise the
dividers even higher so you can get more arc on the ball. I've never
seen 20 foot jumpshots travel 80 feet before.
We had Brandon Carter from Freehold Boro reminding his
family which side they should be rooting for from accross the arena
when they cheered for their favorite players from the other team.
We had Terry Hicks and Darryl Jefferson playing "can you top this" each time down the floor.
We had Chris Heine throwing down a thunderous dunk in the middle
of the third quarter for the only dunk of the game. How can Coach
Cullen be coach of the year when he allows his team to play this much
defense in the all star game?
I think we even had an official Karl Malone layup thrown in there as well.
They held a three point shooting contest at halftime Steve Raymond
from Asbury Park outdueled Will Sanborn from RBR in the first round.
Will had caught his limit in the first quarter anyways.
I've seen precision pre game drills during warmups but that
doesn't hold a candle to the south's organization during the contest.
Jordan Young from Wall turned into the human ball machine. He got the
feeds from his mates and fired precision rapid fire chest passes to the
shooter's hands every time.
The last pairing saw Terry Hicks from Neptune hit 17 3's while
simultaneously on the other end Chris Heine of St Rose hit 16 3's to
both advance to the finals. That's 16 and 17 3's in a minute folks. Out
of 20 shots. Wow. No wonder why it was so hot in the building in the
2nd half.
In the finals of the three point contest Hicks had the option of
going first or deferring to Heine. He chose to defer and even though
Heine was clearly spent after putting on a show immediately before but
still hit 7 3's. Hicks was also spent but still countered with 2 late
3's to win the finals 9-7 and take home the trophy. I call it a tie, it
was something to watch.
I was a little disappointed that they didn't have host a slam dunk
competition until they started the pregame warmups. Terry Hicks said
"Let's get it started" to John Vitol from Keansburg and it was game on.
I turned and said to my son "Watch this showtime is about to start" and
these kids brought him, and me out of my seat.
For the record the best dunkers of the bunch were Vitol from
Keansburg, Heine from St Rose, Brodie from Manchester, Sanborn from
RBR, Jefferson from Asbury, and Hicks from Neptune.
I was sitting near Hick's family. He had a breakaway and chose
layup over dunk. Why? Because he said he had no legs. I guess when you
dunk 30 times in warmups that tends to happen.
But oh was it fun to watch. They started small with simple throw
downs. I caught Vitol and Heine doing 360's. Brodie has an awesome
Tomahawk, man can that kid elevate. I think Sanborn grew 2 inches from
hanging on the rim. You can tell Jefferson and Raymond were practicing
in the backyard before the game. We had the bounce dunks, the alley
oops, off the backboard, everything you can think of.
The beauty of it was that it was better than a slam dunk
competition. These kids were literally holding up the layup line so
they could tell their friends on the other team what they were going to
do and then they would stand and watch. There was pure joy on the faces
of these kids as they all closed out their careers with smiles on their
faces and with a love for this game.
It is inevitable that everyone's season must end and it will
almost always leave a little bad taste in your mouth. Last night was
the pallet cleanser. It was not about compeition. It was not about
winning or losing. It was about comaraderie. It was about love of the
game. It was about fun.
It was a Celebration.