HIT BY A TON OF HICKS - Boys Basketball: Neptune 62, Red Bank 46

By Scott Stump - Senior Editor

     LITTLE SILVER - Red Bank's home gym was shaking as the Bucs and visiting Neptune raced up and down the floor in the first three quarters on Tuesday night, trading highlight-worthy baskets and leads with every possession.
     They may have been locked in a tight duel after three quarters on the road, but that pace is exactly the way the Scarlet Fliers wanted it. Let Red Bank win the early battle, and we'll win the war.
     "In practice, we run a lot and work on conditioning, so we wanted to test their conditioning and see if they could keep up,'' said Neptune senior forward Gary Foster. "They couldn't.''
     The Bucs also couldn't slow down Neptune senior guard Terry Hicks, who shot 8-for-14 from the field and 4-for-8 from behind the 3-point arc on his way to a season-high 22 points. Neptune's overall depth compared to Red Bank's heavy reliance on senior stars Will Sanborn and Matt Pebole also helped the Scarlet Fliers pull away by turning a game that was tied heading into the fourth quarter into a 62-46 nondivisional victory for the No. 1 team in the DigitalSports Top 10. The win came courtesy of a fourth quarter in which they outscored No. 6 Red Bank 20-4 when the relentless pace began to take its toll on the home team and its six-man rotation.
      "(Sanborn) was shooting short, and people weren't getting back on defense, so we just took it to them like we always do,'' said Hicks, who threw down a dunk off a steal for a 59-46 lead with 1:51 left in the game to cap the night in style.
      Sanborn, one of the Shore's top scorers, was spectacular in the first half, scoring 16 of his 22 points on an array of driving lay-ups, turnaround jumpers and long jumpshots as the two teams went into the half deadlocked at 32 thanks to 11 first-half points by Hicks. In the second half, Hicks glued himself to Sanborn and helped hold him to six points, including two in the fourth quarter, while also forcing him to commit six turnovers. Hicks was relatively fresh on defense considering guards D.J. Gutridge and Jabari Joyner had been primarily guarding Sanborn in the first half, yet another plus resulting from Neptune's depth.
      "I pushed him to his weakness, his left hand, and it worked,'' Hicks said. "I had him settle for long jumpshots.''
      Pebole, who also had 10 rebounds, had 10 of his 14 points in the first half before the aggressive Foster held him in check during the second half after Brennan Fitzsimmons had spent much of the first half on Pebole, allowing Foster to conserve some energy.
      "I just tried to keep a body on him and be physical because we knew we could wear him down physically and then he started making mental mistakes,'' said Foster, who had 10 points and 8 rebounds in the game.
      Neptune began the game on an 8-0 run, but Red Bank recovered to take a 16-14 lead thanks to a 14-point barrage by Sanborn, one of the streakiest scorers in the conference. Red Bank's lead was as high as five points in the second quarter after Pebole hit a jumper for a 22-17 lead, but a 3-pointer by Hicks tied the game at 28 before the two teams headed into the half tied at 32.
      Sanborn and Pebole scored or assisted on all 10 of Red Bank's third-quarter points, while Foster had four of Neptune's 10 to keep the game tied at 42 heading into the fourth quarter. That's when Neptune's nine-man rotation began to become a factor.
      Hicks jumpstarted an 11-0 run to start the final period by burying his fourth 3-pointer of the night, and the Scarlet Fliers were off and running. They were able to get turnovers in the backcourt or near mid-court by hounding Red Bank's guards, often forcing Sanborn or Pebole to bring the ball up rather than set up in a position to score.
      Following Hicks' 3-pointer, the avalanche started making its way down the hill - a driving lay-up by Foster, a jumper off the dribble by Hicks, a bucket by Thomas Jones from D.J. Gutridge, another basket by Hicks - Neptune was on a high-speed connection while Red Bank was on dial-up. Gutridge was a catalyst, as he had a game-high nine assists, and every long miss on a jumpshot by Red Bank translated into an opportunity to push the ball in transition the other way.
      "Our plan was to wear them down,'' said Neptune coach Ken O'Donnell. "Sanborn was fantastic in the first half, but we didn't think he could keep up that pace. We knew that if we continued to put pressure on them by pushing the pace, that (fourth-quarter run) is what would happen.''
      "We turned up the defense, and we locked down their key players,'' Foster said.
      A basket by a driving Sanborn cut the lead to 55-46, but that was the last gasp as Neptune's Lem Walker dropped in a lay-up off a pass by Hicks before Hicks stole a pass following the ensuing inbounds play and slammed it home for a 13-point lead with 1:51 remaining.
       "That's my third (dunk) in a row,'' a smiling Hicks about his three-game streak of throwing one down.
      It finished off a strong night for Hicks, a transfer from Monmouth Academy who has struggled at times to find his long-range shot in big games this season.
      "This was a big accomplishment for me because I hadn't been shooting that well this season,'' Hicks said.
      "Hopefully this is something that he can build off of,'' O'Donnell said.
      Also, in a Shore Conference boys basketball season in which teams at the top have had shorter stays than a hamburger on Refridgerator Perry's dinner plate, Neptune got the job done and remained as the clear No. 1 team right now.
      "We wanted to send a message that we own this conference,'' Foster said. "They have to know that we mean business.''

Game notes: Hicks is six points shy of 1,000 for his career....Foster is 17 points shy of 1,000 for his career...Red Bank shot 1-for-14 from 3-point range in the game and only attempted three free throws...Sanborn and Pebole scored or assisted on 20 of Red Bank's 22 field goals...Foster leads Neptune in scoring (14.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg), while D.J. Gutridge leads the team with 5.1 assists per game.

Box score
Neptune 62, Red Bank 46

Neptune (62): Jones 3 0-2 7, Gutridge 3 0-0 6, Hicks 8 2-2 22, Foster 5 0-0 10, Fitzsimmons 1 0-0 2, Joyner 1 0-0 3, Walker 3 2-5 8, Hill 2 0-0 4, Singleton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 4-9  62.

Red Bank (46): Raybon 0 0-0 0, Grant 0 0-2 0, Sanborn 10 1-1 22, Pignataro 0 0-0 0, Pebole 7 0-0 14, Herchakowski 4 0-0 8, Frost 1 0-0 2. Totals:  22 1-3 46.

Neptune (8-2)   14 18 10 20 - 62
Red Bank (6-2)  16 16 10  4 - 46

Three-pointers: (N) Hicks 4, Jones, Joyner; (R) Sanborn.

E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com