FREEHOLD,
NEW JERSEY – The Lakewood Piners (N.J.) are getting hot at just the right time
in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III tournament.
After defeating
No. 4 seeded Monmouth Regional (Tinton
Falls, N.J.) earlier
in the week, the No. 5 Piners upset the top-ranked Freehold Boro Colonials
(N.J.) 49-44 on Friday night to clinch a spot in the CJ III finals.
Jarrod Davis helped the Piners advance.
Photo by Steve Goldberg
“My
emotions are running really high right now,” junior Jarrod Davis said after the
game. “Our team will be back in the Central Jersey Group III championship. This
is our first one since 2002. It’s been a very long time, and I’m just so happy
right now that words can’t explain it.”
Davis led Lakewood with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The
swingman is averaging 22.6 points and over 10 rebounds per game in postseason
play.
“Jarrod
[Davis] is the hardest worker on our team,” Lakewood Head Coach Randy Holmes
said. “Not only is he the best player on our team and arguably one of the best
players in the state, but he also has a tremendous work ethic. He is always the
first one on the court, and he is always the last one to leave the gym.”
Lakewood avenged losses to Freehold
Boro earlier this season and in the NJSIAA tournament last season. Holmes used
revenge to motivate his players for the road game against the heavily favored Colonials.
“I
brought [revenge] up to my players numerous times leading into this game; at
yesterday’s practice, today’s team dinner, and on the bus ride over here,”
Holmes said. “I kept them well reminded that last year we came into this same,
hostile environment, and they sent us home packing.”
Freehold
Boro played without their star senior guard Lance McKenzie who was suspended
from the game for disciplinary reasons. Forward Christian Garcia carried the
team with 21 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists to cap off his stellar
four-year varsity career. Other players like junior Jesse Hunt and senior Chris
Cotroneo stepped up to fill McKenzie’s absence, but it was not enough to make
up for the hole in the Freehold Boro frontcourt.
“It
was very unfortunate that they didn’t have Lance [McKenzie], and I know it hurt
them a lot,” Holmes said. “We didn’t know he wasn’t going to play until he
didn’t come out in the introductions. Then we were like sharks that smelled
blood in the water.”
The
last time Lakewood
appeared in a sectional final, the team featured current Denver Nuggets guard
J.R. Smith. The 2002 Piners advanced all the way to the NJSIAA Group III state
semifinals before they were eliminated by the Neptune Scarlet Fliers (N.J.).
Ironically, Lakewood will face Neptune,
the defending sectional and state champions, in the CJ III final on Monday
night.
“We’re
very familiar with Neptune,” Holmes said.
“They have always been a nemesis of ours. We have a rivalry that goes all the
way back to the early ‘70s. We have to prepare for them because we know that
they are a good team.”
“We’re
going to just work hard in practice and believe that we can win,” Davis said. “We’re not
going to get complacent, and we’re going to fight to the end. I hope that we
can come out on top and hold the trophy at the end of the game.”
