By Jim Hintelmann
LITTLE SILVER – Red Bank Regional struggled last year with an 8-15 record, but coach Scott Martin is looking for an improvement with three starters back.
“Our strength will be our pressure defense,” said Martin. “We’re looking to compete, but the A Central is a very strong and balanced division with Raritan the team to beat with (6’7”) Mike Aaman back. but Matawan and Rumson are also strong.”
Returning are Tyheem Crawford (5’10”), Seph Williams (5’10”) and Jules Asim (6’0”). A fourth starter will be Albert Martin (6’3”), who is expected to be the top rebounder, but he will be sidelined the first three game because of a broken wrist.
The rest of the team will be Curtis Thigpen (6’1”), Tajhi Tomaino (5’11”), Matt Raybon (6’0”), James Mulligan (6’2”), Blake Brandon (6’2”), Will Dengler (5’10”) and his brother, John, and Stephen Skop (6’5”).
“Shooting isn’t our strong point,” admits Martin, “but rebounding should be good.”
Red Bank opens at home to Red Bank Catholic Friday and will again be playing host to the annual Buc Holiday Classic.
Teams entered are host Red Bank, defending champion and top-seeded Middletown North, Shore Reg., Monmouth Reg., Monsignor Donovan, Abraham Clark (Rosellle) Freehold and Manasquan. Red Bank, the seventh seed, will play No. 2 Roselle.
Tournament dates will be Dec. 27, 28 and 30.
Girls
With four returning starters, Red Bank Regional girls basketball coach James Young has hopes of breaking the .500 mark this year after just missing at 13-13 a year ago despite playing in the competitive A Central.
“This is a typical Red Bank team,” said Young. “We’re hoping to beat the teams that we should beat and be competitive against the stronger teams.”
The returning starters will be last year’s leading scorer and rebounder Zie Curtis (5’8”), Theresa Soya (5’5”), Kayla Cunningham (5’5”) and Shannon Roberto (5’8”). The fifth starter will probably be Kerry Lang (5’4”).
Also expected to get playing time are sisters Jazz (5’5”), Paris (5’8”) and Debon (5’7”) Van Loon, and Alexis Burr (5’8”).
“We hope to be improved,” said Young, “but our size will be our achilles heel. Shooting should be our strong point, but our defense will be important because we aren’t likely to score a ton of points.”
Red Bank opens its season Friday when it plays host to rival Red Bank Catholic as part of a boys-girls doubleheader with the Caseys. Game time will be 5 p.m.
