Patriots seal the deal, win third straight title
Beat Manalapan behind LaFalce
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Freehold Township’s Matt Hardison slams the door on Manalapan during the Patriots’ division-clinching win in Freehold Township on Friday.

Freehold Township’s three-peat might best be called sweet-peat.That’s because the Patriots’ third straight Shore Conference A North Division public schools championship was the sweetest one yet. From head coach Brian Golub down, the Patriots felt the pressure of high expectations all season. They were no longer the upstarts catching everyone by surprise, but rather the team to beat from the first tipoff of the season.

“It gets better every time,” forward Marcus Roberson said following Friday night’s 65-51 win over Manalapan that wrapped up the division crown. “The biggest change is that [when] we went into someone else’s gym, we got their best game. A win over us made their season.”

It was one such game back in January that turned out to be Freehold Township’s season-maker, a 61-60 loss to the Braves.

“That was the best thing that could have happened to us,” said Roberson.

Guard Damian Csakai agreed that the loss had a positive impact on the team’s season.

“We had won 10 in a row, and subconsciously we thought that we just had to show up and win,” he said. “Then Manalapan comes out and starts hitting threes, and we lost.

“That [loss] got us to refocus,” he added. “Everybody was after us, and we had to play our best every game.”

The defeat also put the Patriots into a three-way race for the division title with Manalapan and Middletown North. But the Patriots held all the cards entering the final week of division play because they were scheduled to play both the Lions and the Braves.

On Feb. 7, Freehold Township moved into sole possession of first place with a 44-36 victory over the Lions. The night before, Manalapan had lost to Christian Brothers Academy to fall to 9-4 in the division, the same as the Lions. Freehold Township improved to 10-3 with one game to play.

Friday night in Freehold Township, the Patriots were playing for an outright title, while the Braves were playing to get a share of it. The Patriots and Braves had been down this road before. They were in the exact same position last year, only the game was in Manalapan. The Braves rode their seniors to a victory and a co-championship in ’05.

They were looking to do the same on the road with a less experienced team Friday. But they did have one thing going for them. With their win earlier in the season, they could claim a psychological edge having beaten the Pats three straight times over the last two seasons.

The Patriots, as forward Matt Hardison noted, were well aware of last season.

“We didn’t want it to happen again,” he said. “We didn’t want to share it.”

Manalapan played just the way it wanted to in the first half, keeping the tempo slow and taking the crowd out of the game. Long-range three-point bombs by Chris Saray and Brian Lapkin helped them take a 17-11 lead early in the second quarter before Hardison and Roberson took over under the glass, coming up with one offensive rebound after another. They sparked an 11-3 run that put the Pats on top, 22-20. Manalapan though would score the final four points from the foul line to take a 24-22 lead into halftime.

The Braves were more happy with the pace of the game than whether they led by two or trailed by two. Coach Rick Garretson knew his team couldn’t get into a running game with the deeper, more athletic Patriots.

The good news for Freehold Township was that it played most of the second quarter without leading scorer T.J. LaFalce and point guard Ed Fischer, and unlike the first game, the Braves were not scoring at will from three-point range.

“Our objective was to take the three-point shot away,” said Golub. “I didn’t want to full-court press at first. I wanted to stop their guards from driving and passing it out. I knew that they were going to hit some. I didn’t want their shooters to get into a flow and get confident.”

Csakai was one of the keys to the defensive pressure that the Patriots applied to Manalapan’s outside shooters, seeing to it that the shots were contested.

When the Braves took a 30-25 lead early in the third quarter, it looked like they had Freehold Township’s number again. Then it started to rain threes.

Brett Brach swished one from the corner, followed by a LaFalce three from the top of the key. Brach again hit from the corner and just like that it was 34-30 Freehold Township, and the fans that packed Township’s gymnasium were into the game.

LaFalce, as he always seems to do in a big game, got hot. He scored the next eight points for the Patriots, and the lead was extended to 42-34 late in the third quarter.

The pace of the game was right where Freehold Township wanted it as Manalapan had to play from behind. And unlike their first game with the Patriots, the Braves’ shots were not falling. As Golub had planned for, the Brave shooters were not in a comfort zone.

Bottled up for three-quarters, the Patriots were now able to spread the floor and hit the Braves with Phase III, Fischer. Phase I was Hardison and Roberson establishing themselves on the glass. Phase II was LaFalce, who put daggers into the Braves with his clutch shots. Now, Fischer was operating with space, and it would lead to one layup after another for Freehold Township as he penetrated the lane and delivered textbook passes to either Hardison or Roberson. One pass led to a dunk by Hardison, which put the exclamation mark on the 65-51 victory and third straight division title. The Pats finished 11-3 in the division and are 17-3 overall.

Manalapan (12-8), which didn’t figure to be in the A North race with the big turnover from last year, could find solace in the fact that they took the title chase down to the final game.

“Our kids played real hard and executed the way we wanted them to,” Garretson said. “They played with tremendous heart. Our shots didn’t fall in the second half, but that’s the way it goes.

“You have to credit Freehold Township, they kept fighting all the way,” he added. “We still have two tournaments to play and we’re looking forward to them.”

Kevin Ernst, who played well in the paint for the Braves, led Manalapan with 13, while Lapkin had 12.

LaFalce led all scorers with 24, and Roberson added 15 for the three-time champions.

Roberson, a junior, pointed to a second motivating factor for the Pats Friday night.

“We wanted to send the seniors off right,” he said.

Csakai was one of those seniors, along with Derric Harris, Brach and Hardison.

“It’s definitely a great feeling,” said Csakai. “Winning any kind of championship is something very few get to experience.”

The seniors have been witnesses as well as key players to Freehold Township’s rise from contender to champion.

“My first year on the [varsity] team, Manny [Ubilla] was on the team and we just watched him,” he said. “He was amazing. Whenever we needed a basket, we gave the ball to him.

“Last year, the way the team was built, we didn’t have to rely on any one person,” he added. “We all play for each other.”

That camaraderie and depth led the Patriots surprising everyone last year by repeating as division champions along with Manalapan, and made them the odds-on favorite this year, creating more pressure on this squad than any other Freehold Township team.

Csakai is very aware of the mark he and his fellow seniors have left at Freehold Township.

“Everyone will try and live up to us,” he said. “If they surpass us, that would be great. We’ll always be one of the best teams ever.”

Golub described last week as “a bear of a week” for his Patriots. It started with a nonconference game with crosstown rival Freehold Borough, the game the next night with Middletown North that was do-or-die for both teams and then Manalapan, last Friday. The Pats went 3-0.

Golub, who played his high school basketball at Freehold Township, has helped bring the program to heights never thought before. The team is playing before packed houses and an enthusiastic student body, and the program is now legitimately one of the best in the Shore.

“It’s great for the school and school spirit,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words. It’s [winning the title] a relief. We had to win five in a row to win it.

“We faced a lot this year,” he pointed out.

“When we walked into gyms, we got the best from everyone.”

The two tournaments that Garretson was referring to are the Shore Conference Tournament, that begins tonight, and the state playoffs that begin Feb. 27.

Any team with a .500 record or better on the cutoff dates qualified for these tournament.

Freehold Township and Manalapan will be joined in both tourneys by B North Division champion Colts Neck (16-5) and Freehold Borough (14-6).