Point Beach Boys Eliminated by RFH in Shore Conference Tournament Semifinals, 52-47

Throughout the Shore Conference Tournament, the Point Beach Gulls found ways to win tightly-contested basketball games.

Unlike Saturday's 56-55 victory over Christian Brothers Academy, Point Beach on Wednesday night was unable to make enough plays down the stretch and was eliminated in the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament 52-47 at the hands of Rumson Fair Haven.

Point Beach struggled mightily on the offensive side of the basketball and turned the ball over 19 times. The cohesion that Point Beach showed offensively en route to the semifinals was non-existent at Brookdale Community College in the Lincroft section of Middletown.

"Throughout this entire tournament we have played together so beautifully, but today we got away from that," said Point Beach Head Coach Nick Catania.

After a sluggish first half by both teams, when prolonged scoring droughts were prevalent, Point Beach clung to a 21-18-halftime lead. At the start of the third quarter, RFA went on a 11-0 run, a span where Point Beach went over five minutes without scoring a basket.

"It wasn't even a matter of coming out sluggish, we just didn't execute," said Catania. "We took terrible shots during that stretch, and that just is not winning basketball."

Despite the 11-0 run by Rumson, Point Beach showed the type of resiliency that has been on display throughout the Conference Tournament. The Gulls turned what was a 10-point deficit into a 1-point lead with under four minutes to play in the game behind star forward Jarelle Reischel.

The Rice University recruit scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws which gave Point Beach a 39-38 lead with 3:01 to play. It was the Gulls' final lead of the night.

The thirteenth seed Bulldogs had an answer for Point Beach all night. The final blow for the Gulls came after Kevin Alter drained a 3 pointer with 58 seconds left to play, which gave RFH a 43-39 lead they would never relinquish. 

"I feel like I'm a part of the Indiana Hoosiers," said Alter, referring to the film classic starring Gene Hackman. "It was just crazy that we kept fighting and we're able to answer them time after time."

With the win, Rumson Fair Haven advances to the SCT Final for the first time in school history. 

Point Beach now has its sights set on the state tournament to follow the conference tournaments throughout the state.

"Our kids played hard, Rumson just did a better job than we did today," said Catania.

"This tournament was a big step for our program," he added. "Like I told the kids, it's a learning experience."