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Sports

Point Beach Basketball Loses to New Egypt 47-43

Gulls finish season with a 15 to 13 record

The Point Beach High School boys’ basketball team was hot and cold last night.

The Garnet Gulls started hot, but finished Antarctic cold.

New Egypt (15-10) eliminated Point Beach from the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I playoffs with a 47-43 victory. The Gulls finished their season with a 15-13 record.

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“We’ve struggled shooting on the road in a few games this season,’’ said Point Beach coach Nick Catania. “I thought we had good looks, we just couldn’t get any to go in.’’

New Egypt took a 9-8 lead with 2:18 left in the first quarter, but Point Beach responded with a 13-0 run.

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Taking advantage of three New Egypt turnovers, three off-the-mark jumpers and a pair of missed free throws, the Gulls got a bucket from Riley Calzonetti and two hoops from Matt Farrell and went ahead, 14-9, as the first quarter ended.

Point Beach opened the second quarter with layups by Calzonetti, Chris Schifano and P.J. Kineavy and owned a 21-9 lead with 5:05 left in the second quarter.

The Gulls were helped by New Egypt’s erratic shooting in the second quarter when the Warriors connected on only four of 14 shots.

New Egypt, however, scored the final five points of the second quarter and cut its deficit to 26-19.

At intermission, New Egypt coach Jay Corby altered his defensive plan and focused on keeping the ball out of the hands of Point Beach’s best shooters, Farrell and Kineavy. He also had his offense start pounding the ball down low to center Tyler Barnes, who finished with a game-high 25 points.

New Egypt’s second-half defensive pressure resulted in Point Beach connecting only two of its first 20 shots in the second half. On offense, Barnes got hot, scoring seven points early in the third quarter helping New Egypt tie the score, 28-28.

“We knew Barnes was the player we had to stop,’’ Catania said. “We tried sinking three guys in around him. We tried fronting him and denying him. He’s a very good player.’’

Barnes scored four of New Egypt’s final six points in the third period and the Warriors owned a 34-31 lead.

The game became a see-saw affair in the fourth quarter, but with 1:57 left to play a bucket by Barnes gave New Egypt a 41-37 lead. The Warriors’ lead grew to 45-38 with 20.8 seconds left.

A three-pointer by Kineavy gave Point Beach hope with 14.5 seconds to play but New Egypt sealed victory when Barnes canned a pair of free throws with 13.8 seconds to play.

“We had some good shots, just not for our best shooters,’’ Catania said. “New Egypt had a great defensive game plan in the second half.’’

Kineavy scored 14 points and Calzonetti 13 in the season-ending effort for Point Pleasant Beach.

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