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Sports

Jarelle Reischel Is Disappointed At All-Star Game Loss

Point Pleasant Beach senior moving on to Rice University in the fall after a fabulous high school career.

While most players were smiling and taking in the atmosphere one last time in their final high school basketball game on Friday night at Brookdale Community College, Point Pleasant Beach High School senior Jarelle Reischel wore a look of disappointment.

To most players, the annual Shore Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game is a time to kick back, have some fun, and not worry about the final score. Try telling that to the ultra-competitive Reischel, who scored a game-high 24 points for the South All-Stars in a 113-107 loss to the North.

“I try to tell him not to be wound so tight sometimes,’’ Point Beach coach Nick Catania said.  “I mean, it’s an all-star game. But that’s how competitive he is.’’

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Reischel and Monsignor Donovan High School guard Sean Grennan, a Seton Hall University  recruit, spearheaded a comeback that made it a three-point game with time dwindling down. However, with a game format that features four 15-minute quarters with a running clock, time simply ran out in the end on the South all-stars, which also included Reischel’s Point Beach teammate, guard Mike Rotando.

“We’re competitive,’’ Reischel said. “We tried to win, and it didn’t work out.’’

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Reischel even jokingly second-guessed the South coaching staff led by Lakewood’s Randy Holmes.

“I think coach Holmes should’ve gotten Sean and I in a little earlier so we could’ve gotten the win,’’ he said.

Despite the loss, it was an impressive finish for the Garnet Gulls’ all-time leading scorer, who amassed 1,683 points during his three-year varsity career to pass long-time Monmouth University assistant Ron Krayl for first place in the record books.

As a senior, Reischel averaged 22.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.9 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game while also shooting 79.8 percent from the foul line on 208 attempts.

Perhaps maybe the biggest reason for his disappointment after the game was that the realization had hit home that he had just played his final game representing Point Beach before moving on to Rice University in the fall.

“It was definitely heartbreaking,’’ Reischel said. “I have to move forward. That's how life works. I have a bright future ahead of me, and I'm just going to keep working hard and try my best in college.’’

 In 2008, Reischel was a mystery, a kid who stepped off a plane from Frankfurt, Germany, as a complete unknown even in the age of nine million recruiting websites littering the Internet. After being born in the United States but growing up in Germany as the son of a father in the U.S. military, Reischel came to New Jersey because his father wanted him to get an American education, so he sent him to live with a family friend in Lavallette heading into Reischel’s sophomore year of high school.

Three years later, Reischel leaves as a legend at Point Beach, taking the Garnet Gulls to heights they had not enjoyed since the 1960s. This season, they reached the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1968, stunning two-time defending champion Christian Brothers Academy in the quarterfinals at Brookdale Community College.

 “Three years happened like that,’’ Reischel said before snapping his fingers. “Time moved so fast that it’s crazy.’’

 The 6-foot-5 Reischel returned to Brookdale Commuunity College on Friday night and put on a show as usual, throwing down a pair of dunks on drives down the lane as well as an alley-oop to get a charge from the large crowd. He also got to play one last time with Rotando, who transferred to Point Beach from St. John Vianney before his junior season. Rotando finished with four points on Friday night and also reached the finals of the 3-point shooting contest at halftime, finishing second to Raritan’s Tim Pizanie.

Point Boro’s Ryan Malleck was also selected to the game but opted not to participate, most likely because he has a football scholarship to Virginia Tech and did not want to risk injury.

On the girls side, Point Boro’s Kelsey Haycook was selected but did not participate, but Point Pleasant was represented by Point Beach’s Lauren Romao, a four-year starter for the Garnet Gulls. Romao did not score for the North All-Stars in a 74-57 loss to the South in a game that featured a Shore Conference-record 15 Division I players.

 The future of Point Pleasant basketball was also on display in the inaugural 8th Grade All-Star games on the boys and girls sides. A loaded Point Boro girls team that returns four starters next season will add current eighth-grader Lyndsey Havens, who was the second-leading scorer for the South All-Stars with 10 points in a 50-47 win over the North.

 On the boys side, future Point Beach players Andrew Pidduck and Chris Schifano suited up for the South All-Stars, with Schifano standing out with 13 points in a 64-50 loss to the North. Future Point Boro guard Bobby Trippanera also was part of the South squad.

They all hope to one day reach the rarefied air of a player like Reischel, who felt like it was just yesterday that he was adjusting to life in the United States and making close friends at the smallest public school in Ocean County.

 “I can’t even believe it’s over,’’ he said. “I don’t want it to be over. I want to continue to be a high school kid, but it’s time to move on.’’

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