Manasquan Pounds Bulldogs In Sectional Semifinal

Photo above courtesy of Tom Smith: Ryan Jensen tears the house down with monstrous one-handed slam dunk

MANASQUAN – In one of the most anticipated basketball games that the Shore Conference has seen in decades, the Manasquan Warriors turned what was billed as a can’t miss rematch of their epic triple-overtime win over Rumson-Fair Haven in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals into a complete and total shellacking of the Bulldogs.

With their 65-46 win over Rumson Saturday night, the defending CJGII champion Warriors advance to their second straight sectional final Monday for a rematch of last year’s CJGII final at top-seeded Bordentown.

“I thought we played poorly in the triple-overtime game,” Manasquan head coach Andrew Bilodeau said. “I felt we defended the best we could tonight, we were able to keep them out of the lane and we had a little better transition game than the last time. Maybe the biggest difference between the last game and this one was on the boards. I thought we did a super job on the boards.”

Manasquan enjoyed a 41-22 edge overall on the boards despite having no one over 6-foot-4 and having to deal with Rumson’s 6-foot-7 shoot blocker Elijah McAllister.

The Warriors left no stone unturned leaving the throngs of Rumson fans that made the trek to the raucous sold-out Manasquan gym in stunned disbelief as they watched Manasquan’s defense hound their senior star Brendan Barry into one of the worst shooting nights imaginable in what turned out to be the last game of his renowned high school career.

Senior guard Shane Flannigan - who scored 11 points including two three’s - had primary responsibility for guarding Barry but had help.

“Devin (Jensen) is running off (Mike) O’Connor to help on Barry and Ryan is sitting in the lane, so we’re really just trying to defense him tough and keep him off the three-point line,” Flannigan said. “We’re just trying to rattle him and shake him up as much as we could.”

While Barry did score a game-high 20 points – six below his average – he began the game missing his first eight shots and finished shooting only 8-for-27 from the field including going 2-for-13 beyond the three-point arc.

The game was a blowout from start to finish as second-seeded Manasquan (24-3) had everything working for them while third-seeded Rumson (21-6) couldn’t get out of its own way.

Rumson’s Mickey Schluter’s game-opening three-pointer gave the Bulldogs their only lead of the game before senior forward Ryan Jensen – a four-year varsity player and three-year starter – answered Schluter’s three with one of his own less than a minute later and the Warriors never looked back.

After one quarter Manasquan led 14-4 and built the lead to 20-6 at the 5:02 mark of the second quarter before heading into halftime with a 15-point lead, 32-17. Jensen left the partisan Manasquan crowd in an uproar with seconds left in the half with a highlight-reel one-handed dunk as he was fouled that sent the Warriors student section into utter chaos.

“I don’t have many (dunks) so I think that was probably my best,” Jensen said. “We always talk about it before the game to take it as hard as we can to the basket. The last couple of games, we’ve been a little soft and ended up getting blocked so before the game, we all talked about just taking it every play, every drive as hard as we can. I know I can get up high enough if I take it hard to the basket and I guess that happened.”

Senior guard Jack Sheehan’s back-to-back three-pointers right before Jensen’s slam had already worked the animated student section into a tizzy but his block of Rumson sophomore Jack Solano’s layup at the buzzer following Jensen’s slam really sent them into orbit.

“I think that (Jensen’s dunk) was the turning point of the game,” Sheehan said. “It got the crowd going crazy; it gave us momentum at the half and I just think we had all the confidence in the world in that locker room.”

As the two teams trotted into the locker room amid the deafening crowd noise, the difference in body language strongly suggested what Sheehan was feeling, the Bulldogs were finished.

Sheehan had a tremendous all-around game as his defense and rebounding changed the complexion of the game as much as any one player. He nearly recorded an unprecedented triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Warriors. Jensen finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for his usual double-double while his younger brother Devin added five points and five rebounds.

Manasquan came out and scored the first five points of the second half and every time the Bulldogs would put a string of shots together the Warriors answered right back.

“We had some guys hit some big shots,” Bilodeau said. “Even at halftime we talked about our offense. We didn’t talk about continuing to defend. “We talked about pushing the ball, keep your head up and when they went to the half-court press in the second half that opened some things up.”

“Today we played just great as a team today,” Jensen said. “Everyone came up and made a steal or a shot, it just felt great all playing together and I’m at a loss for words just how great everyone played today.”

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