Freehold Uses Strong 2nd Half to Top Long Branch

The Freehold High School boys basketball team (5-5, 2-4) used a strong second half to defeat Long Branch High School (0-8, 0-5) on Tuesday 67-47. Jesse Hunt led the Colonials with 27 points. Long Branch was led by Kenny Barron who had 14.

“A win is a win,” Freehold coach Ben DiBiase said afterwards. “We needed one. We lost three in a row, so getting of the schnide and getting one is big.”

The first half was a tale of runs. Freehold opened the game on a 10-2 run, featuring contributions from Hunt, Pat Mullin (who added 13 points), and others. At the end of the first quarter, it was 14-4 Freehold.

Long Branch had the advantage in the second quarter, with Terrell Cox leading the charge to within two. He finished with eight points. However, Freehold finished the half on a 9-4 run, and at halftime Freehold led 25-20.

Freehold put this game away in the third quarter. They opened the quarter on an 9-0 run, punctuated by a three point play from Derrick Bender, and with six minutes left in the period it was 33-20 Colonials.

“I just think that Long Branch is a hard working team,” Dibiase said. “Frankly, in the first half they out-hustled us to a lot of loose balls. The second half we just wore them down a little bit.”

The quarter ended with a 41-32 lead for Freehold, who continued to turn it on in the fourth. The Colonials scored four out of the first five baskets to start the session, translating to a 9-3 run. They finished the game out strong, pulling away to ultimately win by 20, 67-47.

Looking forward, DiBiase wants to see continued progress from his squad.

“[They key is to] just build one at a time, see if we can eventually put another string together and have some winning weeks ahead.”