After being on life support last season, a Jersey Shore institution has returned with a flourish this summer.

The Jersey Shore Basketball League is in the midst of its 42^nd season with a full eight-team league, one year after having to scramble to cobble together a six-team league only weeks before the season began.

“The league is in a much better spot now,’’ said JSBL commissioner Ken O’Donnell, who is also the head boys basketball coach at Neptune High School. “With the economy, things were tough as far as getting sponsors for a few seasons, but now we have an eight-team league, which I think is the perfect number of teams.

“We also have some nice talent playing this season and a local college flavor with guys from Rutgers and Seton Hall.’’

This season’s JSBL features several former Shore Conference stars and also includes teams filled with numerous Rutgers and Seton Hall recruits and current players. There also is the usual array of Division I college talent, overseas professionals and league veterans that have made the NCAA-sanctioned league a fixture for nearly half a century.

The league plays two games a night, four nights a week at the McCann Athletics and Activities Center at St. Rose High School and admission is free. The games are at 7:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. from Monday through Thursday every week through Aug. 4, which is the date of the championship game.

Some new teams and players have added fresh faces to the league this season to complement teams like Larson Ford, one of the original teams from when the league began on the outdoor court on the Belmar boardwalk next to Jerry Lynch’s Hotel in the 1960s. Reminders of the early days of the league still remain, as Rich Conover, the league statistician since 1976, has returned for his 35^th year.

A team sponsored by Stevens Gutter Cleaning includes a host of Rutgers recruits, including Greg Lewis, Jerome Seagers, Derrick Randall, Eli Carter and former St. Anthony star Myles Mack.  Kansas State transfer Wally Judge, a former McDonald’s All-American, also is on the roster along with Rutgers sophomore guard Austin Carroll and junior forward Austin Johnson.

The Seaview Jeep squad has a Seton Hall flavor, with sophomore swingman Fuquan Edwin joining incoming recruit Sean Grennan, a Sea Girt resident and former Monsignor Donovan star, along with fellow Pirates recruit Aaron Cosby.

“This league is getting us young guys prepared for the future,’’ Grennan said. “It’s a good test to play with the higher speed and that next-level player.’’

There also is a Team Shore entry that features several former Shore Conference standouts like Christian Brothers Academy’s Roy Mabrey, a Spring Lake resident, along with former Point Beach standouts Jordan Wejnert and Mike Rotando, former Shore Regional guard Zack Hoffman, as well as St. Rose graduate Sean McPaul.

The other teams in the league include Asbury Park Recreation, made up of former Asbury Park and Academy Charter players, along with T&T Coast and Investor Savings Bank. T&T Coast features former Manasquan star Jason Westrol, who played professionally in Romania this past winter, along with former Siena star Ryan Rossiter. Investor Savings Bank includes former Villanova standout Mike Nardi and former CBA star Brian Neller, who now plays for the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

In the earlygoing of the season, Larson Ford is off to its customary strong start, with Sterns Trailer, which features former CBA star and University of Florida forward Dan Werner and former Monmouth University standout Blake Hamilton, also off to a strong start.

Team Shore has struggled, getting off to a 1-3 start, but the young players are gaining experience facing teams with players in their late 20s and early 30s. Teams like Larson Ford and Sterns Trailer also feature several players who have made a living playing professionally in Europe.

“It’s not even close to high school ball,’’ Wejnert said. “A lot of these guys are way more physical and the game is faster.’’