Purple Roses Crush Big Blue's Playoff Hopes

For St. Rose, with berth's clinched in both postseason tournaments, today's game was almost meaningless. Having the top seed in the NJSIAA Non Public B playoffs all but wrapped up, the final game of the regular season was a chance to honor the seniors, and play an old rival.

For Manasquan, it was everything.

"Dropping the game today knocked us out of both the Shore Conference Tournament and the state playoffs." said Manasquan head coach Andrew Bilodeau.

The Warriors' offense was streaky at best. A 14-point second quarter, which saw sophomore J.R. Hobbie score 10, was followed by just two points in the third quarter.

Manasquan scored 17 points in the fourth, highlighted by 10 from Nick Lustrino, but it was not enough as Purple Roses junior Mark Kukuda matched Lustrino with 10 of his own.

"We tried to," said Bilodeau, answering a question of if he would have liked to see Hobbie get hot later as well. "Credit their defense doing a great job, a couple times they ran the trap on him."

St. Rose's best defense might have been their offense. The Roses spread the ball around methodically, killing time and waiting for the right shot.

"We were in some foul trouble early, so we switched into the spread maybe earlier than we would have liked," said St. Rose head coach Dennis Devaney. "The guys were patient, delayed when we had to, and under the circumstances they played very well."

The aforementioned Mark Kukuda ran the offense to perfection, producing 22 points. SeniorsAndrew Kurtz  and John Scotto each put up six points - Kurtz was battling foul trouble all game. Fellow senior Matt Suchecki added seven to the effort.

With inside presence Andrew Van Schaack out for the year, it appears the rest of the Roses are more than capable to step up.

Taking a 23-21 lead into halftime, the Roses defense was what made the difference down the stretch. Both offenses struggled in the third - the Roses only yielded two points to take 30-23 lead into the fourth. Although the Warriors got within five late, St. Rose hit its free throws and held on to win, 48-40.

"That's how we have to play," said Devaney, "[we] aren't the biggest team so we have to make up for it with passion and energy"

Both of which the Roses showed. 

"I'm elated with the performance today, I really am," said Devaney, "the defense was good, the offense executed, there is not much more you can ask for."

With the loss, Bilodeau remained as well composed as you could expect for taking such a hit to the playoff hopes.

"Can't fault them," said Bilodeau of his team playing desperate, "they did what they could - it just was not in the cards for us."