Central Girls Gut Out Win For Truhan's 300th Victory

You could see the fire in their eyes from the opening tip.

The Central Regional girls basketball team wanted this victory. Not just because it was against Pinelands, a Shore Conference Class B South rival with whom the Golden Eagles have battled in recent years.

The Golden Eagles wanted this victory because it was a milestone for coach John Truhan: victory No. 300 in his career as a head coach.

And they got it.

Senior guard Katelyn Kuster started things off, and the rest of the Eagles finished it, holding off a furious 24-point fourth-quarter rally by Pinelands for a 44-38 Shore Conference Class B South victory in Little Egg Harbor on Tuesday evening.

Kuster came out on fire, scoring 17 of her game-high 20 points in the first half as Central (4-3, 3-1) took a 27-10 lead as the Eagles took advantage of turnovers created by pressure from sophomore Alexis Monguso and seniors Adrianna DeJesus and Jackie Bobinski under the basket.

In the second half, the Wildcats (5-3, 3-2) changed tactics, pressuring the Eagles at both ends of the floor. The third quarter was a deadlock as neither team was able to get shots to fall. and after a third quarter where neither team was able to accomplish much scoring, Pinelands turned up the pressure more.

The Wildcats forced turnovers and capitalized on them, pulling to within 10 points. But just as the Wildcats started to gain momentum, Bobinski deposited a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc to push the lead back to 13. That was critical, because foul trouble had Pinelands in the double-bonus early in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles eased up on their defensive aggressiveness to avoid fouls. The result was a few mostly uncontested Pinelands layups.

But Central got stops when the Eagles needed them, with Bobinski, DeJesus and Monguso rotating in and out to keep them fresh and avoiding fouls.

Just As the Wildcats appeared to be gaining momentum again, it was Sam Wilber’s turn to step up. The sophomore, who hadn’t been able to get a shot to fall, buried five of six free throws in the last three minutes, and the Eagles forced a turnover to end the game.

“We all wanted to win and the whole team played so hard to make it happen,” Kuster said.

Truhan (300-122), who is in his sixth season at Central, began his career as a head coach at Toms River South, spending six seasons there and taking the Indians to the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III championship game in 2001. After the 2003 season Truhan accepted the job at Colts Neck High School, and coached the Cougars to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title game in 2009.