Christian Brothers Academy Rolls Over Red Bank Catholic

LINCROFT – It was a quick turnaround for No. 2 Christian Brothers Academy following their hard fought 69-58 win over division rival Freehold Township on Friday.

The win gave them a one-game lead over the Patriots and a split in the regular season series with two division games left on the schedule and put them in prime position to win their first divisional title since the 2015-16 season.

However, there was no time to savor their win against the Patriots with a game against fifth-ranked Red Bank Catholic on the docket in less than 24 hours. That had Colts head coach Geoff Billet a little concerned about a letdown heading into Saturday’s matchup.

“This was a tough two-game stretch,” said Billet. “Last night’s game (Friday) in the scheme of things was much more important and we were able to play very well against a very good Freehold Township team. I knew today would be a challenge, but we hoped that the crowd and the atmosphere would kind of carry us through. And I think once we got the rubber out of our legs in the first quarter the crowd was a huge factor in our momentum and we were able to hold them to 26 points over the last three quarters.”

Billet was right on all counts.

Saturday was the third edition of the newly formed Founder’s Cup Series – an annual rivalry game against Red Bank Catholic - and the atmosphere inside the sold out S.R.O. Colts gym was akin to an NBA final seventh game.

The Colt Crazies – CBA’s raucous student body cheering section – was out in full force and when they were at their loudest it was hard to imagine it didn't effect the Caseys play.

And as if there wasn’t enough juice already in the house, the Colts were out to avenge their upset loss to RBC at home in last year’s NJSIAA South Jersey Non Public quarterfinals. They had already knocked RBC off twice beforehand in the Shore Conference Tournament round of 16 and the second annual Founders Cup game so another win was expected.

“We beat them the first two times last year and they came in here and beat us (in the state quarterfinals) and we weren’t to happy about that,” said senior center Josh Cohen. “That fueled us today, so we were excited. We played last night and battled Freehold Township, woke up today and we were ready to go.”

Red Bank Catholic quieted the crowd early jumping out to a 11-6 lead on a Steve Lubischer mid-range jumper with 3:40 left in the first quarter. The Colts then outscored the Caseys 8-2 on back-to-back three’s by sophomore guard Colin Farrell and senior sharp shooter Steve Braunstein before Cohen’s layup with 25 seconds left in the quarter gave the Colts a 14-13 lead after one.

The Caseys (16-4, 9-3) took the lead for the last time to open the second quarter on a Charlie Gordinier putback but RBC would score just one more point in the quarter and CBA finished the second quarter on 12-1 run for a 26-16 lead at the half.

Braunstein was on fire in the second quarter scoring nine of the Colts 12 points with Cohen adding a three-point play midway through. Braunstein scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the first half to help CBA forge a 10-point halftime lead.

“Stephen shot the ball great last night and he shot the ball great tonight,” said Billet of Braunstein who shot 8-of-11 from the field, including three three’s. “When he’s making three’s he’s tough to guard. He’s very good off the bounce and he can get to the rim so when he’s making three’s he’s one of the top players in the Shore.”

CBA shot 8-of-16 from beyond the three-point arc with six different Colt players contributing at least one three. Besides Braunstein’s three three’s, senior Liam Kennedy, Farrell, Sophomore Mike White, senior Payton Boech and freshman point guard Ryan Mabrey all chipped in with one.

Braunstein and Kennedy hit consecutive three-pointers to open the third quarter sending the Colt Crazies into orbit as the capacity crowd began to sense the kill. Cohen added two buckets and Braunstein another three as the Colts pulled out to an insurmountable 39-21 lead after three quarters.

From around the four-minute mark of the first quarter when RBC held a 11-6 lead to the end of the third quarter, the Colts held RBC to 10 total points with a lot of the credit for that going to White, who was tasked with guarding Gordinier most the game.

“Mike White is our guy,” said Cohen. “Mike is scrappy and he’s our guy on defense, so we felt good about putting him on Gordinier and he did a great job. Mike guarded him, then Payton (Boech) came in, then Mike would come back in so we always had fresh legs on him.”

Gordinier, who came into the contest as the Caseys leading scorer averaging 16 points per game, was held to just 12 points by White in a sterling defensive effort by the sophomore guard. After scoring a game-high 18 points in the Caseys win over CBA in last year’s quarterfinal, Gordinier was the main focal point entering the game Saturday.

“We asked Michael (White) to basically guard Gordinier the whole game along with Payton when he subbed for Michael,” said Billet when asked about the defensive effort on Gordinier. “I told Michael, especially, ‘your offense is going to suffer for the good of the team,’ but he’s such an unselfish player - as is Payton - and they took the challenge upon themselves. That was the key to the game for us - stopping Charlie.”

Mabrey’s three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 25 points, 48-23, and Billet began emptying his bench.

Billet loves his sophomore point guard, Mabrey, who dished out a game-high seven assists along with four rebounds.

“He has unbelievable feel and composure for a freshman,” said Billet. “I forget all the time that he’s a freshman. He just has a sense of where the ball should go, doesn’t hold onto it to long and can obviously shoot the basketball as well. Ryan’s future is limitless and he’s a hard worker so he’s going to just get better and better.”

Cohen, who finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots, was quietly confident at halftime that the game was tilted in their favor.

“You never know in these types of games,” said Cohen, who finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. “That team’s good, they’re a good team, they beat Manasquan and some other good teams. So, coming into halftime we knew what we had to do. Like last night in Freehold it was a battle all night and we came out and got an eight-point lead. That’s what we wanted to do tonight and we did it, we just pulled away.”

The Colts (16-3, 11-1) can wrap up the A North crown outright this week with one win and a Freehold Township (14-3, 10-2) loss or two wins over Manalapan on Monday and Freehold Boro on Thursday. The Patriots have a tougher road ahead with Marlboro on Monday and Middletown South on Thursday – both top 10 teams.

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