Mater Dei Repeats as Shore Conference Tournament Champions Holding off Stubborn Marlboro

Photos above: The 2017 Shore Conference Tournament champions, MVP Elijah Mitchell

WEST LONG BRANCH – Red-hot Marlboro used its ball handling skills and precision passing to slow down Mater Dei’s fast-paced attack while hanging close for most the game until the Seraphs eventually wore the sixth-seeded Mustangs (17-6) down and junior Kyle Cardaci came to the rescue.

Cardaci’s team-high 14 points all came in the last nine minutes of the game as the Seraphs outscored the Mustangs 21-9 during that stretch to turn a nail-biter into a 13-point, 54-41, win in Saturday night’s Shore Conference Tournament final at Monmouth University’s Ocean First Bank Center.

Top-seeded Mater Dei (24-3) now becomes the first team to repeat as Shore Conference champions since Christian Brothers Academy won in 2009 and 2010 joining Neptune, which won in 1980 and 1981, as the only other programs to win back-to-back titles.

“This is a great feeling,” Mater Dei coach Ben Gamble said. “I didn’t envision this happening in my first two years here. I was hoping within five years I could win two, but I got the right group of kids and luckily I got two.”

Princeton University-bound Elijah Barnes gave the Seraphs its first lead of the game, 33-32, on a bucket with one minute left in the third quarter and Cardaci followed with his first points of the game hitting a 3-pointer to push the lead to 36-32.

Cardaci started the game going 0–for-5 from the field before catching fire. He was 0-for-4 from the field in the first half, including 0-for-3 from three-point land before shooting 5-for-6 from the field in the second half including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point arc.

“I came off after missing three or four shots and coach Gamble still believed in me,” Cardaci said. “He said just keep shooting, the shots will fall in. Shooters will shoot and I just kept on shooting and started to make them in the second half.”

Marlboro’s Dylan Kaufman, who finished with a team-high 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, pulled the Mustangs to within two points, 36-34, with 22 seconds left in the third quarter before the game’s Most Valuable Player, senior Elijah Mitchell, hit a game-changing, 19-foot, stepback jumper at the third quarter buzzer to put the Seraphs up 38-34.

Mitchell had a team-high eight points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first half including three straight buckets and two steals in the second quarter to help the Seraphs match Marlboro point-for-point.

“He’s a gritty winner,” Gamble said of Mitchell. “He’s a college ball player. I’m not saying he’s a division I player. But he’s been with me for three years and has won over 70 games. He’s probably lost nine or ten games (in his career). And you have these colleges that are still trying to evaluate (him). You can’t evaluate winning.”

“I come into games to play hard and do everything that we need for our team to win,” Mitchell said. “If we need rebounds, I got it. If we need defense, I got it.”

Junior Yasin Pretlow and Cardaci opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back three’s to forge a 10-point lead, 44-34, but Kaufman hit for two and senior sharp-shooter Ryan LaRocca nailed a 3-pointer to get the Mustangs to within five, 44-39, with 4:35 remaining in the game.

Following a Mater Dei time out, Cardaci silenced the Marlboro faithful with his third three-pointer of the night and after Marlboro’s sixth-man Brian Levine made it 47-39 with 2:25 left on the clock Cardaci grabbed an offensive rebound and his putback pushed the lead back to eight, 49-41, with 1:44 remaining.

“That was a big shot (by Cardaci) after the time out, a big shot after the time out to give us some room there,” Gamble said. “At the time it looked like their (Marlboro’s) legs were gone. As the game went on we were able to wear them down.”

The Seraphs emptied its bench playing all 13 players while Marlboro had only six players in its rotation and late in the game it was obvious fatigue was playing a role in Marlboro’s ability to stay with Mater Dei.

With the score 49-41 and time running out on the Mustangs Kaufman missed two free throws before a pretty back-door hoop by Pretlow made it 51-41 and Cardaci’s three-point play with a minute to play closed out the scoring handing the Seraphs a hard fought 54-41 victory.

Mitchell finished with 12 points, two rebounds and three steals while Barnes added seven points and seven boards. Pretlow finished with a team-high nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and nine points for a terrific all-around game. Junior point guard Kenny Jones had a game-high five assists to go with his five points while Barnes added seven points and a team high seven rebounds.

LaRocca finished with 11 and Daniel Weiss 10 for the Mustangs.

“I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Cardaci said. “It was a good feeling.”

“It’s a great feeling and the team they did a great job,” Gamble said. “It was a total team effort. I think I played everybody on my bench. There’s nothing given, we earned everything we got.”

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