Red Bank Catholic Boys Beat Rival Rumson-Fair Haven

In the second game of a Saturday, boys-girls basketball doubleheader, Red Bank Catholic’s boys basketball team used chemistry and straight-up intensity for an impressive 80-76 Shore Conference win over rival Rumson Fair Haven.

Senior Luke Orielo told Red Bank Patch after the game that they knew they had to cut the lead down to single digits and were confident they could do so. 

“(Caseys players) Chris, Zack, Andrew and I have the chemistry,” he said. “As soon as we hit that run we knew that the game was ours.

“It was really important to bounce back from Neptune. We didn’t want to have two losses going into the Shore Conference with the seedings coming up. It’s definitely a huge rivalry.”

Senior Danny Fallon agrees that this is an intense rivalry. Talking of his rival Rumson-Fair Haven players he said “We grew up together, go to the same beach and play one on one together all summer.”

Fallon hit Andrew Casten with a half-court pass which Casten banged in for a hard two to help cut the lead to 52-47 as the Caseys began to turn around the game.

Rumson-Fair Haven (12-7) had widened the lead to 50-38 after half time but with seconds left in the third quarter Red Bank Catholic (13-4) began to really flow and was able to cut the lead to 52-50. A strong fourth quarter and visible trust among the teammates led to the win.

“Our guys are in pretty good shape,” Red Bank Catholic coach Devitt Gillroy. “Our guys are in pretty good shape. If we play our game up and down the floor we can win.”

This comeback in a hometown rivalry game was a big sign of maturity, he said, and about these guys growing up together.

Oriolo led the team with 27, Chris Seaman put in 16, Casten, 15, Mike Calandrillo, nine, Zack Gwyder, six, and Dan Fallon added seven.