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Fundraiser to Benefit Midd. North’s Jason Huelbig Coming Saturday

Middletown North is having a fund-raiser for senior guard Jason Huelbig, who is headed to play at Division II Assumption College and needs a special eye surgery next month in Beverly Hills, Calif., to help alleviate a degenerative eye disease. Since the procedure is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it is not covered by insurance and costs upward of $20,000.

Called “Hoops 4 Huelbig,” it will be a 3-on-3 basketball tournament on Saturday starting at noon at Middletown North. The cost is $30 per team or $10 per person in advance. Tickets will be sold at the door, $5 for adults and $3 for students.

All teams must mail or drop off forms to 19 Tall Timber Road, Middletown, NJ 07748 no later than June 14. Only the first 30 teams to register will be accepted. Questions can be sent to director Brian Murray brianmurray.cts@gmail.com.

I will have a larger feature story on Huelbig’s situation and his school rallying to help him coming later this week.

Emery Approved as New Shore Regional Coach/Grennan to Fairfield

Dave Emery, who was the head coach at St. John Vianney for much of the last decade, has returned to the coaching ranks as he was approved as the new head coach at Shore Regional by the Board of Education on Tuesday night. He succeeds former coach Doug Shaw, who stepped down after the season following his second stint as head coach of the Blue Devils.

Shore graduates its top player, guard R.J. Bohnnert, from a team that went 12-14, but returns a loaded class of rising sophomores and juniors. Two players, Jack Byrne and Kevin Bloodgood, saw significant minutes as freshman and lead a promising Class of 2014, while rising junior guard Dan Pillari also saw time in the rotation. The general opinion is that this is an up-and-coming group of talent at a program that has been competitive but has little to show in the way of championships in its entire history. This could be the group that changes that, and Emery has been hired to make it happen.

Also, in one other thing I had on Twitter yesterday in case you missed it, Monsignor Donovan graduate Sean Grennan, a Seton Hall transfer, has committed to Fairfield. He will have to sit out a year per NCAA transfer rules, but I think this is a good fit for Grennan, who will have a year to get physically stronger and should be a solid guard in the MAAC.

Jarelle Reischel Commits to Rhode Island

After deciding to transfer following his freshman season at Rice University, former Point Beach star Jarelle Reischel committed to Rhode Island on Wednesday night, which was first reported by Adam Zagoria.

Reischel, who will have to sit out next season per NCAA transfer rules, will join Raritan star Mike Aaman, an incoming freshman who recently committed to Rhode Island, among the incoming class. Reischel, who is Point Beach’s all-time leading scorer, was the All Shore Media Player of the Year in 2009-10. Aaman was the Player of the Year in each of the past two seasons.

The 6-foot-6 forward had earlier visited VCU and had also considered Boston College, La Salle and Iona. He is the second transfer to join new coach Dan Hurley in his first class at Rhode Island, as Rutgers center Gilvydas Birutas is also now a member of the Rams.

 

Colts Neck’s Sean O’Reilly Commits to Dominican College

Colts Neck senior guard Sean O’Reilly, a 1,000-point scorer and an ASM third-team All-Shore selection, will continue his career at Dominican College, a Division II program in Orangeburg, N.Y.

One of the top players on a team that won a school-record 23 games and reached its first SCT final, O’Reilly finished his four-year varsity career as Colts Neck’s second all-time leading scorer (1,192 career points) behind teammate Hunter Wysocki after averaging 13.8 points, 2.6 assists per game and hitting a team-high 46 3-pointers this season. His 104 career 3-pointers rank second all time and he is the all time leader in foul shots made with 283. His 36 points in a state playoff win over Trenton tied the single-game school record.

Kurt Fenchel Approved as New Central Regional Head Coach

Former Manasquan and Brick Memorial head coach Kurt Fenchel has returned to the head coaching ranks, as he was approved as Central’s new coach on Thursday night by the Board of Education.

Fenchel succeeds Mike Clemente, who was not re-hired after 31 years as head coach because the administration wanted to go in a different direction. Fenchel was most recently an assistant coach under Kevin Hynes at Point Boro. Fenchel coached Manasquan to a sectional title and a trip to the Group II championship game in 2005 before resigning after the 2007-08 season, and he also had a successful stint at Brick Memorial prior to that. Before coaching in the Shore Conference, he had success at Irvington, which he coached to a Group IV title in 1993. Fenchel has over 450 career victories and has led teams to four sectional titles and a Group title, so his resume is as accomplished as any coach out there.

Another interesting wrinkle is that Central has been designated as a school choice district by the state, meaning that any student within 20 miles of the school can choose to go to Central instead of their local high school. Transportation of up to 20 miles is provided by the state as long as the student meets the eligibility requirements of state law and the transportation will cost no more than $884. What that means is that Fenchel’s new team now has the power to draw players from Toms River, Manchester, Point Pleasant, Lacey and elsewhere and do it completely legally. Essentially, Central could build regional all-star teams if students choose to participate in the choice program. Whether that will come to fruition or not or whether it just means the Golden Eagles might get one top player from a neighboring town remains to be seen.

 

 

Raritan’s Mike Aaman Commits to Rhode Island

Raritan senior forward Mike Aaman, the two-time All Shore Media Player of the Year, has committed to Rhode Island. Click here for the full story.

Shaw Steps Down at Shore/Manalapan Grad Gets LIU Job/Raritan’s Flynn to Susquehanna

Shore Regional head coach Doug Shaw said Wednesday that he has resigned at Shore after his second stint with the Blue Devils, who went 12-14 this season. Shaw said he looks to still coach in the Shore Conference. The Blue Devils return a very talented freshman class along with some solid varsity veterans. Shaw’s departure leaves openings as Shore, Central and Marlboro so far during this offseason.

In the collegiate coaching ranks, former Manalapan standout Jack Perri was named the new head coach at Long Island University this week, joining Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole (CBA) as a fellow Northeast Conference head coach from the Shore Conference.

Finally, Susquehanna added another Shore Conference player among its incoming class as 6-6 Raritan senior forward/center Connor Flynn will join St. Rose point guard Mark Kukoda and CBA small forward Eric Shaw there next season, according to Raritan coach Denis Caruano.

St. Rose’s Mark Kukoda Commits to Susquehanna

St. Rose senior point guard Mark Kukoda, who was a first-team All-Shore selection by the coaches, will continue his career at Susquehanna University, joining Christian Brothers Academy’s Eric Shaw among the incoming class.

Kukoda averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 assists, 5 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game as the top player on a Purple Roses team that won 17 games and reached the SCT quarterfinals this winter. He finished his career with 1,169 points, tied for fifth all-time in school history.

“The first time I saw Mark I thought he was a complete player, and the more I watched him the more impressed I became by him,” Susquehanna head coach Frank Marcinek wrote in an email. “While I really like his physical abilities, I am most impressed by his poise!  He will be a cornerstone of our program for the next four years.”

Latest on Mike Aaman, Jarelle Reischel

Had this on Twitter yesterday, but to update, the latest on Raritan senior forward Mike Aaman is that he officially was granted his unconditional release by Wagner on Thursday and was visited immediately by Monmouth University head coach King Rice the same day.

Aaman also will be taking an official visit to Rhode Island next weekend, where Dan Hurley will look to secure Aaman’s commitment for the second time. Aaman was committed to play for Hurley at Wagner before Hurley took the URI job, but he clearly is still interested in having Aaman play for him. Aaman has a long connection with him, as he strongly considered attending St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark when Hurley was coaching there before Aaman decided to go to high school at Raritan, where he was a two-time All Shore Media Player of the Year.

Wagner, St. Joseph’s, LaSalle, Iona and Manhattan are also on the list of the 6-9 forward.

A Shore Conference graduate who just finished his freshman season, Point Beach all-time leading scorer Jarelle Reischel, is starting to set up visits after announcing he was transferring from Rice University. He will visit Virginia Commonwealth next weekend and is setting up a visit to Boston College in May, according to Point Beach coach Nick Catania.