By CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
Ex-Neptune High School girls basketball team scoring machine Dez Allen has transferred to Morgan State University where she will play on the Bears’ women’s team.
A 5-foot-9 small forward, Allen will have one year of eligibility for this season under NCAA rules. She is a graduate transfer student from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Allen, who scored more than 1,000 career varsity points for Neptune, played during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons at NJIT.
In her first year at NJIT, she averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. She made 26 steals and added 22 assists and 14 blocks. She was charged with 46 turnovers. She appeared in 29 games and started 11. She averaged 22.2 minutes per game.
In 2018-19, Allen averaged 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per outing. She added 31 assists, 18 blocks and 19 steals. She was charged with 51 turnovers. She played in 26 games and started two. She averaged 20.5 minutes per game.
Allen averaged 23 points per game as a Neptune senior. She erupted for two 36-point games and seven 30-point plus games overall as a junior.
Albano cited: Former Neptune girls soccer player Christine Albano, who recently completed her junior year as a forward on the Felician University women’s team, was inducted into the sixth class of the National College Athlete Honor Society, Chi Alpha Sigma.
The marketing major posted a 3.50 grade point average. The 5-foot-4 Albano appeared in 15 games and started 13. She scored two goals. She is a transfer from Brookdale Community College.
Felician instituted the New Jersey Omicron chapter of the NCAHS in 2015. A candidate must be at least a junior academically and a letterwinner in a varsity intercollegiate sport at either an NCAA or NAIA institution. An inductee must have carried a 3.40 GPA through the fall semester, be recommended by the chapter advisor and be of good moral character.
Local duo honored: Former Monmouth Regional boys soccer player Joel Burgos and ex-Ocean Township track and field standout Qudratullah Qadiri, both Stockton University athletes, were named 2020 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars by the publication Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
Burgos, a sophomore member of the Ospreys’ men’ team, has scored two goals in 24 career matches. He netted the game-winner in a 2-1 conquest of Oswego State (N.Y.) late in the first half.
Qadiri earned four All-New Jersey Athletic Conference second-team honors for the Ospreys in men’s track and field. He was named the NJAC Rookie of the year for the 2017 indoor season. He was twice named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District 2 team. He was chosen as the student speaker for Stockton’s 2020 commencement.
To qualify, a student-athlete must be a person of color with a minimum 3.20 grade point average after at least one year of college. The award was inspired by the late tennis legend’s commitment to education. They celebrate the accomplishments of hundreds of student-athletes nationwide.
In football:
Pietz, Fisher cited: Recent Monmouth Regional graduate Eric Pietz won a Lombardi Award after starring for the Falcons at defensive end and fullback last fall.
“He was a hard working player who continued to get better on both sides of the ball,” Monmouth coach Dan Wendel said. “He found his home at defensive end where he was able to use his athletic ability to play the run and the pass. As a fullback, his athletic ability made him a threat catching the ball in the flat and blocking in space.”
Pietz, a 5-foot-8, 185-pounder, will attend Rowan University. He will not play for the Profs.
Recent Ocean graduate Brian Fisher, an offensive and defensive player, also was an award winner. He will attend Virginia Tech where he will not play football.
Dozens of Monmouth County seniors are honored after each season at the Lombardi Awards Banquet, named for the legendary, late NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who was buried in Middletown. The banquet was to have taken place for the 48th time earlier this season. However, it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Schedule changes: Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has pushed the regular season back by one week, eliminating all Week O games and impacting the Neptune-Red Bank Catholic clash at Rutgers University.
Teams will either have to reschedule or cancel their Week O games. The start of practice has been moved from Aug. 3 to Aug. 10. Regular season openers will not take place any earlier than Labor Day weekend (Thursday, Sept. 3 to Sunday, Sept. 6).
In boys basketball:
Miller no longer at Ocean: Corey Miller, who enjoyed productive seasons as a freshman and sophomore varsity player, has transferred to The Pennington School in Pennington, according to his brother, former Ocean standout Jack Miller.
Corey Miller, a 6-foot-1 guard, will repeat his sophomore season in 2020-2021. As a sophomore with the Spartans, he was second on the team in scoring, averaging 15.0 points per game in 25 outings. He was second in rebounds at 5.1 per game, first in assists at 4.6 per showing and second in steals at 1.7 per outing. He buried 59 of 84 free throws for 70.6 percent.
As a freshman, Corey Miller averaged 12.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game and netted 80.2 percent of his free throws.
In boys soccer:
Destination announced: Ocean’s Eli Brandimarte will continue his career at the University of Scranton, Ocean coach John Terlecsky said.
Brandimarte was second on the Spartans in goals (11) and points (22) last fall.
In baseball:
Results announced: The results are in from the Last Dance 2020 High School World Series, a tournament born because of the coronavirus pandemic that resulted in the cancelation of the spring season.
OT Baseball (Ocean Township High School) fell to Matawan 7-3 in first-round Pool 15B play at Fireman’s Field in Ocean.
Nick Callano drove in two runs for Ocean. He hit an RBI single in the second and plated a run with a single in the fourth. He stroked two hits in four at-bats. Teammate George Krenkel was 1-for-3 and plated one run.
Losing pitcher Kevin Schoenberger worked five innings. He allowed five runs, including three earned, on seven hits. He walked one and struck out one. He threw 67 pitches. Sam Prudhomme pitched the final two innings for OT Baseball, surrendering two runs, including one earned, on five hits, walking one and whiffing one. He tossed 36 pitches. In first-round Pool 6B action of the Belmar Regional in Wall Township, Monmouth fell to the Blue and Grey (Howell Township) 2-0 and St. Rose succumbed 6-0 to RBI Baseball (St. John Vianney).
In first-round Pool 6A play of the Red Bank Regional at Count Basie Field in Red Bank, Neptune downed Bucs Baseball (Red Bank Regional) via forfeit.
In the second round of Pool 6A action, Neptune downed top-seeded RBC Baseball (Red Bank Catholic) 3-0 in nine innings.
Connor Maloney hit an RB single for a 1-0 lead. Thomas Gamba-Ellis made it 2-0 with a run-scoring single. Winning pitcher Ryan Cole followed with a sacrifice fly.
Neptune’s Brian Young pitched the first 5 2/3 innings before giving way to Cole.
In second-round Pool 6B play, Monmouth whipped St. Rose 14-1.
Winning pitcher Christian Zito allowed one run in three innings. Zach Lopes and Dom Santaniello pitched one inning each. The Falcons erupted for five runs in the first inning which Zito hit an RBI single and Star Marvin followed with a two-run double. Marvin stroked two hits in three at-bats and scored four runs.
Nicholas Bogan keyed a two-run third inning with an RBI single. The Falcons exploded for seven runs in the fourth. The winners received key hits from Michael Bateman, who went 2-2, drove in one run and scored one run; Marvin, who hit a two-run single; Lopes, who lofted a sacrifice fly, and Chris Theobald, who contributed a two-run single. Monmouth closed Pool Play at 2-1 with a 6-1 win over Long Branch.
Alex Alonso was the winning pitcher. Jeff Meyer, who was 2-for-3, including one double, broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run single. Teammate Aiden Denton hit one double in two at-bats and scored one run. Brian Yadlon’s run-scoring single sent the Falcons in front to stay 2-1 in the sixth.
Freshman Joe Esposito hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to give Monmouth a 1-0 lead. Long Branch tied the game in the sixth on a passed ball.
The Falcons outscored their opponents 20-4 in Pool Play, finishing second behind Howell.
In second-round Pool 15 action, Ocean fell to the Hazlet Renegades (Raritan) 4-2.
In more Pool Play action, Neptune fell to Howell 3-1 as the winner advanced to the South Jersey Round of 16; St. Rose fell to the Long Branch Green Wave (Long Branch) 7-0, and the Spartans edged Holmdel 8-7.
Neptune managed just two hits, including an RBI double by Gamba-Ellis in the top of the second.
In road racing:
Marino on the run: Asbury Park resident Amanda Marino participated in the first Run Nova Virtual 5K, a fundraiser in which the proceeds went to the @villanovaU Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Marino starred in women’s cross country and track and field at Villanova.
“I am proud of my alma mater for taking steps to learn, grow and improve,” she said on her Facebook page. “Action leads to progress. V’s up!”
A total of 546 athletes from 21 states and two nations competed. They covered more than 1,600 miles from June 12-14 and raised $14,344. The Villanova Athletics Department hosted the event.
“With this being the first one, we just wanted to bring the Villanova community together and get everyone moving,” race director Maureen Peiffer said. “This was not a results focused event so we did not have participants track or submit their statistics.”
Marino excelled in girls cross country and track and field at Jackson Memorial High School.