Dead pro basketball league revived - and Shore team wins championship

Championship professional basketball is back at the Jersey Shore.

With just one year in the United States Basketball League (USBL), the Jersey Shore Breaks ran the table and won the 94X50 Championship on June 14.

The USBL restarted operations 17 years after the original version of the league was unable to remain solvent and folded. The organization has been rebranded as the 94X50 League, taking its name from the standard 94-foot by 50-foot dimensions of a professional basketball court.

The Breaks were the sixth seed in the playoffs and defeated the No. 1 Capital Seahawks 101-99 in the title game at Bowie State University in Maryland.

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Former Monmouth University star Justin Robinson dribbled down the floor, blew by a defender at the top of the key, drove to the basket and made an acrobatic and-1 for the lead with 21 seconds left. Robinson scored a game-high 22 points.

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“It was definitely a crazy experience but kind of overdue because we were losing games by five points, seven points at a time, the ball not bouncing our way,” Robinson said. “We kind of snuck our way into the playoffs, made the right adjustments, made the right rotations and connections at the perfect time.”

Robinson, a 5-foot-8 guard from Lake Katrine, N.Y., is used to making big time plays at the Jersey Shore. St. Rose High School in Belmar hosted Breaks game this past spring. Prior, Robinson was a stud guard at Monmouth University and earned MAAC Player of the Year in 2016.

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Robinson has been playing overseas for the past nine years. He was recruited for the Breaks by former Monmouth football player Demetrius Smith, the youngest brother to the Breaks’ Chris Smith and former NBA guard JR Smith.

“He came calling, knocking down the door, basically trying to get it done,” Robinson said. “Told me how eager they were to getting me on the team, we finally had a sit down and timing was right and instead of going back to Europe to finish the season, I decided to stay home and compete and fight for something that meant something to the Jersey Shore.”

Robinson also plans to play locally in the Jersey Shore Basketball League this summer.

Jachai Simmons, a Plainfield native who played at the University of New Mexico, said he also relished the chance to play close to home. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 17 points through the season with the Breaks.

“It’s amazing,” Simmons. “It was one of my reasons for staying home, because it was home. I get to play in front of my family, my sons, and be home with guys I grew up with in this basketball journey, so it’s pretty cool.”

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New Jersey players have been taken in the first round of the NBA Draft two straight years – Pennsauken native Yaxel Lendeborg, the versatile 6-foot-9 forward who won an NCAA Tournament title as a first-team All-American at the University of Michigan, ws selected with the No. 11 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors last Tuesday. A year ago, Don Bosco Prep grad Dylan Harper and Trenton native Thomas Sorber were top-15 selections.

Meanwhile, the 94X50 League is providing an additional opportunity for New Jersey to shine, Simmons said.

“Jersey basketball is at its peak right now,” Simmons said. “We got a lot of great young guys that’s coming up in New Jersey that are venturing out and going to play at some of the top programs in the country and then eventually get to the NBA. We are the home of basketball I believe, it’s been that way and it’s always going to stay that way.”