Shore Regional basketball player has blossomed in senior year

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"When it comes to the leap forward that Shore Regional senior guard Zack Hoffman has made this season, the numbers don’t lie.  

After showing flashes of explosive scoring potential as a junior, Hoffman is doing it every night this season for a Blue Devils team that looks to be a sleeper in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II Tournament. The 5-foot-10 guard is averaging 21.3 points per game this season, which ranks in the top five in the Shore Conference, and much of it can be attributed to improvement in two areas.  

“He's finishing around the rim a lot better,’’ said Shore coach Doug Shaw. “He’s gotten himself acclimated to the speed of the game better and improved his strength. Number two, he’s added range to his jump shot.’’  

Last season, Hoffman shot 18 percent from 3-point range, while this season his long-range accuracy has more than doubled to 41 percent.  

“I was trying to get as many shots up as I could,’’ Hoffman said about the offseason. “I had AAU every day of the week, and I was really working hard on my shot especially. Also, everything around the rim was getting easier. I worked on getting stronger, and I feel like I got a little bit quicker, and everything comes easier when you're a senior who's seen it all.’’  

Hoffman is also an 86 percent free throw shooter with close to 200 attempts, so he makes opponents pay for fouling him in the lane. The noticeable jump in his numbers across the board hasn’t exactly been ignored by opponents, either, as he has faced double teams and gimmick defenses like the triangle-and-two that Point Beach ran on Monday against Hoffman and junior teammate R.J. Bohnert."

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