Bound Brook celebrates wiith its trophy for winning the 2021 Skyland Conference Tournament Gold Division Championship.
“High School Trivia for $800, please.”
Answer: This high school boys’ basketball team hasn’t lost since the COVID-19 pandemic hit New Jersey.
Question: Who are the Bound Brook Crusaders?
With Camden having its state-best 44-game winning streak snapped last week in Florida, dropping a pair of showcase games, including one to former St. Pat’s of Elizabeth head coach Kevin Boyle’s Montverde program, Bound Brook now has the longest active winning streak in New Jersey, at 21 games.
It was March 9th, 2020 when the Crusaders lost at Burlington City 73-55 in the Central Jersey Group 1 Finals. That was their fourth straight year getting knocked out of states by the Blue Devils, and the second time in four years they’d fallen to them with a sectional title on the line.
A few days later, the NJSIAA canned the rest of the playoffs, New Jersey locked down, and the world hasn’t been the same.
And since that point, Bound Brook hasn’t lost a game. Part of that is due to the quirk of there being no state tournament last year, where everyone but one team that participates – the TOC champion – ends their season with a loss. In 2021, Bound Brook went 14-0, its first known undefeated season in modern history – and won the Skyland Conference’s Gold Pod Championship, its middle-tier tournament.
This year, the Crusaders – with a solid core returning, including Quadir Harrell, Jordan Summers, and Donvan Nwenyi – are 7-0 heading into tonight’s game at Warren Hills (6-3).
Who are the other undefeated teams in New Jersey?
There are only eight boys’ basketball teams remaining in the state without a loss, two of them in our coverage area. St. Thomas Aquinas has the best record of any of the unbeatens at 11-0, but that’s also where their winning streak stands, since they lost in the GMC’s top pod final last year – the Karl Towns/Jay Williams pod – to Colonia. Rutgers Prep is 8-0, but again, lost their final game last year – in the Skyland’s top pod championship game – to Watchung Hills.
Bound Brook’s current streak should be insurmountable as long as they keep winning, as they next best streak behind them is only at 14, owned by 9-0 Morris Catholic, which also won its final five games last season. Then there’s Saddle River Day, which is 6-0, and won its last six last year to give them a 12-game win streak. Aquinas then has eleven.
St. Augustine is at ten games: 8-0 this year, after winning its final two last season. Governor Livingston (7-0) is next with nine, having won its final two last year. And checking in along with Rutgers Prep on an eight-game streak is Morristown, which won its final game last year in a rough 2-9 season, but is 7-0 so far this year.