No 3. Rutgers Prep boys make their case for top SCT seed with tip-to-horn win over No. 2 Gill St. Bernards

Jadin Collins got third-ranked Rutgers Prep out to a 2-0 lead, and the Argonauts never looked back.

And now they may be looking at the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament.

They sure have a strong case after their defense suffocated No. 2 Gill St. Bernard’s for the full 32 minutes Tuesday night, in a 64-43 win heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The wins mean the teams split the regular season series, and should be co-champions in the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, assuming Prep (12-6) beats Bridgewater-Raritan at home Thursday night. That would leave the Argonauts and Knights (12-4) both at 7-1 in the division.

Comparing the head-to-head matchups, Gill won by two back on January fifth, and Prep just won by 21.

It was all Rutgers Prep in this one, virtually wire-to-wire. Marist commit and senior Jadin Collins finished with a game-high 22 points, including one of the team’s seven treys, to Gill’s three. In the earlier meeting, Gill hit 12 times from downtown, and Prep only once.

But Cameron Piggee missed that game – and several others – with a high ankle sprain. Back in the lineup for his fourth game since returning from injury, he had two first quarter threes that got Prep out to a 22-5 lead after one quarter.

That extended to 18 in the second before GSB got it down to five, but Rutgers Prep extended it to eleven by the break, and it never got under ten the rest of the way. Johnny Nsenkyire added a paire of threes, while John Kelly and Jordan Atkins each hit one.

The win was just the third in the last 20 meetings between the teams, but they’ve also split their last four. Rutgers Prep won their meeting in the 2019-20 season, but Gill won last year’s Somerset County Tournament final against Prep 84-63, and then had the January fifth win this year.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: