The unbeaten Somerville girls’ basketball team won the West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tournament with a 59-29 victory over Neptune on December 30, 2023. (Source: @VilleWBBall on Twitter)
Nine teams from the GMC and Somerset County won their holiday tournament finales on Saturday afternoon, including Somerville’s boys and girls, who swept tourneys down in Mercer County.
Read on to see how teams fared on in Saturday’s action.
Double fun for Somerville…
The Pioneer girls (5-0) beat Neptune (5-3) in the title game of the West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tournament, 59-29. Kaylee Lauber netted 24 points to lead all scorers in the game, while Emily Kolodziej notched her second straight double-double in the event, going for 19 points and 13 rebounds.
The ‘Ville is one of three unbeaten teams left in Somerset County, with Bound Brook at 6-0 overall, 3-0 in the Mountain Division, with Somerville a half-game behind at 2-0. They’ll face each other January 9th in Bound Brook in a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. (The other Somerset team still without a loss is Gill St. Bernard’s at 8-0).
In the Winter Holiday Classic at West Windsor-Plainsboro South, the Pioneer boys (5-2) beat their hosts (3-5) in the final, 42-31, behind a team-best 13 points from Tim LaCanna, and 12 more from Quinn Caran, who accounted together for more than half the team’s scoring. That’s the fifth straight win for The ‘Ville, after an 0-2 start, and they’ll open the New Year Thursday afternoon against Pingry in Martinsville.
Vikings look solid in the Hills…
South Brunswick (4-3) picked up a 61-50 win over host Ridge (4-4), on another big scoring game from Meher Vig – who dropped in 16 points – and a double-double from Lelani Pinder, with 13 points and ten boards, her second such feat this season. Four players scored in double figures for South Brunswick, which put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season, following a 13-point loss in the opener of the round-robin event to state-ranked Bayonne. The Vikings went 2-1 in their three games at Ridge.
Prep loses another tight one down South…
Rutgers Prep went down to the John Wall Invitational in North Carolina with a 4-0 record, and will come back 5-2, after narrow losses to some very good teams. They dropped their Saturday finale against Grace Christian School (NC), 59-55, just a few days after falling to Thomas Dale (VA), 68-55. They’ll come back up North to open the New Year against unbeaten Gill St. Bernard’s Thursday at 6 pm, in a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
More boys’ results….
Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener University: A win for Rutgers Prep (4-2) over Camden Eastside, 83-69, snapped a two-game skid for the Argonauts, who had four players in double-figures, including 25 from Jacob Canton. The Argonauts led 60-36 heading into what turned out to be a frantic fourth quarter, with 56 points scored between the teams, and a rally from Eastside that fell short.
LeGrand Tournament at Colonia: The host Patriots fell to 4-3 on the season with a loss in the Championship Game of their tournament, 48-45 to Westfield. The Patriots got 17 points from Aiden Derkack in defeat. Of note: Colonia’s three losses on the season have come by a combined 6 points, with Westfield being their biggest margin of defeat: three points, They lost 43-42 to St. Joseph-Metuchen on December 19th, and by two at Hunterdon Central the Saturday before Christmas.
Albert E. Martin Buc Classic at Red Bank Regional: In the third-place game, East Brunswick (3-4) got past Long Branch 56-33 to finish 2-1 in the three-day event down the Shore. Matt Mikulka scored 20 in the consolation game, and finished with 59 points in the tourney, leading the Bears in each of their last two wins, their first-back-to-back victories of the season, after a 1-4 start. But the 2024 portion of the schedule begins with a bang: at St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday, home to Colonia on Wednesday.
ALJ Crusader Holiday Tournament: How about JP Stevens, picking up its first two wins of the season after an 0-4 start to win the two-day tournament in Union County. They opened with a 57-29 win over East Brunswick Magnet, then followed it up with a 53-49 win over the host Crusaders (3-3). Varun Panjeti tied for game-high honors with 19 points, while Anthony Hicks added 18 in the title game. In the consolation game, Metuchen topped East Brunswick Magnet, 84-25, behind 17 points from Jason Woods.
Huskies Holiday Classic at Matawan: Sayreville (6-2) dropped the championship game in the eight-team event, falling to Holmdel (5-1) Saturday, 77-61, despite a 29-point effort from Sam Jones, who topped the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season, and averaged 21 points in the three games of the tournament, also scoring 28 in the event’s opener against host Matawan. In the consolation game, Old Bridge improved to 4-4 with a 60-32 win over Woodbridge (4-3). And in the seventh-place game, Perth Amboy (4-4) beat winless Raritan, 57-34.
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