Franklin and Gill St. Bernards wait for a rebound on a drive to the basket by Gill freshman Kieran Quinn in the second half of a 51-39 Knights home win on December 19, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Just like on the girls’ side, all top eight seeds will be in Tuesday’s Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals, as all the higher seeds won Saturday afternoon in the second round.
The semifinals will be at the higher seeds, the top four teams that got byes to the semis.
(8) Pingry 54, (9) Bound Brook 52: The Big Blue had a seven point half time lead, but Bound Brook almost came back. They cut it down to three by the end of the third, trailing 41-38, but couldn’t get close enough, falling by two, dropping to 15-10 on the season. Pingry (16-4) has three players record double-doubles, as Trey Maultsby had 16 points and 13 rebounds, Mason Vance added 12 and 12, and Donnie Gregory chipped in 12 and 10. Pingry will come down from the Watchung Mountains to take on top-seed Rutgers Prep (16-6) for their first meeting since 2015 in the SCT quarterfinals Tuesday night, in likely the second game of a doubleheader with the Argonaut girls’ team, which will be hosting Ridge.
(5) Ridge 48, (13) Somerville 40: The Red Devils led this one most of the way, yet it was still close, as Ridge led by just two entering the fourth quarter, pulling away to take the game by eight. Quin Dashefsky scored 11 points and added seven rebounds, while Owen Chwatek had nine points on a trio of treys for Ridge (14-8). Quinn Carran led all scorers with 19 in defeat for Somerville (10-14). The Red Devils travel down to Hillsborough (14-7) to take on the fourth-seeded Raiders Tuesday in the SCT quarterfinals. The two didn’t play this year, but last season, Ridge won both matchups by similar scores, 55-53 in the first meeting, 54-45 in the second.
(6) Franklin 66, (11) Bridgewater-Raritan 42: The Warriors (13-10) used a huge second quarter to bury Bridgewater-Raritan (10-14) before the break. They led by four after one, but used a 26-8 second quarter to get its lead to 45-23 at half, and the rest was just gravy. Landen Miller led all scorers with 19, while Keith Morris chipped in 18 and Jah’naad Cady added 10. Johny Magner led the Panthers in defeat with 17. Franklin will visit third-seed Watchung Hills Tuesday in the SCT quarterfinals, which won their only meeting this year on January 18th in a tight one, 40-39.
(7) Gill St. Bernard’s 57, (10) Immaculata 50: The Knights’ – who’ve uncharacteristically struggled this season, their second in a row with big roster turnover – snapped a four-game skid with the win over the Spartans, improving to 10-13 on the year. They trailed 16-15 after the first eight minutes, but doubled up ‘Lata (10-12) in the second period to take a 35-26 lead, and hung on in the second half. Stanley Njekwe had a doble-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Dorsett Mulcahy led all scorers in the game with 16. Gill now will travel to second-seeded Montgomery on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. The Cougars (19-2) last played Gill in 2022. It’s believed Montgomery has never beaten Gill, going 0-8 against the Knights, with their first meeting coming in 2011