Rutgers Prep senior Mikayla Blakes clutches the 2024 Somerset County Tournament Trophy on February 17, 2024, as her teammates look on and celebrate. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The county finals are always intense, but the 2024 version of the Somerset County Tournament may have been the most thrilling in the history of the event.
Sure, there have been many games, and many close finishes, but not always in both games.
Rutgers Prep – the top-seed on both the girls’ and boys’ side – swept the titles for a second straight year. The girls beat second-seed Gill St. Bernard’s, 58-55, while the boys’ topped Montgomery on the Cougars’ home floor, 64-61.
Here’s a closer look at the 2024 title games:
Closest ever? This year’s edition of the finals saw two of the closest games ever. On the girls’ side, it was only the sixth time the final had been determined by three points or less. Same deal on the boys’ side. It was also the second-lowest combined margin of victory in the SCT finals, going back to 1988, when the old A and B division tournaments were merged into one county tournament. The 2014 finals saw a combined six-point margin, but the Gill St. Bernard’s girls beat Franklin by four, while Hillsborough beat the Gill boys by just one. The slimmest combined margin was five points in 2000, when the Bridgewater-Raritan boys beat Hillsborough by five, and the Immaculata girls topped Hillsborough by one. But this year’s finals were the closest two games in tourney history.
Defense does it for Prep boys: Considering all the firepower the Argonauts have – including a 6-6 freshman in Andrew Kretkowski who can hit the three and cause major matchup problems for their opponents – it was end-game defense that won the last two SCT titles for Rutgers Prep. Last year, the Argonauts were locked in a tight battle with Gill St. Bernard’s, got an and-one from Cameron Piggee to take their first lead of the game, and held Gill in the final couple of seconds when they couldn’t get a good look at a final shot. In this year’s hectic finale, Prep took the lead on a pair of foul shots by Jacob Canton after Myles Parker got called for a charge, but Montgomery got whistled for a technical foul – presumably for taunting, though the officials never explained it clearly. After two more shots, with a three-point lead, they held Montgomery off with defense, forcing the Cougars down the sideline, never able to get a good shot off. You want to beat Prep? You better have a late lead, because their end-game defense just won them their second title in a row. And you might also want a time out. Neither Gill in 2023 or Montgomery this weekend had one left to call to set up a play.
Seeing double: There have been five “double wins” in the Somerset County Tournament, with the last three coming courtesy of Rutgers Prep. In addition to their girls’ and boys’ teams sweeping this year and last, they also both won the title in 2020, giving the Argonauts sweeps in three of the last four Somerset County Tournaments. The last one to do it before Prep was Gill St. Bernard’s in 2012, and Bridgewater-Raritan was the first to do it in 1995, the eighth full SCT. But if you go back to 1988, the first full event, there’s sort of one more: The Bridgewater East girls won the title in 1988 over Ridge, while the Bridgewater West boys won it as well, defeating Rutgers Prep.
And then there were three: With the Montgomery boys making their first-ever SCT title game this year, that leaves three current county schools that have never made the finals: Bernards, Manville, and Pingry.
Movin’ on up: With the Rutgers Prep girls’ win, Mary Klinger now has her tenth Somerset County Championship, and all have come in the last 21 years. She won her first in her 20th season. The Argonauts are now just two wins behind Immaculata for the most girls titles ever; the Spartans have won 12, but none since 2007. They also own the longest string of consecutive titles, winning five from 1999 to 2003. They also won four in a row from 1991 to 1994. As for the Prep boys’ they move out of a tie with Bridgewater West and Ridge into fourth all by themselves on the list of all-time SCT titles with their third. Franklin has won five, Gill St. Bernards has won eight, and Bridgewater-Raritan has ten overall. Gill has the longest streak of titles, winning five consecutive from 2015 through 2019, and BR won four straight from 2004 to 2007.
Records in the finals: The Rutgers Prep girls are now 10-4 all-time in the SCT finals, while Gill St. Bernard’s drops to 5-5. The Argonaut boys are now 3-5 all-time in the SCT title game; Montgomery is 0-1.
What’s next? All four teams could make deep runs in the state tournament, which starts next week for most schools, but not for all the teams in Somerset County. With the NJSIAA scheduling all Group Finals at Rutgers this year, the rest of the schedule going back means a later start, and more break in between county tourneys and the states. The Rutgers Prep girls got the top seed in Non-Public South B, and won’t be in action until the sectional quarterfinals on Monday, February 26th, when they’ll take on the winner of 9-seed Timothy Christian and 8-seed Bishop Eustace. The late start is good new for Mary Klinger’s squad, which hopes to have sophomore Ava LaMonica back from an ankle injury suffered in Thursday’s semifinals against Franklin. Klinger says X-rays showed no break, and the ankle just needs some rest .Gill St. Bernard’s earned the third-seed in Non-Public North B, so it’s possible they could meet Prep if both win their sections. And while the Argonauts also would have to win their title (they’re widely considered the favorite) the Knights would have to knock off state-ranked No. 1 Morris Catholic, the top-seed in the section and defending Group B champion. It might be possible, if they play like they did against Prep in the SCT finals. Gill opens play in the eight-team bracket on Monday, the 26th, as well. On the boys’ side Montgomery figures to be a heavy favorite in Central Jersey Group 4. The Cougars earned the top-seed and open play on Wednesday this week, hosting 16th-seed West Windsor-Plainsboro South. And if things go to chalk, they could very well wind up hosting an all-CJSR-area final on Friday, March 1, against second seed Monroe. Meanwhile, the Rutgers Prep boys are the third-seed in Non-Public South A, and open on Monday, the 26th after a first-round bye, against the winner of 11-seed Notre Dame and 6-seed Red Bank Catholic. The top-seed is CBA, which Prep beat last year by 16 in the first round.