Cougars are Champs! Montgomery overcomes early speed bump to top Monroe for CJ4 title before packed house

Ten years ago, Montgomery had a crack at its second state sectional title in five years, but lost a heartbreaker to Trenton at home.

The gym was jumping all night.

Fast forward to 2024, and head coach Kris Grundy had his team back in the final again. Yet, it looked like a tumultuous road ahead when Monroe jumped out to a 5-2 lead.

But as they have all year long, especially more of late, Steve Donahue and Bohdan Biekietov took over, and top-seed Montgomery eventually took a lead, finishing the rest of the first half on a 30-5 run to lead 31-10 at the break.

In the end, the Cougars – led by 24 from Donahue – came back for a 63-37 win over 2nd-seed Hillsborough in Skillman, in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game.

Bohdan Biekietov finished with a career-high 23 points, while Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy earned his 300th career win.

And the gym was jumping again, the only difference: this time it was still rocking after the final horn.

Montgomery (25-3) now goes on to the Group 4 semifinals, next Tuesday at 4:30 pm down at Central Regional HS in Bayville against South Jersey Group 4 champion Lenape (27-3), the top-seed, which beat Eastern Friday night, 50-47.

Click below for postgame reaction, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!