Montgomery’s Steve Donahue puts up a shot against Rutgers Prep in the Somerset County Tournament final at Montgomery Township High School in Skillman on February 17, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
One way or another, at least one team from the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area is guaranteed to win a state sectional title this season.
No matter what anyone else does in any other game, we’ll have a champion from either the Greater Middlesex Conference or Somerset County, as top-seed Montgomery hosts second-seed Monroe Friday evening for the Central Jersey Group 4 championship.
It’s a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Justin Sontupe and Chris Tsakonas joining you for the pregame show at 5:40 pm, and tip-off at 6:00. Click here to listen.
The Cougars are 23-4 on the season, their best year since 2014, which is also the last time they made a sectional final. They fell in the title game at home to Trenton Central before a packed house and raucous crowd in Skillman. Montgomery is ranked tenth in the state, and the third-highest-ranked public school in New Jersey at the moment.
But while Monty has been handling its opponents fairly well, Monroe (19-7) has been challenged in the state tourney, and been able to survive and advance. They beat North Brunswick in the quarterfinals on a near-buzzer-beater – a trey by Brody Piscitelli with three seconds left – then won by three again two nights later in the semifinals at home against Manalapan.
Montgomery is led by Franklin & Marshall-bound Steve Donahue, averaging 16 points a game. Bohdan Biekietov is averaging 11.8 points a game, and had another double-double Wednesday night – 12 points and 10 boards – against Marlboro in the semifinals. And others like Jack Fromelt and Josh Moore have picked up their games in the absence of sophomore guard Ethan Lin, whose season ended prematurely about a month ago when he broke his ankle in a game.
Picture a lot of threes Friday night, as these two teams have combined for 370 through 53 games, an average of almost seven per. Monty has hit 170 times from beyond the arc, with Monroe connecting on 180, with senior Myles Marabuto – the team’s leading scorer at 17.2 points per game – hitting 63 of them. Mark Laughery is right behind with 50, averaging 10.6 points a game, while Piscitelli has hit 38 triples on the season, including the winner Monday night against North Brunswick.
While the Cougars’ last trip to a sectional final was ten years ago, it’s been even longer for Monroe. Their last appearance was in 2006.
One of those teams will rewrite their own history with a win, and pick up some nice hardware, to boot.
Click below to hear both head coaches talk about their matchup in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game Friday night:
Discover more from Central Jersey Sports Radio
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.