No. 2 Gill St. Bernard’s plays stifling defense on No. 1 Rutgers Prep in a 64-27 win over the Argonauts in Peapack-Gladstone on January 16, 2025. (Source: GSB Athletics on YouTube)
In the last two dozen matchups, there were some close ones – like last year’s Somerset County Tournament final – and some not-so-close ones, like this year’s first meeting back on December 17th in Somerset.
They’ve met in the state tournament, and still the result was the same: Rutgers Prep over Gill St. Bernard’s.
Not Thursday night.
Fresh off a 67-54 win at then No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas while ranked No. 4 last week, the now-No. 2 Knights picked up their second signature win of the season against a Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area team, knocking off top-ranked Rutgers Prep 64-27, returning the favor after the Argos beat them 72-39 in Gill’s season opener down in Somerset.
But up in the Hills, the night belonged to Gill.
They had doubled up Prep by the end of the fourth-quarter, ahead 14-7, and never threatened to give the lead back, taking a 36-17 lead into the locker room.
How big a deal was the win?
Gill’s last win over Rutgers Prep came in the 2014 Somerset County Tournament final, 74-47. The win snapped a 24-game skid in the series for the Knights.
It was also the Argonauts’ first loss to a Skyland Conference school since the 2019 SCT final, when they lost to eventual Tournament of Champions winner Franklin. They had won 67 straight against Skyland foes and 54 in a row against Somerset County schools.
And it was head coach Mark Gnapp’s first win over Prep as Gill head coach, now in his sixth season in Peapack-Gladstone.
Three Knights finished in double figures, as Addy Platt and Gandy Malou-Mamel – the UConn commit who was nominated this week for the East side in the McDonald’s All-American game – each finished with 17. Cassidy Moore finished with 15.
Rutgers Prep’s high scorer was Ava LaMonica, with ten.
And while it likely means a new team at the top of the Bellamy & Son Paving girls’ basketball rankings for the first time since CJSR’s inaugural season in 2021 – Prep had been No. 1 in all 43 weeks of the Top Ten – it should make for an interesting SCT seeding meeting when it comes time to fill out the brackets a week from next Monday, on January 27th.
Rutgers Prep falls to 9-3, 5-1 in the Skyland Delaware Division, while Gill improves to 11-2, 4-1 in the Delaware.
Click below to hear Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mark Gnapp talk about the win with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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