Somerville – shown here in a January 11, 2025 game at Bound Brook – is in this week’s Top Ten. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
With the top two teams unbeaten in the week gone by, and nearly all others taking at least one loss – to either ranked area squads of out-of-area schools, there was relatively little change in this week’s Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball Top Ten, with Somerville replacing Timothy Christian in the final spot.
Colonia (15-1) remains No. 1 after a 3-0 week, with a 72-55 win Tuesday over St. Joseph-Metuchen, and a victory over No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas, 69-53, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio Thursday night. The Patriots finished their week with a 73-48 road win at Columbia (Maplewood-South Orange) Friday evening.
Gill St. Bernard’s (12-4) holds at No. 2, picking up a 73-54 win Thursday out at Phillipsburg, then a 48-36 win Sunday at Hudson Catholic.
Nearly everyone else dropped at least one game this week, including third-place Rutgers Prep (11-7). After a Thursday win at Hillsborough, 74-57, and a Saturday victory over Saddle River Day, 63-43, the Argonauts lost a home game Sunday to Roselle Catholic, 64-55.
Montgomery (12-3) holds in fourth after a Wednesday win over North Brunswick, 81-60, and a solid 60-45 victory over Immaculata at home on Thursday. The Cougars fell Saturday to Camden Catholic, 68-57, in the Jeff Coney Classic at Rancocas Valley.
Holding in fifth is Ridge (13-3), which opened the week with a 50-47 loss at Caldwell in the Dennis Gregory Memorial Classic Showcase, but came back with a pair of wins over Somerset County squads: Thursday at Bridgewater-Raritan, 51-36, and Saturday at Bernards, 49-25.
Still in sixth is Piscataway (14-4) after a 2-1 week. They also opened with a loss, 63-60 to Union City in the MLK Showcase at County Prep High School in Jersey City. But the Chiefs rebounded with a Tuesday win over No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas, 76-72, and a Saturday home win over Montclair, 65-55, in the Clash of the Counties showcase.
St. Thomas Aquinas (10-5) holds in seventh. They beat Jackson Memorial Monday in the MLK Classic at Hudson County Prep, but came back with a pair of ranked GMC losses, to No. 6 Piscataway Thursday, 76-72, and at No. 1 Colonia, 69-53 Thursday, before topping Phillipsburg on Saturday, 81-71.
Sayreville (14-2) had a 2-0 week, and has won six straight. The red-hot Bombers were 63-50 winners at Woodbridge on Tuesday, then 61-50 over Perth Amboy on Thursday.Watchung Hills Monday, and beat North Hunterdon at home, 72-58, on Tuesday, but fell at No. 4 Montgomery Thursday, 60-45. They closed the week with a 60-51 win over South Plainfield.
Making its debut at No. 10 is Somerville, which is 11-5 after a 2-1 week. They won 56-54 at Voorhees Tuesday and 51-48 over North HUnterdon at home Thursday before falling at Warren Hills, 56-43, Saturday afternoon.
Timothy Christian (8-3) dropped out after losing its only game of the week, 54-45 to North Brunswick, following a couple of weather and illness-related cancellations by opponents.
Below is the complete Week 7 Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball Top Ten:
Discover more from Central Jersey Sports Radio
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.