Top five foe stands in the way for Argonauts as Rutgers Prep boys to challenge St. Rose in Non-Public South B

One of two Top 15 matchups down at Jackson Liberty High School Monday evening – after their girls’ team takes on Gloucester Catholic for a title – the Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball team will have a tall order when the third-seed Argonauts take on No. 1 seed St. Rose of Belmar for the Non-Public South B championship.

Yes, there will be two great games on tap, and Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there with live coverage, beginning with the girls’ game at 5 pm, and the boys at 7. Mike Pavlichko will have all the play-by-play. Click here to listen.

Both teams have challenged themselves, playing and beating some top-flight competition. And they’ve also played each other, with the Purple Roses coming away with an 80-63 win on December 23rd.

But that was a long time ago, in basketball time.

Since then, Prep has played three tough games against Gill St. Bernard’s – twice in the regular season, and again in the Somerset County Tournament final; and, by the way, Gill plays for a title tonight, too, up in Paterson – and knocked off Montgomery, this year’s Central Group 4 champ, in the SCT semis.

Rutgers Prep (20-9) is ranked No. 11 statewide, the Purple Roses (22-7) are third. Both have taken losses against some tough teams. Prep lost its opener at the Tip-Off Showcase in Montgomery to Manasquan, 64-61, on a buzzer-beater – ironic, considering how the Warriors’ season ended in controversy last year – while St. Rose beat them by five two days later. They also beat Gill in early January in the Hoop Group Boardwalk Showcase, 50-48.

Prep is led by two sophomores, and a senior, in that order, in terms of scoring. And they’re all around the same mark: Jacob Canton is averaging 15.5 per game, Andrew Kretkowski 15.3, and senior Myles Parker is scoring at a 15.2 point per game clip. Together, they account for 65.5% of the Argonauts’ scoring in any game. But we’ll get back to them in a minute.

The Argonauts should have a height advantage over St. Rose, whose biggest losses to graduation are 6′ 8″ Matt Hodge and 6′ 6″ Gio Panzini. The Roses go as big as 6′ 6″ junior guard Jayden Hodge, an all-Shore Conference star who has offers from schools like Villanova, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, among a host of others. He’s averaging just over 19 points per game this season, and leads the team in rebounding, assists, blocks and steals.

But head coach Brian Lynch – a Christian Brothers alum who played with eventual Rutgers standout Geoff Billett in Lincroft, then faced him often while playing in the Big East at Villanova – runs nine-deep in his rotation, so a lot of players will get in.

And now back to the Big Three. Because 6′ 7″ sophomore Andrew Kretkowski – the team’s top rebounder, who’s second on the team in blocks with 29, and can step out and hit the three – sat out the sectional semifinals against Holy Cross Prep with an undisclosed injury, and is listed as day-to-day.

To make matters worse, 6′ 11″ junior Logan Franz has been out with an injury since February 19th, and won’t play either.

So maybe Prep won’t have that height advantage, but there enough talented players on both sides that this should be a hotly contested game.

That first meeting was on the road for Prep, in St. Rose’s tiny, loud, bandbox of a gym.

And seemingly ages ago, too.

Click below for previews of Monday’s Non-Public North B final with both head coaches: