Montgomery – shown here after winning their second straight Central Jersey Group 4 title – will have a chance at more hardware Sunday in the state Group 4 final after beating Lenape in the semis on March 12, 2025, at Central Regional High School in Bayville. (Photo: Alec Crouthamel)
After winning its four sectional tournament games by an average of 31 points, the logical thought would be that Montgomery Boys Basketball wouldn’t be able to keep up such a torrid pace in the state tournament, right? Right??
Wrong.
The Cougars (25-5) advanced to their first state title appearance in program history, disposing of Lenape 62-32 at Central Regional High School in the Group 4 semifinals.
The Indians (20-10) opened the game with a bucket, but from then on it was all Montgomery. The Cougars allowed just a single field goal for the rest of the first half, leading 25-3 after the first quarter and 39-5 at halftime.
An efficient shooting performance and timely defensive stops – timely meaning all of the time – helped springboard Montgomery.
Christian Hill scored a game-high 18 points – 15 coming in the first half – with four three-pointers. Ethan Lin scored 11 points with a buzzer-beating, off-balance three to end the first quarter. Bohdan Biekietov was the lone other Cougar in double figures, also with 11 points.
From the beginning, Lenape could not get anything going at the rim with Biekietov and fellow Ukranian forward Kyryl Streltsov blocking multiple shots and overall contesting with verticality. Nolan Barnes opened the game with a basket before Montgomery went on a 19-1 run to end the first quarter.
By midway through the third quarter – and maybe even earlier, depending on who you ask – the game was already in hand, though the Indians had a better third quarter with 12 points as leading scorer Mehki Carter finally got in his offensive groove. By that point, however, the damage had been done.
Montgomery’s win streak has now reached seven straight games, with all but one coming by at least 19 points.
The Cougars will move on to their first Group 4 finals appearance in team history, where they will match up against North 2 Group 4 champion Plainfield, who defeated Ridgewood 60-51 in Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The game will be played at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the campus of Rutgers University, tipping off at 6:00 pm.
Montgomery’s appearance in the state finals is the first for a boys’ public program from Somerset County since Franklin won Group 3 in 2003 – 22 years ago – and went to the now-defunct Tournament of Champions.
Click below for postgame reaction from Alec Crouthamel with Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy and guard Christian Hill, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
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