Montgomery and Rutgers Prep play in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals at Franklin High School in Somerset on February 15, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
There’s an old adage in sports that says, “To be the best you have to play the best.”
And that’s no truer than what will happen Sunday at 6 pm, in the last high school basketball game of the entire season here in New Jersey.
That’s when Montgomery will take on Plainfield – the No. 1-ranked team in the state – in the NJSIAA Boys’ Group 4 Championship Game at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway. You can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame set for 5:40 pm following the girls’ Group 4 final between Hillsborough and West Orange. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel have the call. Click here to listen.
The Cougars are no slouch either. Having won Central Jersey Group 4 this year and last year, they are 25-5, and haven’t lost to a public school all year. Injuries – those suffered this year and last year – are in the rear view mirror, and Monty is clicking on all cylinders.
After falling to Lenape twice last year – in the regular season and in the Group 4 semifinals – the Cougars avenged that defeat with a win in the same round and in the same place, down at Central Regional in Bayville back on Wednesday night, in dominating fashion, 62-32. They came out hot and led 25-3 after one quarter, and 39-5 at halftime.
That’s unlikely to happen Sunday evening at Rutgers, of course, but it’s likely to be a hotly-contested game for 32 minutes – or more.
MORE ON THE NJSIAA BOYS’ GROUP 4 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Montgomery (25-5) vs. Plainfield (28-3)
When: Sunday, 6 pm
Where: Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers University, Piscataway
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel (LISTEN HERE)
Special thanks to our game sponsors:
Grundy Hoops Academy
Headline News of Montgomery
PREVIEW INTERVIEWS:
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Montgomery (top-seed, Central Jersey Group 4 champion)
First Round: Def. (16) Monroe, 69-26
Quarterfinals: Def. (9) East Brunswick, 66-47
Semifinals: Def. (12) North Brunswick, 67-43
Finals: Def. (3) West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 80-41
Group 4 Semifinals: Def. South Jersey Group 4 champion Lenape, 62-32
Plainfield (top-seed, North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 champion)
First Round: Def. (16) Perth Amboy, 81-42
Quarterfinals: Def. (8) Linden, 74-58
Semifinals: Def. (5) Westfield, 62-36
Finals: Def. (2) Elizabeth, 68-45
Group 4 Semifinals: Def. North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 champion Ridgewood, 60-51
TOP SCORERS:
Montgomery: Ethan Lin (19.8 ppg, 86 treys); Bohdan Biekietov (12.1 ppg, 6 treys); Christian Hill (11.3 ppg, 62 treys)
Plainfield: NaJai Hines (18.9 ppg); Micah Gordon (16.7 ppg, 46 treys)
TOP REBOUNDERS:
Montgomery: Bohdan Biekietov (~9 rpg)
Plainfield: NaJai Hines (17 rpg)
MISCELLANEOUS:
Plainfield: NaJai Hines (88 blocks); Micah Gordon (166 assists, 96 steals)
BY THE NUMBERS
Points Per Game Scored: Montgomery 62.4, Plainfield 65.8
Points Per Game Allowed: Montgomery 47.1, Plainfield 45.4
Average Margin: Montgomery +15.3, Plainfield +20.4
Threes Per Game: Montgomery 6.7, Plainfield 4.9
NOTES AND NUGGETS:
Carolina to the Queen City: Senior NaJai Hines is from North Carolina, but transferred to Plainfield – the alma mater of his mother, Ayisha, and where he has several family members – for his senior year. After sitting out the early season due to NJSIAA transfer rules – he’s played in 25 of the team’s 31 games, and in addition to averaging a double-double (18.9 ppg, 17 rpg), he’s actually hit for a double-double in all 25 games. In the state tournament, he’s averaging 21.8 points and 17.2 rebounds in the five games so far. He’ll be a handful for Bohdan Biekietov, but maybe not, if the Cougar senior from the Ukraine continues his dominant postseason play.
Montgomery Against the Publics: The Cougars haven’t lost to a public school all year, and the only one they lost to last year was Lenape, twice. The first time was January 6th in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at home, 56-50. Then, the Indians got them again in the Group semifinals, 57-43. But all five of this year’s losses have come to non-publics: one each to Hudson Catholic, Camden Catholic, and St. Rose, with two to Rutgers Prep – once in the regular season, and again in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals. Then, they got back Lenape with a 62-32 rout in this year’s Group 4 semifinals.
Cardinals’ Seek 5th State Title: While Montgomery is seeking its first-ever state title, in its first trip to a group championship game, Plainfield has won four in three different decades. They beat Neptune to win Group 4 in 1976, then Trenton to win Group 4 in 1983. Then – after Group 4 finals losses in 2004 to Lenape and 2010 to Cherokee, they came back the next year in Group 3 and went back-to-back in 2011 and 2012, beating Burlington Township and Neptune, respectively. They also made the Tournament of Champions finals in both of those seasons, falling to St. Anthony of Jersey City both times. In the 2012 TOC, they knocked out St. Joseph-Metuchen in the semifinals, the first of the Falcons’ three straight trips that culminated with them winning it all in 2014 with the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Maruqes Townes and Wade Baldwin.
Final Game Streak: Including Sunday’s Montgomery-Plainfield game, Central Jersey Sports Radio will have broadcast the final game of the entire high school season in the last three sports seasons. We carried the Group 4 Baseball Championship won by Bridgewater-Raritan in 2024, which was the last game on the final day of the public finals at Veterans’ Park in Hamilton. Then, we brought you the final game of the football season, a Wednesday night affair between Phillipsburg and Winslow Twp. at Rutgers, necessitated by the Stateliners’ Thanksgiving game with Easton. And now, the Cougars and Cardinals will play the last game of the season Sunday night. If the NJSIAA sticks to its rotating schedule, it would appear Group 3 will be the last baseball championship game of the season. South Plainfield? Colonia? Anyone?
Perfect Strangers: With six state championships on the boys’ side of the NJSIAA tournament, none of the 12 matchups featured teams that had played each other during the year. Only one title game last year was a repeat meeting, in Non-Public Group A, where Don Bosco Prep beat Paul VI in a regular season showcase, and in the state final. And it happened twice in 2023. St. Peter’s Prep rematched with Union Catholic in the 2023 Non-Public A final, losing by three in the rematch after beating Union Catholic in a regular season showcase. And Roselle Catholic beat St. Rose in a regular season game, then took them out again in the state final by nine, in Dave Boff’s final season before heading down to College Achieve Asbury Park, which is no longer an NJSIAA member and doesn’t play in the tournament.
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