Coming off second straight sectional title, Montgomery will look to Lin to lead Cougars

Montgomery has had a solid boys’ basketball program for many years under head coach Kris Grundy, but the last two may be the pinnacle of their success so far, and they’re not done yet.

When Monty opens its 2025-26 season Saturday at home in the NJBCA Tip-Off Classic down in Skillman (5:30 pm vs. Don Bosco Prep) the lineup will look a little different, but the goal is top even what they’ve done the last couple of years.

After all, the Cougars have won two straight sectional titles, taking Central Jersey Group 4 over Monroe in 2024, and West Windsor-Plainsboro North last year, when they made it all the way to the Group 4 finals, where they fell to Plainfield, their only public school loss all year.

Granted, Grundy will lose some considerable talent, like Ukranian Bohdan BIekietov (11.9 ppg) and Christian Hill (11.2 ppg), along with supporting cast members like Kyryl Streltsov and Braden Ginsberg.

But All-Stater Ethan Lin is back for his senior year, and everything will flow through him. After a horrible leg injury caused him to miss the last half of the regular season and all the postseason in 2024, Lin came back stronger last season, leading the team in scoring at 19.8 points per game, running the offense, and eventually committing to play Philly Big Five basketball for the University of Pennsylvania.

Other key returnees will be Mike Simborski (5.9 ppg), just a sophomore who Grundy says is a very talented guard. Sophomore James Kamara (32 points last year) also will start, along with junior Connor Benedict, whose grandfather is Jim Benedict, a member of the 1969 Rutgers centennial football team who later returned as an assistant coach under Terry Shea.

They’ll also have another big in sophomore Shriyans Mallavarapu – who Grundy says is a great rebounder, has good footwork around the basket, who is “just scratching the surface” – as well as Xavier Harrigan, a junior defensive specialist who also was a member of the football team that made its first-ever sectional title game this year.

But for Grundy, it still comes down to Lin.

“When you have Ethan Lin on the floor,” he says, “you have a chance in every game that you play.”