Manville girls’ coach Mike Knitowski wins 100th game as Mustangs defeat College Achieve Central

The Manville girls’ basketball program is having one of its best seasons in years, with a shot at its first winning record in well over a decade.

Senior Sadie Fleming not only joined the 1,000 point club, but also reached that milestone in the rebounding category, no small feat.

Now, head coach Mike Knitowski has his 100th career win.

He’s been leading the program at his only head coaching job for 13 years, and this is the best season they’ve had. And it’s made for exciting times at the school. The boys’ basketball team beat rival Bound Brook for the first time in over two decades this season – not once, but twice. And the football team notched its first ever playoff win this November against Asbury Park.

For Knitowski, it’s been a long time coming, with some very lead years early on. High school sports, especially among the public schools, is always cyclical, but that’s even more pronounced at small schools like Manville. Who knows what next year will being with a talented group of seniors graduating, so the Mustangs are enjoying it while they can.

Knitowski’s 100th came Monday night, via a 41-31 win at College Achieve Central in North Plainfield. Sadie Fleming led with 17 points, as Manville improved to 10-6.

Knocked out of the Somerset County Tournament this past weekend in the second round by Bridgewater-Raritan, they’ve really only got one more guaranteed loss this season unless they win the state Group 1 championship, which means they have a really good chance at finishing above .500 for the first time in Knitowski’s tenure, since 2012-13, the year before he arrived, when the Mustangs finished 13-11.

Last year’s squad was 13-13, with their trend headed in the right direction, and they’ve lived up to all those expectations so far.

Click below to hear Manville girls’ basketball coach mike Knitowski talk about the path to his 100th win with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: