Rutgers Prep sophomore Will Brunson goes up for a shot against Montgomery in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals at Franklin H.S. on February 14, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The Skyland Conference Delaware Division is a beast. Three teams are ranked in the statewide Top 20, all from ten up to three.
So, whenever they meet in the postseason, whoever they meet, they are always well-prepared.
So it was Saturday morning in the first Somerset County Tournament semifinal game. Second-seed Rutgers Prep and third-seed Montgomery both came in with excellent resumes. But someone had to win.
That was Rutgers Prep, as the Argonauts (16-8) clinched a berth in their fifth straight SCT title game, dating back to the 2020 season, with a 66-57 win over the Cougars (20-4) at Franklin High School, as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Montgomery led by as many as six int he first quarter, but by the end of it, Prep had taken a three-point lead, 16-13. In the second half, they started to pull away, in part because they extended their defense on the Cougars to limit their thee-point ability, after sophomore Mike Simborski hit a couple big threes in the first.
The Argonauts had a 12 point lead late in the first, and Monty closed with a mini 5-0 run to get the deficit to a manageable seven.
But the third quarter belonged to Prep, as they built out to a 13 point lead, getting some big threes from Rocco Loomis, Bryce Williams and Nicholas Nsenkyrie.
And in the fourth, it left Montgomery playing catch-up, but they just couldn’t get much closer. It was an eight-point game with three minutes to go, but every time Monty punched, Rutgers Prep came right back.
Sophomore Will Brunson led Rutgers Prep with 20 points, including two threes, while Nsenkyrie added 15. Logan Franz chipped in 11 and Rocco Loomis had 10.
Montgomery was led by Simborski with 29, a new career high. Senior point guard Ethan Lin finished with 20, including 13 in the fourth quarter, on four treys and a foul shot. He’s now 20 shy of tying the all-time Montgomery scoring record of 1,593 by girls’ standout Cameryn Benz (2016). He passed the boys’ record formerly held by Maurice Bahr (1976) earlier this season.
Click below for postgame reaction with Rutgers Prep sophomore Will Brunson, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
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