Category: Boys Basketball

by Alec Crouthamel

Jose Rodriguez wins CJSR’s GMC Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year after yet another breakthrough year at Colonia

Jose Rodriguez’ accomplishments at Colonia could fill a book in his eight years at the helm.

Six sectional championships – including the Patriots’ current run of five straight – back-to-back GMC Tournament titles, multiple Division I talents, and a whole lot of wins.

And yet, the only thing missing was an appearance in the state final.

Colonia did just that this season, a remarkable feat after losing four starters from last year’s sectional and GMC Tournament champions. Even after a 2-6 start, the Patriots improved and developed every day, responding with a 17-4 stretch with a ten-game win streak in the middle of it. They made it to the GMC Tournament semifinals before falling to Piscataway, and then worked through the North 2, Group 3 bracket to finish off the five-peat.

After losing to Ramapo in the previous four state semifinal appearances, Colonia finally broke through and made it to the Group 3 final for the first time with a win over Montville. Though the Patriots’ season ultimately ended in a loss to Ocean City in the state final, their response to adversity and youth development earned Rodriguez CJSR’s GMC Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.

The Rodriguez family did plenty with the ball in their hands as well. Son Jayce broke out as a sophomore after playing key depth minutes off the bench as a freshman, earning All-GMC honors, averaging 20 points per game, while scoring in double-figures in every game this season.

New to the rotation were underclassmen forwards, freshman Desmond Rudanovic and sophomore Teagan Amponsah. Rudanovic led the team in rebounds at 6-foot-7, while Amponsah improved drastically in front of the Patriots’ very eyes, including a dynamite defensive game in the sectional final win over Chatham. Guards Jayden Johnson and Tyron Holloway — a junior and sophomore, respectively — played big minutes as well, relied on to handle the ball and play solid defense whenever they came into the game.

While the Patriots were a primarily young team, they did have some key experience leading the way. Rodriguez has raved about senior point guard Dylan Chiera — headed to the University of Charleston in West Virginia to play quarterback — at every opportunity. Fellow senior forward Nfa Clyne saw a leap of his own in playing time and responsibilities as one of the team’s top wing defenders and rebounders. Senior wing Tyler Herman also found himself in the starting lineup after his time as a reserve last season, but served as a key defender and leader on the floor.

Not many people could have imagined that Colonia would work itself to Jersey Mike’s Arena for a state title after a 2-6 start on January 6th.

But those in the Patriots locker room never lost faith. And that faith was rewarded with yet another hurdle leapt over in the small-but-raucous confines of the Colonia High School gym.

Click below to hear Colonia boys basketball coach Jose Rodriguez talk about the Patriots’ 2025-26 season, their postseason run, and the program’s future with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:

by Alec Crouthamel

Mergin Sina named CJSR’s Somerset County Boys Coach of the Year after Knights’ first state crown

Mergin Sina has coached plenty of great teams at Gill St. Bernard’s, with talented players that went on to achieve great things at the collegiate level.

But there’s one thing he hadn’t done as the head coach of the Knights’ boys’ team, one thing the program as a whole had not done before.

Hold up the state championship trophy.

This year’s Gill team did just that, rattling off 24 consecutive wins to end the year, winning the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, the Somerset County Tournament, the Non-Public North B sectional crown, and finally, the Non-Public B title at Rutgers last week.

For the team’s efforts, Sina earned CJSR’s Somerset County boys Coach of the Year.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Knights early on. They dealt with some tough tests amid a rugged schedule in and out of conference play, with losses to St. Peter’s Prep and Linden before the new year.

But all of a sudden, Gill turned it around. It started with a New Year’s Day victory over St. Mary’s (Ruth.) — who the Knights later defeated in the sectional semifinals. One win turned into three, which turned into five, which turned into ten, which turned into… well, you get the point.

Some wins came easily, taking a big lead from the jump and cruising to the finish line. Others were true grinders, including the sectional final win over Roselle Catholic, avenging last year’s loss on the same stage.

No matter the style, Gill ran the table in the 2026 calendar year, and relied on a battle-tested core of major contributors. Seniors Dorsett Mulcahy, Declan Corrigan, and Prosper Sonkoua went out on top to end their high school careers, while juniors Jahmal Dixon and Niko West, and sophomore Connor Junker set another building block to work from as the Knights will defend their title next season.

But for now, the Gill St. Bernard’s boys stand at the final mountaintop, for the first time in Sina’s illustrious career.

Click below to hear Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mergin Sina talk about the Knights’ 2025-26 season, the state final, and the long winning streak to end the year with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – Group 3 Finals (Boys): Ocean City, Montgomery 40

Despite a 22-point game from sophomore Jayce Rodriguez, North 2, Group 3 champ Colonia lost to South Jersey Group 3 champion Ocean City, 55-46, in the NJSIAA state Group 3 title game, giving the Red Raiders their first state title since 1964.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway on March 15, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

Heady Montgomery point guard Ethan Lin repeats as CJSR Somerset County Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year

Basketball is a team sport, but without Ethan Lin, it’s highly likely Montgomery isn’t Central Jersey Group 4 champions three years running.

The smart, skilled, and unflappable point guard was the Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year in 2024-25, and now he’s repeated the feat in 2025-26.

Last season, he was coming off a horiffic broken leg injury that truncated his sophomore season. He came back stronger than ever for his junior year, and that trajectory continued this season.

He’s the first back-to-back winner since another pretty good player did it in 2022, and 2023: Mikayla Blakes of Rutgers Prep. She’s doing alright these days, only the leading scorer in the nation in D1 women’s basketball, scoring 27 points per game for Vanderbilt, where she was just announced Thursday as a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy, given to the Women’s College Basketball Player of the Year. A two-seed in the NCAA Tournament, they open play at home Saturday against High Point.

Lin reminds us – in the way he runs the game – of former East Brunswick standout point guard Amir Bell, who lead the Bears to a Central Jersey Group 4 title in 2013 as a junior. He then went on to be a standout at Princeton, where he was a thousand-point scorer, and most recently played in the German Bundesliga.

In the Group 4 semifinals against Cherry Hill East – a 30-point blowout win, 67-37 – Lin scored “just” nine points. And while many would look at that and say he was “held” to nine, he more realistically held himself to nine points. An unselfish player, he saw opportunities to get the ball to teammates Shree Mallavarpu and Connor Benedict, who scored a career-high 23 and a near-career high 28 points, respectively, as they dominated the game.

Or, as his father said to us afterward, “I think they game planned a lot for Ethan, but they forgot everyone else.”

That’s what makes Lin special, his feel for the game that not every player has.

Lin will be headed to play at the University of Pennsylvania next year. The Quakers of the Ivy League won the Ivy Madness Tournament title, and are in the NCAA Tournament as 15 seed, playing third-seed Illinois of the Big Ten Thursday evening at 9:25.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Basketball two-time Player of the Year Ethan Lin:

Honorable Mentions:

  • Prosper Highlander, Gill St. Bernard’s: The senior from Cameroon – full name Prosper Highlander Sonkoua, who dropped the Highlander this year and went by Sonkoua – averaged 15.6 points and 72. rebounds a game this year, and emerging as a big prospect in the class of 2026, currently uncommited. He also hit 37 treys and had 33 blocks and 74 steals for the first-time Non-Public B state champs.
  • Dorsett Mulcahy, Gill St. Bernard’s: The senior point guard – who will head to Canisius next year – has been a rock for Mergin Sina’s Knights, even during a downturn a couple of years ago during a season where the roster was very much in flux. But this year, he upped his game and scored career-high 502 points, averaging 18.6 points per game, with a career-best 66 treys. The Knights finished second in the state – behind only Rutgers Prep – with 254 triples on the year.
  • Will Brunson, Rutgers Prep: Merely a sophomore, Brunson scored 22.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game this season for a squad that reached the Somerset County Tournament finals. He also hit 53 treys, part of a 282-three barrage by the Argonauts that led the entire state of New Jersey
  • Riley Gorman, Immaculata: A senior, Gorman graduates with 1,238 points, cracking the 1k barrier in the Somerset County Tournament, in a win over Bernards. Averaging 22 points a game, he hit 91 threes, and finished his career with 168. And in 28 games played this season, he scored in double figures in all but one, a two-point effort against Westfield where he wasn’t feeling well and sat the second half.
  • Aaron Feath, Hillsborough: Also just a sophomore, he plays on a team with his older brother Derek, but not at all in his shadow. The kid hit big shots all year for a team that won 22 games and lost just eight, and scored at a team-best 18.5 point per game clip, while dishing out 103 assists.
  • Josh D’Ambrosio, Manville: Going 19-9 for a second straight year, D’Ambrosio – also an excellent football player – brought that physicality to the hardwood. He averaged 14.5 points per game, dished 100 assists for the second straight year, and hit 66 treys, giving him 219 in a four-year varsity career.

by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph’s Aidan Carter helped lead Falcons to the top of the heap, named GMC boys’ basketball Player of the Year

There are a lot of good boys’ basketball players in Middlesex County. Some, you’ll see at the end of this article.

But one in particular got all the hype in the preseason, and it turns out none of it was hot air.

Injuries hobbled Aidan Carter last year at St. Thomas Aquinas, which had some of its own upheaval going on around the basketball program after the departure of Bob Turco, who moved on to Piscataway and took the Chiefs right to the county finals. He managed to play 13 games, and averaged 12.8 per contest, hitting nine treys on the season.

But he was perhaps the biggest prize Mark Taylor picked up upon his return to St. Joseph-Metuchen during the off-season. Sure, Joel Patrick from Union made a splash, and Andrew Kretkowski – who came from Rutgers Prep – asserted himself as a leader early on.

And with Carter having to sit the first 30 days due to NJSIAA transfer rules, the Falcons were still 7-0 before he could step foot on the floor. Minus an opener against Wesley College (Australia), the St. Joe’s was winning games, but with Carter, they began to dominate.

Wins by ten and 20 points turned into wins by 20, 30 or more. They had height, and would fly all over the court.

But a 6′ 7″ junior guard who could do it all? He turned out to be perhaps the most valuable piece for St. Joseph, and he’s the Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC boys’ basketball Player of the Year.

Carter upped his game, not having to be bothered by an injury. He played in 24 games, only sitting out what he was required to, and finished with an 18.2 point per game average, nine boards per contest, and 23 triples on the year, to go along with 188 assists, 40 blocks and 63 steals.

Click below to hear from St. Joseph-Metuchen’s Aidan Carter, the GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year:

GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year Honorable Mentions:

  • Andrew Kretkowski, St. Joseph-Metuchen: A transfer in who started his first two seasons at Rutgers Prep, Kretkowski was the second-leading scorer for the Falcons at 17.5 points per game, with 8.2 rebounds. Like Carter, he has in infectious energy that helped rejuvenate his teammates in a huge bounce-back year for St. Joe’s
  • Jayce Rodriguez, Colonia: Along with Dylan Chiera, Jayce was one of two returning starters for a Patriot program that lost major pieces in the off-season, including Aiden Derkack and R.J. Wortman. But his steady demeaner – along with his 20/2 points per game and 79 treys – helped lead Colonia to a fifth straight North 2, Group 3 title, and to its first state championship game in school history.
  • Sam Jones, Sayreville: Scoring a personal best 617 points this season (22.1 ppg) with 66 treys, Jones will graduate as the all-time leader in scoring – boys or girls – at Sayreville, first passing 1970s standout Steve Makwinski’s boys’ record, then Rhonda Rompola’s school record, set in 1978. He finished his career 1ith 1,853 points and 233 triples.
  • Donald Nwaigwe, Piscataway: A thousand-point scorer in four varsity seasons for the Chiefs (who only scored three points in nine games his freshman year, making it even more impressive) Nwaigwe is an energetic ballplayer who averaged 15.7 points per game this season and 8.2 rebounds, leading Piscataway in both categories.
  • Matt Mikulka, East Brunswick: The Bears had their best season since the Bo Henning era, winning 21 games, with Mikulka a big reason why. The senior point guard averaged 20.7 points per game this season, and connected on 83 triples.
  • Yandel Susana, Perth Amboy: Susana was the most prolific scorer the Panthers have had in a single season since Josh Cabezudo scored 544 in 2017-18. He scored 484 points for a 17.2 point per game average as Amboy won its first division title since 1993.
  • Cameron Hayes-Durina: Averaging 16.3 points a game for the Bulldogs (he’s also a solid football player) helped Metuchen to a 24-5 season, 7-0 in the GMC’s White National to win the division, its first title since winning the GMC Blue in 2006, a year the Bulldogs went all the way to the GMC Tournament title game, ultimately falling to Colonia.

by Mike Pavlichko

Smooth sailing in winter championships welcome for NJSIAA, with more experiences at Rutgers to come

Someone will always complain about something – a seed, a snow day – but on the whole, things seemed to go quite swimmingly these last few weeks in the state tournaments for the NJSIAA.

After some hot controversies over the last couple of years, it’s welcome news.

There was Manasquan-Camden’s controversial ending in basketball two seasons ago, then the Anthony Knox wrestling saga last season. But the best news to come out of this week’s state championships – whether it was wrestling at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, or 12 state title basketball games at Rutgers – was that it was all about the champions.

NJSIAA Executive Director Collen Maguire was at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway Sunday for the last day of championships, after spending the last few days down in Atlantic City with the wrestling tournament. And nearly every official with the NJSIAA was nearly all smiles all weekend.

No pointed questions from reporters, no challenges working its way through the courts. The way it should be.

About the biggest challenge for the NJSIAA was dealing with a massive winter snowstorm a couple of weeks ago as the basketball tournament got underway. Originally slated to begin on Tuesday, February 24th with the opening round for public schools in Groups 2 and 4, the blizzard not only postponed those games, but also the opening round for Group 1 and 3 publics on Wednesday.

The NJSIAA smartly had enough breaks baked into the schedule, and it simply moved those days – and the sectional quarterfinal rounds – back two days. Some didn’t like it, and would have preferred to play on time, but the move essentially allowed referee assignments to stay the same, and keep everyone on the same track, rather than having some teams play earlier and have more of a break before the next round. It was the most fair and equitable decision it could make.

And the state athletic association even adjusted is non-public game sites on the fly when some teams – like St. Joseph-Metuchen and St. Peter’s Prep, which are designated Non-Public “South A” schools – had quite the distance to travel. St. Peter’s is in Jersey City, for example, and was faced with traveling far past the home court of its lower-seeded opponent.

Add to all that, a few years into Maguire’s tenure leading the state athletic association, the NJSIAA isn’t sitting still on its championships. A few years ago, she brokered a deal to keep all the state championships in basketball at Rutgers, a central location in the state, rather than have some there, and others down at the RWJBarnabas Arena in Toms River.

It’s a great facility, but it’s not Rutgers, and it just doesn’t have the same cachet. The NJSIAA says it wants a world-class experience for its student-athletes, and Rutgers is it. Plus, it’s as Central a location as you could get.

Sure, some will complain about the price of parking. But those things come with having such a big event. Is $20 really that bad when you can stay and watch four great high school basketball games over eight hours? That’s about $2.50 an hour, maybe a bit more than your average parking meter.

Back in late January, the NJSIAA announced it would move its baseball finals from picturesque Veterans’ Park in Hamilton to Bainton Field at Rutgers, right across from Jersey Mike’s Arena. The park was beautiful, but as the NJSIAA has said, it simply outgrew the park, which had limited parking, a curfew (that provided a controversy of its own last year over a long-running game that had to be suspended and picked up the next day, no tarp (which led to games frequently being rescheduled), and scant cell service that often forced reporters to file stories from their cars, where there could maybe get one more bar – or one at all – on their mobile hotspots.

On Saturday, after the state Group 4 final, we ventured over to see the new facility, which actually is more impressive than any picture released online has even shown.

Brand-new elevated bleachers wrap around from beyond both dugouts, with 400 seat-back chairs directly behind the plate, and a new press-box replaces the antiquated one that used to sit at field level behind home plate, now with plenty of room inside and out for media.

Some of the credit goes to Rutgers here, too. The baseball move happened on the watch of new Athletic Director Keli Zinn, who only began the job last summer, and was hired by similarly-new University President William Tate. They seem to understand the value of having such events on campus.

Even the Greater Middlesex Conference has had discussions with Zinn, and we hear at least one of the topics was to bring the basketball championship doubleheader back to RU. The county finals had been held there for decades, predating the formation of the GMC for the 1985-86 season. (In fact, the first live basketball game this reporter ever attended was the 1984 Middlesex County Tournament final, at age six, when St. Peter’s of New Brunswick beat St. Joe’s-Metuchen in the final.

But the GMC moved to Middlesex County College in 2019 and 2020, citing cost issues at Rutgers. And after COVID, the league began holding the semifinals and finals all at Monroe Township High School, where it has remained since.

But with all due respect, what sounds better as a preseason mantra? “We want to make it to Monroe” or “We want to make it to Rutgers?”

by Mike Pavlichko

From 6-16 to GMC Tournament champs, rejuvenated St. Joseph-Metuchen named CJSR Boys’ Basketball Team of the Year

A year ago, St. Joseph boys’ basketball was a mess. Karl Towns, Sr. – the father of Falcon great Karl-Anthony Towns, who brought the Metuchen school a Tournament of Champions title in 2014 – was on his way out after a disastrous 6-16 season, where he barely coached the team, and seemed to spend more time watching his famous son play at Madison Square Garden after being traded from Minnesota to the Knicks.

Oh, how things changed quickly.

St. Joseph went with a known commodity: Mark Taylor, a 1983 graduate who later coached Jay Williams and Andrew Bynum and won two GMC titles in his first go-round, then later coached at Ridge and St. Benedict’s Prep.

He brought in key transfers, including Aidan Carter from nearby St. Thomas Aquinas, Andrew Kretkowski from Rutgers Prep, and Joel Patrick from Union, among others. The last two played right away, but Carter had to sit 30 days due to NJSIAA transfer rules.

A beautifully-voiced singer once told us it’s “never as good as the first time,” but this one proved the exception to the rule.

The Falcons won their first 16 games before taking a loss, a 55-54 defeat on the road at South Plainfield. It prompted a nearly 45-minute postgame meeting in the visiting lockerroom, but Taylor later called it the best thing that could have happened to his team.

It must have been, because they won their next 13 games, too – blitzing through the GMC Tournament to win the championship, making it all the way to Jackson for the Non-Public South A finals, where they eventually lost to St. Peter’s Prep, a juggernaut that beat five different Central Jersey Sports Radio-area squads this year.

And while they may not have finished the year No. 1 – that went to Gill St. Bernard’s, which won its division, county tournament, state sectional and first-ever state championship – the Falcons’ turnaround and league title earns Team of the Year honors from Central Jersey Sports Radio.

By the way, the Falcons aren’t done yet. Who knows what Taylor has up his sleeve for next year, with Alijah Muprhy the biggest senior graduation, as the core of Kretkowksi, Carter and Patrick will return.

Click below to hear from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Boys’ Basketball Team of the Year, including juniors Aidan Carter and Andrew Kretkowski, along with head coach Mark Taylor:

by Mike Pavlichko

Four titles earns Gill St. Bernard’s No. 1 ranking in final Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball Top Ten

When high school basketball teams open their preseason, hitting the gym in earnest for the first time, they can set all kinds of different goals. For most with high-end aspirations, there are four main ones: win the division, win the county, win a sectional, win a state championship.

In 2025-26, it was check, check, check, and check one more time for Gill St. Bernard’s. And that’s why they finish as the No. 1 team in the final Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball rankings of the year.

With a mark of 28-2, the Knights won the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, and while they played though the division only once due to the new alignment, they decided to play Rutgers Prep twice anyway, the last meeting coming after the SCT seeding meeting, and took both matchups. They then beat the Argonauts in the Somerset County Tournament final, went on to avenge a defeat at the hands of Roselle Catholic in the Non-Public Group B title game, then put on a defensive masterclass in the Non-Public B state final at Rutgers, beating Holy Cross Prep of Delran to win the program’s first state title in school history

The Knights are followed by a very close second in St. Joseph-Metuchen. In their first season under alum Mark Taylor – in his second go-round coaching the Falcons – they went 29-2, their lone loss coming to South Plainfield by one on the road before falling in the Non-Public South A final to St. Peter’s Prep – which, by the way, beat every Central Jersey Sports Radio-area team it played this year: Colonia, Gill St. Bernard’s, Rutgers Prep, St. Thomas Aquinas (twice) and St. Joe’s.

Montgomery finishes in third. At 26-5, the two-time defending champion Cougars won a third straight Central Jersey Group 4 title, but this time had to go on the road to do it after being the top seed each of the last two seasons. Not only did they win at top-seed Hillsborough in the final, but the Cougars dominated Cherry Hill East in the Group 4 semifinals, and made it all the way to Rutgers for the state Group 4 final, where they lost back on Saturday to Plainfield for a second straight season, in a tight game most of the way.

Close behind in fourth is Colonia, which finished 21-11 after a 2-6 start, and having lost several key starters, including Aiden Derkack (transfer to Spire Academy in Ohio) and R.J. Wortman (early football enrolee at Rutgers) among others. The Patriots bowed out to Piscataway in a tight GMC Tournament semifinal game, but wound up getting the top-seed in North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3, and won the sectional title for a fifth straight year, and sixth time in the last seven playoff seasons, all under head coach Jose Rodriguez. They made their first state final ever, too, but fell to Ocean City Sunday in the Group 3 finals at Rutgers, giving the Red Raiders their first state title in over 60 years.

Checking in at five is Piscataway (23-8). The Chiefs – despite a lack of height – were tough again in the GMC Red American Division this year, and took St. Joe’s to overtime in early January. They made it all the way to the county final, where they fell to the Falcons in the title game, and bowed out of a brutal North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoff section in the semifinals to eventual state Group 4 champion Plainfield.

At six, it’s Rutgers Prep (18-10). The Argonauts still had Will Brunson, but had to deal with the loss of Andrew Kretkowski, who transferred to St. Joseph-Metuchen. But they still showed out this season, reaching the Somerset County Tournament final, where it was another battle with Gill St. Bernard’s, who won the championship.

Hillsborough (22-8) checks in at No. 7, after putting together their first 20-win season under head coach Tim Palek, who just wrapped up his fifth season on the bench. The Raiders had fans enthralled through their playoff run, with an exciting win over Jackson Twp. in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals, and they took Montgomery to overtime in the championship before taking the loss.

At No. 8, it’s Immaculata (21-7), the Skyland Conference Raritan Division champs. Season highlights included a home win over in-town rival Somerville, and handing Bridgewater-Raritan its first loss on the road after an 8-0 start by the Panthers.

The last three teams were unranked in the final poll before the postseason.

East Brunswick comes in at nine – going 21-7 this season, and winning the GMC Red National Division with an 8-0 mark – while two others share the tenth and final spot.

We put Perth Amboy (22-6) in at the ten spot along with Manville (19-9), honoring two teams for their full body of work, teams that might not otherwise get recognized in a crowded field of 48 teams between Middlesex and Somerset Counties. The Panthers won their first division title since 1993, claiming the GMC’s White American with an unblemished 12-0 record. The Mustangs, meanwhile, were Skyland Conference Mountain Division champions at 8-0, and beat rival Bound Brook twice this season, with the first of their two victories being their first against the Crusaders in 20 years.

Dropping out were Pingry (13-10) and South Plainfield (18-11).

Below is the complete final Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball Top Ten for 2025-26:

by Mike Pavlichko

Ocean City capitalizes on late turnovers in tight game, tops Colonia 55-46 in NJSIAA Group 3 final

This season, the Colonia boys’ basketball team went further than any other Patriot team in program history in the state tournament, all the way to the state finals at Rutgers for the first time in eleven previous sectional championship season.

But they will have to wait one more year for a chance to take it one step further and win it all.

Some uncharacteristic late turnovers in the final four minutes of the NJSIAA Group 3 final at Rutgers ultimately cost Colonia, and the North 2 Group 3 champs fell 55-46 to South 3 champ Ocean City, in a game heard Sunday afternoon on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

It was a tight game throughout. Colonia led 14-12 after one quarter, and led most of the second half, but found itself trailing the Red Raiders by one, 29-28 at the break. The Patriots had ten from Jayce Rodriguez in the first eight minutes to lead the way, but also had 10 points off the bench, including six from Jayden Johnson.

In the second half, head coach Jose Rodriguez tightened his rotation. And despite no bench points through the first 12 minutes, the game was still close with the final four minutes on the clock – despite three early-fourth quarter treys from junior Josh Lenko – as Rodriguez called a time out to settle the troops.

But then came the turnovers. A poke away here, an errant pass there, and Ocean City capitalized on the other end, going five-of-six from the foul line. All of a sudden, in a game no-one led by more than seven, the Red Raiders pulled away to win by nine.

Lenko, who had 30 in the group semifinals against Central 4 champion Westhampton Tech, went off for 24 to lead all scorers. Sixteen of those points came in the second half. Luke Tjoumakaris finished with 15.

Colonia’s Tyler Herman goes in for a layup in the second half of the Group 3 title game at Rutgers’ Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway on March 16, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Jayce Rodriguez led Colonia with 20, and he had ten in each half. But no one else scored in double figures, as the Patriots were held to just two fourth-quarter field goals: an and-one from Jayce, and a bucket by senior Dylan Chiera, who finished with five, all in the second half.

For Ocean City, which finished the season 26-6, it’s their first state title since they won Group 3 in 1964, just three years into the sectional era. They also won Group 1 in 1955.

Colonia ends its season at 21-11, sectional champs for the sixth time in seven playoff seasons under Jose Rodriguez, who was named GMC Coach of the Year by the league coaches last month. (There were no state playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2021 season.)

They’ve also won five sectional titles in a row, tying a Middlesex County mark set by Odie Page’s New Brunswick teams, who won nine sectional crowns under his tutelage, and five straight from 1983 to 1987.

The Patriots won North 2, Group 3 in 2019, lost in the 2020 title game, but have been victorious in every final going back to 2022.

Click below for postgame reaction from the NJSIAA Group 3 Boys’ Championship Game, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel
Ocean City head coach John Bruno with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko
by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – Group 4 Finals (Boys): Plainfield 49, Montgomery 40

Despite a 20-point game from Penn-bound senior Ethan Lin, Central 4 champion Montgomery lost 49-40 to North 2, Group 4 Champion Plainfield in the NJSIAA state Group 4 title game. It was Plainfield’s second straight state championship.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway on March 14, 2026.