Tag: Ethan Lin

by Mike Pavlichko

Montgomery’s Kris Grundy honored with John Wooden Legacy Award from state, national Basketball Coaches Associations

After a third straight sectional championship in Central Jersey Group 4, and a second straight trip to the Group 4 state finals, Montgomery boys’ basketball coach Kris Grundy has been honored with the John Wooden Legacy Award, given annually to one boys’ and girls’ coach in every state.

It’s from the New Jersey and National High School Basketball Coaches association in conjunction with the John Wooden Family and the Wooden Foundation.

The award goes to a “long-time, active basketball coach who also serves as an outstanding educator and who, through their excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community, embodies the characteristics of coach John Wooden – Excellence, Longevity, Character, Leadership and Service,” according to the NCBCA website.

Grundy told Central Jersey Sports Radio Monday he was “extremely honored and surprised” when he got the news.

“Obviously, to win an award that has Coach Wooden’s name attached to it is something I never would have dreamed of when I started this journey over 20 years ago,” Grundy said.

Grundy received the award at the NJBCA North/South All-Star Game at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, where Penn-bound senior point guard and two-time Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Boys’ Player of the Year Ethan Lin represented Montgomery on the South squad.

Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy (left) with Penn-bound senior Ethan Lin at the NJBCA All-Star Game at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, NJ, on March 29, 2026. (submitted photo)

“What made the day even more special,” Grundy added, “other than the fact that I had family members there to celebrate with me was the fact that one of my mentors, Jim Baglin, the legendary coach for Mendham High School, also got honored with a lifetime achievement award. So it was cool for him to be able to see me receive this award, considering how instrumental he has been in my development as a coach.”

The Cougars went 26-5 this past season, with only two public school losses – to Linden in the regular season by two, and to Plainfield in the state final – while winning the Central Jersey Group 4 title in an overtime thriller on the road against neighbor and rival Hillsborough. They finished the year with a No. 3 ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten.mon

“Obviously, this was a very emotional season for a variety of reasons,” said Grundy, “and I know that my dad, although not here in person, was looking down with so much pride when I received the award.”

Grundy’s father, Michael, passed away at the age of 77 on February 23rd of this year, three days before the Cougars’ opening game in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional playoffs, in which they beat Manalapan, 76-40.

Grundy says he “can’t stress to everyone enough that this award would not have been possible without the support of my wife, Megan, my three boys – Jack, Ryan and Matty – and a coaching staff, administration, booster club and an alumni base that is second to none.”

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

Three-peat! Montgomery overcomes raucous road crowd, stingy Hillsborough defense to win third straight CJ4 crown

Every championship means something different, whether its the first ever, 20th, or third-in-a-row.

For everyone on the Montgomery boys’ basketball team, this one also will mean something different to each of them.

For Ethan Lin, it will be his last at the high school level before he heads off to Penn. For Mike Simborski, it will mean he established himself (even more) as an offensive weapon. For James Kamara, it might be the game where his defensive agility shone the brightest.

For head coach Kris Grundy, it was the first without his father, who passed away last week. The man he’d talk to after every game.

Third-seed Montgomery needed overtime, but eventually, the Cougars were able to get enough ahead on top-seed Hillsborough to close the game out, even if they needed an extra four minutes. The final: 55-47.

No one was ever really in control of the game, even though the Raiders led virtually the entire first half, but by no more than six. They kept Simborski out of the scoring column over the first 16 minutes. And brothers Derek and Aaron Feath combined for three triples.

The third quarter was tight, too. Down 24-19 at the half, a mini four-nothing run by Montgomery turned it into a one-point game. They tied it at 30, and again at 32, and then took the lead, but by no more than two. Then, a few lead changes. And then, Montgomery went ahead again a couple minutes into the fourth.

And even though things swung, one could get the sense that Hillsborough was playing like the underdog: more tentative, a little less daring. Cautious, perhaps.

But Montgomery played it 180 degrees the other direction in the final 12 minutes, the fourth quarter and overtime. They took wild shots, made fancy moves to the basket. And more often than not, they finished.

The final score was Montgomery’s biggest lead of the game, at eight. But even then, they didn’t pull away fast. They hit buckets and foul shots down the stretch to seal the deal.

The Cougars – now 25-5 and three-time defending Central Jersey Group 4 champs – will go on to play Cherry Hill East (25-3), the top-seed and South Jersey Group 4 champion, Tuesday night at 5 pm down at Deptford High School in the state Group 4 semifinals. The Cougars beat second-seed Lenape 57-52 Friday night for the SJ4 title.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there for the semis, as well as the girls’ game at 7 pm between Central Jersey Group 4 champion Franklin and South winner Lenape.

Hillsborough ends its season at 22-8 with the loss.

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year: Ethan Lin comes back from horrific injury to help Montgomery to back to back CJ4 titles

Having a number of key returning players back next season is never a guarantee for anything. Injuries, slumps, anything could derail the best-laid plans.

Which makes what Ethan Lin of Montgomery did this year all the more remarkable.

Lin had a tremendous breakout sophomore year as point guard for the Cougars until he broke his ankle against Hillsborough on January 30th of last year. He missed the rest of the year, including Montgomery’s run to the Somerset County Tournament Final and their Central Jersey Group 4 championship.

He also missed summer ball, which led recruiters to wonder where he was.

Well, come December, they knew where he was. He picked up almost right where he left off, going for a new career high in his first game of the season, scoring 26 points in a 48-44 Game One loss to Hudson Catholic in the NJBCA Tip-Off Classic at Montgomery.

Then, he topped that with 27 against St. Joseph-Metuchen at the Friends of South Amboy Tournament a week later. He matched it three weeks later at Ridge, topped it less than two weeks later with 29 against Camden Catholic. Then eventually did it again with 31 against Rutgers Prep in an SCT semifinal loss, and matched it in their state playoff opener against Monroe.

Yes, Lin came back even stronger, and led his team to the Central Jersey Group 4 title he couldn’t participate in last year, and even further, to the Group 4 championship game where they would fall to the No. 1 team in the state, Plainfield.

And for that, Lin is our Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Boys’ Player of the Year.

Just a junior, he’s already scored 1,125 points. This year, he piled up the assists, and finished the year averaging 19.7 points per game, while hitting 90 treys, including a career high seven against Prep in the county semis, trying to will his team back into the game.

Click below to listen to Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Somerset County Boys’ Player of the Year Ethan Lin:

Here are our Honorable Mentions for Somerset County Boys’ Player of the Year:

  • Jackson Morrison, Bound Brook: One of the top scorers in Somerset County the last three years, Morrison averaged 24 points per game this years, the best of his four-year varsity career, while also averaging 6.7 rebounds a game. He’ll finish his career with 1,673 points, the all-time leading scorer in Bound Brook history.
  • Edryn Morales, Manville: A four-year varsity player, Morales has been in 107 games for the Mustangs and scored 1,350 points in his career. He’ll graduate as their all-time leading scorer as well. And he saved the best for last in his senior season, averaging 19.5 points per game for the season along with 6.8 rebounds. Morales also dished out 108 assists (3.9 per game) and grabbed 88 steals (3.1 per game).
  • Kobe Closeil and Dorsett Mulcahy, Gill St. Bernard’s: On a team loaded with talent at various grade levels (Connor Junker had an outstanding freshman campaign, and Kieran Quinn established himself in the post), this wasn’t an easy one. Even Senior Stanley Njweke had a big presence. Closeil, however, was the team’s leading scorer by a good margin on a team that was very balanced en route to winning the Somerset County Tournament title. The senior averaged 10.9 points per game and was also an excellent free-throw shooter, as well as a distributor, with a team-best 83 assists. Mulcahy, a junior who was in his third year as a starter, was the team’s point guard, and put together his best season yet: 9.6 points a game, 5.3 assists per game. More than that, he was a steadying force on a team that can get up and down the court with the best of them.
  • Myles Parker and Jacob Canton, Rutgers Prep: Like Gill, there are so many talented players here – one area coach told us they may have the most pure talent in the state – but their top two scorers both had stellar seasons. Parker is a senior, and averaged 14.8 points per game, while also logging a team-best 81 steals on a squad that had 287 of them on the year, almost ten per game. Canton is just a sophomore, but was the team’s top scorer, at 15.3 points a game, but also distributes the ball: He had a team-high 141 assists, almost five per game, while also tallying 60 steals, second only to Parker, who is the only significant senior that won’t be back next year.

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Boys’ Basketball Team of the Year: Montgomery Cougars

Starting out a season, there can be multiple goals. Win your division. Win your county. Win a state title.

Only ten teams will get to play in the last game of the year. And this year, the Montgomery boys’ basketball team was one of them.

But that wasn’t all. The Cougars checked off the box next to division champs, winning the Skyland Conference Raritan with a 10-0 record. And while they fell in the county semifinals to Rutgers Prep, they won a second straight Central Jersey Group 4 title – both coming at home – defeating West Windsor-Plainsboro North to claim another piece of hardware.

The state final? Hey, they went up against to No. 1-ranked team in New Jersey in Plainfield, which won the game and the Group 4 title, and should finish as the top team in the Garden State this year.

Not a bad resume.

And yet, even bringing key parts back from last year, who knew how it would play out?

Senior Christian Hill had to play a bigger role. Ethan Lin was coming off a horrific ankle injury late last year that kept him out of the entire postseason run, both in the county and state tournament; how would he rebound? Would Ukrainian import Bohdan Biekietov be as dominant with teams now aware of his skill. And how would his fellow countryman Kyryl Streltsov fit in with the bunch.

There’s no guarantee, even with a good core back, but Montgomery answered the bell time and time again. Their loss to Plainfield? It was their only public school loss this season, and only the second public school they’ve lost to in two years. The other? Lenape, which beat them last year in the regular season and again in the Group 4 semifinals.

But Montgomery checked that box, too, avenging those defeats with a dominant win over the Indians in this year’s Group 4 semis to get to Jersey Mike’s Arena this past Sunday.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Montgomery seniors Christian Hill, Braden Ginsberg, Bohdan Biekietov, and Kyryl Streltsov, junior Ethan Lin, and head coach Kris Grundy:

by Mike Pavlichko

Junior Lin and senior Hill make great tandem for Cougars, as Montgomery seeks state title

The questions came around in the off-season, “Where’s Ethan Lin?”

After a great start to last season, some on the recruiting trail wondered why they didn’t see him playing anywhere over the summer.

The reason? Well, he actually missed the last part of the season – their run to the Somerset County finals and to the Central Jersey Group 4 title – with a broken ankle, which looked downright unbearably painful when it happened in a late January regular season game against Hillsborough.

But when he came back? Boy, was he better than ever. And he’s only a junior.

If he continues on that trajectory, he’ll be high on everyone’s radar next year.

Christian Hill has also paid dividends for Montgomery this season. Appearing in just 14 games as a junior last season, he set four personal career highs this year playing in all 30 games, and is averaging 14.6 points per game in five state tournament games, with a team-best 17 triples. He’s scoring almost 3.5 points per game more in the states than the entire season.

And Montgomery will likely need all that and more if they’re to take home their first-ever state title Sunday night, when they take on Plainfield – the No. 1-ranked team in the state – for the NJSIAA Group 4 championship, which you can hear live right here on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

We got a chance to catch up with the pair after practice this week. Click below to listen:

Montgomery senior Christian Hill and junior Ethan Lin

by Mike Pavlichko

With Biekietov back, Lin returning from injury, Montgomery expects to be in the mix again

After one of the most successful years in school history, including a trip to the Somerset County Tournament Semifinals, and a Central Jersey Group 4 championship, the Montgomery boys’ basketball team expects to be right there again among the best in the area.

The Cougars – who finished 25-4 last year, and No. 3 in the Central Jersey Sports Radio rankings – will lose three key players to graduation, in Steve Donahue, Miggy Aguilar and Josh Moore, but return two big pieces, one of whom missed a good chunk of last year.

That’s Ethan Lin, the point guard who was starting as a sophomore but suffered a terrible ankle injury against Hillsborough on February third and missed the entire postseason run. After a summer off to recoup, head coach Kris Grundy says he had a good fall and is ready to go.

Then there’s Lin’s European travel ball buddy, Bohdan Biekietov, who came here from Ukraine last year with his mother and sister, while his dad remains behind to fight in the war with Russia. Biekietov was a huge bright spot for the Cougars last season, and was the Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Player of the Year.

And, of course, others will be needed to step up for Montgomery. They include senior Christian Hill, who spent the spring running track, going to the Meet of Champions as a Central Jersey Group 4 champion in the long jump.

Braden Ginsberg is another who’ll be relied upon by head coach Kris Grundy, who calls him “our Swiss Army knife,” able to slash through defenses and pick off passes on defense.

Click below to hear Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy talk about the Cougars’ upcoming season:

Montgomery opens its season this Saturday in the finale of its inaugural Tip-Off Showcase, which features seven games, and includes local girls’ and boys’ teams from Montgomery and Rutgers Prep, as well as Colonia. Grundy’s Cougars host Hudson Catholic at 7 pm.

They’ll make an appearance on Central Jersey Sports Radio the following Saturday night at 8:00 when they take on GMC foe St. Joseph-Metuchen in the Friends of South Amboy Showcase at South Amboy High School.

You can find our full 2024-25 High School Basketball Broadcast Schedule here.