Top-seed Franklin won its first sectional title since 2020, beating third-seed Hillsborough 52-41, behind 20 points from Alissa Myers and a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds from Aleah Sunkins, to win the Central Jersey Group 4 championship.
Click below to listen to Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Franklin High School in Somerset on March 5, 2026.
It might have been apparent which team was playing for its third straight sectional title, and which team was playing in its first in six years heading into the fourth quarter in the Central Jersey Group 4 final.
In the final eight minutes, though, that perception flipped 180 degrees.
Top-seeded Franklin claimed its first sectional title since 2020, rallying from a nine-point deficit at the end of the third quarter to stun third-seeded Hillsborough 52-41. The Warriors (22-8) turned up the heat exponentially in the final frame, holding the Raiders (21-7) without a field goal in the entire fourth quarter, with just two free throws, leading to a 22-2 scoring margin in the final eight minutes.
Senior guard Alissa Myers proved to be the hero, tying her career high with 20 points, 12 coming in the fourth quarter alone. She knocked down a trio of three-pointers and got Franklin back into the game with her shooting, while the Warriors’ swarming defense stifled Hillsborough the entire way.
Franklin had three scorers in double figures, as star forward Aleah Sunkins shook off a slow start and apparent third-quarter hand injury to finish with 11 points, six coming in the fourth quarter. She knocked down four consecutive free throws in the final minute to put the game out of reach. Sophomore guard Jamila McRiney scored ten points, including two three-pointers in the first quarter to help kickstart the Warriors’ offense.
Juniors Kayla Cebedo and Victoria Liedl each scored 12 points to lead the Raiders, as Liedl converted on four big-time three-pointers to help Hillsborough build its lead to begin with. Cebedo hit two free throws in the final 45 seconds for the Raiders’ only fourth-quarter points. Isabella Ruh scored ten points before fouling out late, attempting to extend the game. Junior guard Nevya Loniewski also fouled out early in the fourth quarter, finishing with five points.
The physicality and athleticism on both sides were apparent from the jump ball, as Franklin ended the first quarter with a 13-11 lead, but Hillsborough continued to play solid defense to open the game as Ruh nailed two treys. Loniewski hit another to open the second quarter to put the Raiders back in the lead, and neither team scored for the next four minutes as the championship pressure appeared to speed up both teams.
Hillsborough eventually gained an edge with two minutes left in the half, but the Warriors managed two straight baskets in the final minutes to head into the locker room with a slim one-point lead.
The Raiders’ championship experience and poise both shone through in the third quarter, outscoring Franklin 19-9 as Cebedo controlled the pace with the ball in her hands, and Liedl knocked down two more three-pointers. Ruh added two baskets at the rim of her own, while containing the Warriors’ offense by speeding them up and forcing turnovers. By the time the dust settled, Hillsborough sat with a 39-30 lead with eight minutes to play, and all of the momentum headed in the visitors’ direction.
But Franklin never lost faith.
The Warriors cranked up the energy on defense, forcing several turnovers in the fourth quarter with its full-court pressure, and the shots finally started to fall. Franklin made four three-pointers in the final period, three from Myers and McRiney added another, while forward Alivia Stewart got downhill and scored four key points. The trio of McRiney, Myers, and senior Kayla Duncan wreaked havoc in the backcourt and carried Franklin back into the game.
By the time the Raiders knew what hit them, the Warriors had ripped off a 20-0 run and taken a double-digit lead.
It wasn’t totally over just yet, as Hillsborough’s strategy to foul with 90 seconds left worked to perfection with six straight missed Franklin free throws, but it ultimately didn’t matter as the Raiders still couldn’t get anything to go on offense. The Warriors then gave the ball to Sunkins to bring the ball up, and she calmly knocked down four straight at the charity stripe, even with a wrap on her hand.
Franklin clinched its first sectional title since a run of four straight from 2017-20, when Audrey Taylor had the Warriors rolling as one of the top teams in the state. Now, in Year One under head coach Jimmy Kreie, Franklin has climbed one mountain and has a chance for another in the state tournament.
The Warriors will face off against the winner of the South Jersey Group 4 finalists, top-seeded Lenape and third-seeded Howell, in the Group 4 semifinals on Tuesday at Deptford Township High School.
Click below to hear postgame reactions with Franklin head coach Jimmy Kreie and senior guard Alissa Myers with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:
The last time (the only time) the Hillsborough boys’ basketball team won a state sectional title, it was 2015. Coming off a 22-3 year in which they beat Gill St. Bernard’s to win the Somerset County Tournament championship.
Ian Progin’s team didn’t quite make the encore, bowing out in the quarterfinals of the SCT to Montgomery, the Raiders were 11-12 heading into the state tournament, not even a top eight seed.
All they did was win four games on the road, culminating with an upset of top-seed Freehold Township on the road in the final, 66-58, making for a boisterous trip back up to the ‘Boro from Monmouth County.
This year’s team? Well, they’re 22-7. And nothing’s easy, but having earned the top-seed in Central Jersey Group 4, they would certainly be considered a contender for a title. Since the tournament started, they’ve cemented that rep, entering the state Top 20 at No. 20 last week, up one spot this week to 19.
They will face another state-ranked team Friday night in the CJ4 final: No. 14 Montgomery, as the top-seeded Raiders take on the third-seeded Cougars (24-4) for some NJSIAA hardware. Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there so you can listen to the game, with tip-off set for 6 pm, pregame at 5:40 pm. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will be on the call. Click here to listen.
While many will look at Montgomery’s two wins over Hillsborough this year – by 16 on the road in the regular season in mid-January, and 15 at home in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals back on February 7th. But Montgomery also took a pair of losses to Rutgers Prep, while the Raiders beat them, 82-79, the next game after losing to the Cougars in the SCT.
While the guards get a lot of attention – including Derek Feath, who now owns the single season three-point record at Hillsborough with 78 and counting – it was the frontcourt that came up big Tuesday in the semis against Jackson. Layne Pawlowski scored 13 and had six rebounds, Kai Williams had ten and five rebounds, and Kow Quagrine had nine.
And Hillsborough may need that against Montgomery’s big, Sriyans Mallavarapu. Also known as “Shree,” he had 12 blocks in Monty’s 61-49 win at second-seed Marlboro Tuesday in the semifinals.
Click below to hear Hillsborough head coach Tim Palek talk about the Central Jersey Group 4 final against Montgomery with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
While the Montgomery boys’ basketball program has won back-to-back Central Jersey Group 4 titles, and seemingly been through it all, there was something that happened Tuesday that was a first on this run by the Cougars: a true road game.
Sure, in 2024, they had to go all the way down to Central Regional in Bayville to play a sectional semifinal against South 4 champ Lenape, which they lost. And last year, they got another crack and this time exacted revenge, sending them to the Group 4 final against Plainfield at Rutgers.
But Tuesday was different. Those were neutral courts.
Tuesday saw the third-seeded Cougars playing a sectional semifinal on the road, down in Monmouth County, against Marlboro, the second-seed.
Despite a slow start and an early deficit, Montgomery prevailed, and now will play another road game in the final, though not quite as far away.
Friday night, Monty (24-4) will travel up Route 206 on a short jaunt to neighboring Hillsborough, where they’ll face the top-seeded Raiders (22-7) for the Central Jersey Group 4 title. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with tip-off set for 6 pm, pregame at 5:45 with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call. Click here to listen.
Montgomery has beaten Hillsbrough twice this season: by 16 on the road in the regular season, and by 15 at home in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals. But head coach Kris Grundy has been around long enough to know those don’t mean a thing. The Raiders are playing solid basketball at the right time of the year.
Still, Montgomery has been solid all year as well. Of their four losses, one came to Gill St. Bernard’s, two to Rutgers Prep, and one to Linden, which is in the North 2, Group 4 final Friday night against Plainfield. All those teams are ranked in the statewide Top 20.
Ethan Lin, of course, has been a big reason for Monty’s success, even though he missed that 2024 run with a broken leg. He came back stronger than ever last year, and has been even bigger this season. Lin is a steadying force on a team that’s a bit on the young side otherwise. And in three games in the state tournament, he’s averaging 28.7 points per game, going for 31 and 30 in the last two.
But big man Shriyans Mallavarapu – just a sophomore – has also been “a revelation,” according to Grundy. Tuesday night at Marlboro, he had 12 blocks. You don’t want to get down low against him and risk your shot being swatted away.
Click below to hear Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy talk about Friday’s Central Jersey Group 4 title game against Hillsborough with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
5.6 miles. Ten minutes (or fewer, depending on the amount of lead in your right foot).
That’s the distance on Amwell Road in Somerset County between Hillsborough High School and Franklin High School. And those two schools will face off in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game on Thursday evening, with the top-seeded Warriors (21-8) playing host to the defending Group 4 champions and third-seeded Raiders (21-6).
It’ll be a battle of experience levels, as Hillsborough looks for its third straight sectional title — winning North 2 Group 4 in 2024 and Central Jersey Group 4 last season — while Franklin reached its first sectional final since 2020 under first-year head coach Jimmy Kreie.
It all goes down in Franklin on Thursday evening. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Alec Crouthamel, with pregame starting around 5:45 pm and tipoff at 6. Click here to listen.
Even after the Raiders lost a group of seniors from that title-winning squad, Hillsborough’s program culture kept some of the underclassmen ready for important action.
They’ve been needed, especially of late. Almost the entire rotation had to shift roles and/or positions with the absence of second-leading scorer Alexa Gaspar in the semifinals against East Brunswick. That preparation helped fuel a come-from-behind victory on the road, to help get Hillsborough to this point.
The Warriors have had mostly smooth sailing in the sectional tournament, winning three games against Shore Conference foes by an average of 40 points.
Junior forward Aleah Sunkins has continued to stake her claim as a top talent in the state, stacking the stat sheet while continuing to improve as a perimeter threat, paired with her ability to get downhill with force. She added a career-high 33 points against Jackson Township in a semifinal victory.
Franklin has a style — and plenty of athleticism and versatility to boot — as things are fully coming together down the stretch of Kreie’s first year at the helm.
It’ll be a heavyweight battle in the sectional title, and a rematch at that. The Warriors defeated the Raiders in Hillsborough 72-44 back on January 6th, but both coaches agree their respective teams have improved and evolved in the two months since that game.
Hillsborough may have the championship experience, but Franklin brings a title-winning coach himself — Kreie won the Non-Public B title with now-closed Montclair Immaculate last season — and a team hungry to reach the heights of the late 2010s, in its first sectional title appearance in six years.
Both teams will look to run and gun, but in the end, whichever team sticks to its plan and stays calm under pressure will likely walk away with the trophy.
Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:
Hillsborough head coach Courtney Tierney
Franklin head coach Jimmy Kreie
The NJSIAA has announced what sectional champions will play where next week, when the state high school basketball tournament moves to the group semifinal stage.
Groups 2 and 4 will play state semifinals on Tuesday, with Groups 1 and 3 taking their turn on Wednesday. Winners move on to the state Group Finals at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, with Groups 2 and 4 playing on Saturday, and Groups 1 and 3 finishing up on Sunday.
Here are the assignments for next week’s State semifinals.
Tuesday, March 10 – Groups 2 and 4
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Wednesday, March 11 – Groups 1 and 3
Based on those assignments, here’s where the remaining public schools in the tournament from the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area would land:
Top-seed Hillsborough got 15 points each from Jack Toth and Aaron Feath – with Feath hitting three times from downtown – to beat fifth-seed Jackson Township in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals, 73-44, sending the Raiders to their first sectional title game since they won their only championship, in 2015.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the play-by-play from Hillsborough High School on March 3, 2026.
Tuesday night’s Central Jersey Group 4 semifinal for the Hillsborough girls’ basketball team was a roller coaster, and from the start they were a little out of sorts.
But by the second half, the Raiders figured things out, and the rest of the game was like coasting to the ride’s finish line on a straightaway.
It all amounted to a 60-49 win for second-seeded Hillsborough at third-seed East Brunswick, sending the Raiders to a third straight sectional final, after they won North 2, Group 4 in 2024, and Central Jersey Group 4 last season, along with the overall state Group 4 Championship.
Isabelle Ruh notched her 18th double-double of the season in 27 games – and second straight in the state tournament – with a 17-point, 15-rebound night, while Morgan Bice added 13 and Kayla Cebedo added 15.
Head coach Courtney Tierney said with Gaspar out, some players had to slip into different roles, and it took a little while to get accustomed to that. But once they did, the Raiders (21-6) looked like the championship team they’ve been the last two seasons.
But they will have a stiff test Thursday night in the final at top-seed Franklin. To begin with, the game was moved one day earlier to accommodate a state wrestling event Franklin is hosting on Friday. Tip-off will be 6 pm.
That also means they’ll have one less day to prepare for the Warriors (21-8), who beat them in their only regular season meeting this year, 72-44, back on January 6th in Hillsborough.
East Brunswick’s season ended at 23-6. Sophomore Ava Catanho finished with 17 points – tying Ruh for game-high honors – and added nine rebounds.
Click below to hear postgame comments from Hillsborough girls’ basketball coach Courtney Tierney with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
If you watched the first half of top-seed Hillsborough’s Central Jersey Group 4 semifinal against fifth-seed Jackson Township Tuesday night, then left and looked at the final score later, you might wonder what in the world happened.
Or think it was a typo.
Well, it wasn’t. In fact, for the Raiders, it was picture perfect and nearly flawless.
The first half saw seven ties, at two, six, eight, ten, 12, 14, then – after Jackson took a six point lead and threatened to pull away – at 28-28 late in the half. Hillsborough led by two at the break, 30-28.
In the second half, things just changed. The Raiders hit more shots, clamped down on defense, and – when Jackson did get to the basket – made them miss, and scooped up rebounds, then got in transition and scored. That all fueled a 19-6 third quarter for ‘Boro, and ultimately a 73-44 win heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Bigger than a win, it got the Raiders back to a sectional final for the first time since they pulled off a miraculous run in 2015, when they were 11-12 heading into the state tourney, but won the Central Jersey Group 4 title, stunning Freehold Township on the road, 66-58, with a team led by late head coach Ian Progin.
Sophomores Aaron Feath and Layne Pawlowski each had game-highs of 15 points in the win, with Feath coring ten after the break, and Pawlowski 13. Aaron also hit a buzzer-beating three at the end of the third to give his team a 49-34 advantage, it’s biggest of the game at that point. They led by 27 later, in the fourth.
Another tenth-grader, point guard Jack Toth, ran the offense like a well-oiled machine, and finished with 13, all in the first half.
The win puts top-seed Hillsborough (22-7) in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game Friday night at home against third-seed Montgomery (24-4), which beat second-seed Marlboro on the road Tuesday night, 61-49.
The Cougars are the two-time defending champions in the section, and beat Hillsborough twice this year: 53-37 on January 13th in the regular season, and 53-38 on February 7th in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals.
Click below for postgame reaction from Hillsborough sophomore Aaron Feath and head coach Tim Palek, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
The 2013-14 Hillsborough boys’ basketball team will be remembered as one of the greats in school history, going 22-3 and beating Gill St. Bernard’s to win the Somerset County Tournament championship.
But the 2014-15 team was a pleasant surprise.
While they didn’t get close to winning the SCT that year, they made an improbably run in the state tournament, stunning Freehold Township on the road in the Central Jersey Group 4 championship game. Their record at the time was 15-12, and they were knocked out in the state semifinals a few nights later by Cherry Hill East.
Tuesday night, the Raiders – the top seed in Central 4 this season – will look to get back to a title game for the first time since 2015 when they play fifth-seed Jackson Township out of the Shore Conference. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with tip-off set for 5:30 and pregame starting around 5:15. Click here to listen.
Hillsborough (21-7) picked up its first state ranking in years last week, checking in at No. 20, and this week is up to 19. They have a signature win over Rutgers Prep, which came late in the season, on February 10th, right after losing at Montgomery in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals.
That’s a Montgomery team they could face again in the finals, but one game at a time.
The Raiders are led by sophomore Aaron Feath, who’s averaging nearly 19 points per game, while his older brother Derek, a senior, keeps adding to a school record for three-pointers in a single season, now at 77 and counting.
Meanwhile, Jackson Twp. (18-6) began the season in a unique situation, with the talents of the district’s two former schools, Jackson Liberty and Jackson Memorial coming together. Declining enrollment led the announcement last spring the two schools would merge this year, and use the Jackson Liberty campus.
That left Jackson Memorial coach Randy Holmes taking on some Liberty players, as well as head coach Don Connor, who’s an assistant. But the starting five is essentially Memorial’s starting five from last year. The Jaguars are led by senior George Boley – a two-time transfer who started out at Roselle Catholic, then followed Dave Boff to College Achieve before coming back home last year for his junior season. – who’s averaging 17.8 points per game. Senior Jimmy Pappalardo is second in scoring at ten a game, with a team-best 45 treys.
The winner moves on to Friday night’s championship game against either third-seed Montgomery or second-seed Marlboro.
Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
