Tag: Jacob Canton

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

No. 3 Rutgers Prep puts pedal to the metal from the tip, tops Franklin at home, 86-33

Franklin head coach Kashiff Foster said this week his team would need to play “out of their minds” to beat Rutgers Prep in their Skyland Conference Delaware Division game Thursday night.

The only problem? The third-ranked Argonauts played even more out of their minds.

Their defense fueled their transition play the entire first half, allowing for easy buckets – like five dunks – and good looks a thees, which they hit plenty of – six in the first half alone.

Prep ran out to a 24-8 first half lead, then took a 52-16 advantage into halftime, leading to a running clock in the second half.

Sophomore Andrew Kretkowski finished with a game-high 19 for Rutgers Prep, four shy of a season-high, while fellow soph Jacob Canton scored 15, hitting twice from downtown. Senior Myles Parker had 13 points, including three triples.

Click below for postgame reaction from Rutgers Prep sophomore Andrew Kretkowski and Jacon Canton, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep boys will get to defend 2023 SCT title, clinching fourth straight finals berth with semifinal win over Hillsborough

Somerset County Tournament top-seed Rutgers Prep used the three-ball and teamwork to come from behind and advance to its fourth straight county title game, thanks to a 69-58 come-from-behind home win over fourth-seed Hillsborough on Thursday night.

The Argonauts will face Montgomery – making its first-ever trip to the county final – in the SCT title game Saturday at 3 pm, following the girls’ game at 1 pm between Rutgers Prep and Gill St. Bernards, with both games being broadcast live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

It was raining threes in the first half – primarily by the Argonauts (18-6) – who overcame a 10-0 deficit to start the game and successfully sunk five three-point baskets to take a 15-14 lead after the first quarter.

It was a three pointer from Jacob Canton that ended the drought for Rutgers Prep, equalizing a three point basket from the Raiders’ Zion Harrison on the other end.

There was a steady diet of fouls on both sides but plenty of aggressive movement in the paint by both offenses, stingy defense, and fast action up and down the court.

Junior Myles Parker led the way for Rutgers Prep with 12 first-half points including a pair of three pointers and a posterizing one-handed slam-dunk.

That was after he fell hard to the floor with just under 4:00 to play in the first quarter and was left holding his neck. But he came back into the game and led the charge the rest of the first half.

Parker was held in check in the second half to only five points, but had another posterizing dunk.

No Parker? No problem.

Seeing the tight defense on Parker, Jacob Canton took the baton and ran with it in the second half compiling 22 points overall on the night.

Senior Jayden Green was the bellcow for the Raiders (15-8) with ten points at the first half break, but he was held to just two points in the second half.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebenau, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep’s Jacob Canton and head coach Matt Bloom

by Mike Pavlichko

Parker, Canton spur Rutgers Prep second half rally to win at Montgomery, clinch SCT top seed

Rutgers Prep had won 23 straight games against Somerset County Public schools in the regular season coming into Tuesday night’s huge Skyland Conference crossover game at Montgomery.

The last public school in the county to beat them was Montgomery, which did it twice in the 2019-20 season. And it looked like they might do it again.

Until it didn’t, and No. 1 Rutgers Prep topped No. 4 Montgomery 62-48 in Skillman in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The Cougars jumped out to an early eight point lead on some quick threes by Miggy Aguilar and a nice and-one by junior Boghdan Biekietov. That ballooned to 13 in the second quarter.

The Argonauts couldn’t put the ball in the ocean at that point. But you knew they wouldn’t miss all night. And they didn’t.

Slowly but surely, they chipped away, and got it to a 27-26 game at the break. So in the end, it was en even first half.

But the second half belonged to Prep, specifically junior Myles Parker and sophomore Jacob Canton. The two combined for 33 points in the game, 31 of them coming after halftime, 18 in the third quarter alone.

Prep built the lead to 17 in the third, and as many as 21 in the fourth. Monty got back to within 12 with a few minutes to go, but that was as close as they would get.

Parker led all scorers with 18, but the bigger news perhaps was Montgomery’s Steve Donahue, which Prep targeted on the perimeter all night. He got no good looks, and was constantly contested when he did get a shot off. He was held scoreless for just the second time in his varsity career.

The win putts Prep at 12-5 overall, undefeated in Skyland Conference play, and should give them the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament when it’s seeded next Monday night. The Argos have just one conference game left – Thursday at home against Hillsborough, which they beat last Tuesday, and the Raiders lost more ground losing to Franklin two days later. 

As for Montgomery, they would have had the leg up for the top seed had they won Tuesday night. Instead, they will likely play for the two-seed when they host Hillsborough Saturday afternoon at 2:30.

Click below for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep sophomore Jacob Canton, junior Myles Parker