Tag: Jared Goldstein

Manville guard Josh D'Ambrosio (3) directs traffic for the Mustangs against Middlesex in the Central Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals.

March 2, 2026March 2, 2026 by Alec Crouthamel

Manville boys rally, stun Middlesex in Central Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals

Midway through the third quarter, Manville was on the ropes.

In the Central Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Mustangs (19-8) trailed Middlesex 36-22 on the road, with a rising home crowd.

But just as it looked like the playoff matchup was going to slip away from Manville, they struck back.

The Mustangs ended the third quarter on an 11-2 run, and kept their foot on the gas to eventually pull away late and stun the third-seeded Jays (19-9) 47-44. Senior Josh D’Ambrosio finished with a game-high 22 points – 14 in the second half – and knocked down a go-ahead three with under two minutes to play to take the lead for good.

As the final buzzer sounded to end a frenetic final minute, Manville came out of the fray with a victory, before being promptly mobbed by the section’s worth of students who made the trip down Route 28.

Middlesex opened the game rolling on both sides of the floor, complementing an aggressive and opportunistic defense with a balanced scoring attack on offense. Five different Jays scored in the opening quarter.

They took a nine-point lead into halftime, led by 13 points from Jax Robel. He finished with a team-high 19 in the loss, as the Mustangs’ defense held him without a point in the final quarter. As a team, Middlesex knocked down six three-pointers in the opening half, but made none in the second half.

Once the teams exited the locker room after halftime, it was clear Manville had a different intensity than the opening 16 minutes.

The Mustangs attacked the basket and set up threes of their own on offense, and did a much better job matching up on the defensive side, forcing turnovers and bad shots.

The late run to end the third quarter was just as much due to Manville’s defensive intensity as its deliberation and efficiency on offense. In addition to D’Ambrosio taking more scoring initiative, the Mustangs got a major boost from junior forward Jonathan Gosk with seven points in the third quarter alone. He finished as the team’s second-leading scorer with ten points.

Manville trailed by five at the end of the third, and the momentum fully swung the visitors’ way quickly to start the fourth. D’Ambrosio drew a three-shot foul to open the scoring, and freshman guard Levan Chankotadze added a three-pointer of his own to take the lead for the first time in the half.

The two teams went back and forth from there, including a go-ahead three-point play chance from Chris Kozak, but Manville found its footing from the perimeter and knocked down its free throws late to seal the upset victory. D’Ambrosio scored 11 of the Mustangs’ 14 fourth-quarter points.

Manville moves on to the semifinal round for a third straight year, where it will face the winner of the opposite quarterfinal between second-seeded Point Pleasant Beach and tenth-seeded Dayton. The location will depend on the winner of the game. Middlesex’s season comes to a close with a 19-9 record.

Click below for postgame reactions from Manville head coach Bill Rooney and guard Josh D’Ambrosio with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:

January 8, 2022January 8, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Undersized Middlesex looks to give Bound Brook fits again when they meet in Skyland-GMC Challenge

The Bound Brook boys’ basketball team has won 17 straight games, going back to the start of last year’s 14-0 campaign. But perhaps none were as challenging as the Crusaders’ game against neighboring rival Middlesex.

The Blue Jays had Bound Brook tied up in all kinds of knots last February 20th, and led by 9 after one quarter, though the Crusaders’ eventually triumphed, 77-67. “They just ran up and down the court against us, and we had a difficult time against them,” says Brook coach Anthony Melesurgo.

The two teams will square off Saturday at 6 pm in the final of four games at the Skyland-GMC Challenge at Bound Brook, which can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. The game will immediately follow the 4 pm tilt between Timothy Christian and Franklin. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action, with Tigers’ coach Dennis McNulty providing analysis. Click here to listen.

But this year, the Blue Jays have lost three straight, and are 2-4 on the season, coming off a 78-49 loss at South River Friday night.

In one respect, they’re still looking to replace thousand-point scorer Mark Brower, but on the other hands, there are nine players overall – and a half-dozen on the varsity roster – who also play baseball for Middlesex, which won the state Group 1 title last year.

So while the “W”s haven’t taken care of themselves just yet, it’s a group that knows how to win, and how to win championships. Doing it on the court is the next step.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Middlesex head coach Jared Goldstein about the season so far, and Saturday’s matchup against Bound Brook:

February 8, 2021March 3, 2021 by Mike Pavlichko

Rivals Dunellen and Middlesex square off tonight at Faber school

Editor’s Note: While Central Jersey Sports Radio unfortunately is unable to broadcast tonight’s game (see our Broadcast Schedule for recent changes and the current slate) we offer this preview of the Blue Jays and Destroyers.

Coming off a better than .500 season for the first time under 7th-year head coach Jared Goldstein – where they were also the third-highest scoring team in the league behind St. Thomas Aquinas and Carteret – Middlesex come into 2021 looking to build. At 2-2, they have a win over division foe Spotswood, and 0-4 Woodbridge, a step up to the GMC White Division.

With neighboring rival Dunellen coming off a 25-5 season and moving up from the GMC Gold to the Blue Jays’ Blue Division this season, Middlesex has its sights set on tonight’s game against the Destroyers at the Faber School. (The game begins at 6 pm and you can watch the game’s livestream by clicking here.)

But Dunellen has this game circled, too. At 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the division – a half-game ahead of South Plainfield (2-1 in the Blue), the win is a chance for the Destroyers to prove they belong at the next level.

Dunellen has won two straight in the series (49-38 in 2019 and 77-47 in 2018, both in holiday tournaments in December) but Middlesex leads 7-3 since the start of Goldstein’s tenure with the Blue Jays, and 6-2 since Horowitz took over the Destroyers.