Tag: Montgomery

by Mike Pavlichko

Montgomery falls to Plainfield for 2nd year in a row in Group 4 final, as Gordon helps Cardinals pull away in 4th for 49-40 win

The Montgomery boys’ basketball team felt good about its chances coming into Saturday afternoon’s NJSIAA Group 4 state final at Rutgers, and they had plenty of reason to.

All season long, they have gotten outstanding performances from different players every night, with Ethan Lin running the show, Shriyans Mallavarapu blocking shots, Xavier Harrigan coming off the bench to play lock down defense, and Connor Benedict and Mike Simborski connecting from beyond the arc.

And they got that again, with the teams playing a tight first three quarters. Plainfield led 13-9 after one, with the second quarter seeing the lead change four times. It was 22-20 Cardinals at the half.

Whenever it looked like Plainfield was going to pull away, Monty would hit a big shot, whether it was a buzzer-beating three at the end of the first to trim a five-point deficit to two, or Simborksi from the college range on the left wing at the third-quarter horn to slash a seven-point deficit to four.

But the matchup zone defense of Plainfield caused Monty headaches all night, and by late in the game, their long possessions were stretching longer, and with a few misses, The Cards won the rebounding battle in the second half. It was tied 11-11 at the break, but the Cougars were left with a lot of one and dones, and they had a 12-5 advantage on the glass over the last 16 minutes.

And the exclamation mark was a thunderous one-handed jam by Gordon, streaking to the basked from the left wing on a break off a pretty feed from Kamai Lowery with 4:26 left. If it didn’t mathematically put the game out of reach, everyone in the building could sense that it was a harbinger of the celebration that would come when the clock finally winked down to :00.

Lin finished with 20 in the game – including four treys, and two in the fourth quarter – tied for game-high honors with Gordon, a junior who is uncommitted, but has offers from Tennessee, Mississippi State and North Carolina state, among others. Lin, meanwhile, in his last game as a Cougar, will be headed down to The Palestra to play for Penn.

Senior Kamai Lowery finished with 12 for Plainfield (26-5), while fellow senior Rashawn Williams added ten, including a pair of triples.

Sophomore Connor Benedict finished with nine for Montgomery (26-5), while Mallavarapu had six, but all were in the first half.

Click below for postgame reaction from Alec Crouthamel with head coach Kris Grundy, presented by Sportsplext at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Experienced and ready, Montgomery boys seek first-ever state title in Group 4 finals rematch with Plainfield

At the end of the day, throw the seeds out, and just look at where the two teams playing in Saturday’s Group 4 state boys’ basketball title game rank statewide.

Montgomery was a three-seed in its Central Jersey Group 4 playoff section, and had to go on the road to beat top-seed Hillsborough in overtime to win it. Plainfield was a four-seed in North 2, Group 4 and had to travel to beat a higher seed as well – Linden, the two – to win the title.

But these are not your typical three- and four-seeds. Montgomery is the tenth-ranked team in the state, per NJ.com, with Plainfield five spots ahead. They are No. 1 and No. 2 when you take out the non-publics.

And quite truthfully, that’s more like it.

But no matter how you slice it, whoever is inside Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers Saturday when Montgomery (26-4) and Plainfield (25-5) play for the Group 4 title in a rematch of last year’s title game should get every single penny of their dollar’s worth.

You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – for free, with no paywall – beginning with the pregame show, set for 1:40 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel. Click here to listen.

The Cougars have it going on all cylinders right now, and have been well-tested in the state tournament. After a blowout win over Manalapan in the opening round of the sectionals, they earned a ten-point win over Trenton, then went on the road and won back-to-back games: by 12 at Marlboro and 55-47 in OT at neighboring Hillsborough to take home their third straight sectional title, and fourth overall, all of which have come under current head coach Kris Grundy.

And he has a more than capable team.

It starts with Ethan Lin, the Penn-bound senior point guard who runs the show, in every sense of the word. Through the sectional finals, he had poured in 25, 31, 30 and 22 points, but one might be prompted to wonder how he was held to just nine in the Group 4 semis against Cherry Hill.

Watch the game, and you’ll know. Lin has an uncanny ability to know when he has to score, and when he doesn’t. He’ll gladly concede 20 points off his game to let someone else have them if that means Montgomery wins.

And that’s what he did against Cherry Hill East Tuesday night. He kept feeding the ball to two sophomores, Mike Simborski and Shriyans Mallavarapu. Simborski finished with 28, three shy of a career high, while Mallavarapu topped his previous best of 16 points with 23, while he also grabbed 12 rebounds and said “no” to a number of layup attempts by the other team named the Cougars.

But those three are just the start. Connor Benedict – always busy making deflections and stealing the ball – also can light it up from three. And then there’s the literal “X” factor off the bench, junior Xavier Harrigan, a multi-sport athlete who recorded 49 tackles last year – 41 solo – from his spot in the secondary.

Monty has four losses all year: twice to Rutgers Prep – once in the regular season and once in the Somerset County Tournament – once to North 2, Group 4 finalist Linden, and once to newly-minted Non-Public Group B state champion Gill St. Bernard’s.

Not bad at all.

On the Plainfield side, the Cardinals won’t win 30 games again this year – they finished 29-3 last season – but are still among the top public schools in the state

Micah Gordon – an uncommitted junior with his biggest offers from Tennessee and Mississippi State, among others – is the top dog (bird?) for the Cards. The point guard is averaging a shade under 25 points a game on the season, and he’ll eclipse the 2,000-point mark in his career very early next season/later in 2026, already sitting at 1,821 points.

He’s scoring at a 24.4 point per game clip in the state playoffs, where – even more impressive, in a dominating win over Linden – he had perhaps his finest moment in the tournament: 33 points, seven assists, three treys, and something you rarely see at any level of basketball: 14-of-16 from the foul line.

Then three of the next four top scorers – seniors Rashawn Williams, Devin Thomas, and Kamai Lowery – are, like Montgomery’s Harrigan – football players, and bring a unique dynamic to a team that plays in the rugged Union County Conference.

Williams and another senior, Tylor Hunter, are the team’s top rebounders, while Gordon and Thomas have each hit 48 triples on the year.

With two point guards who can take over the game at any time, this one might be as entertaining for the offensive exploits of those on the floor as it is watching each side’s defense try to contain the other side.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko
Plainfield head coach Mike Gordon with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel

Quirky/Useless Stat of the Day: Montgomery is 2-0 against teams whose schools start with the letter C. Ironically, both are named “Cougars.” They had a 72-32 win over the Central Jersey College Charter Cougars on January 30th, and beat the Cherry Hill East Cougars Tuesday in the Group 4 semifinals, 67-57.

LINKS TO PREVIOUS MONTGOMERY STATE TOURNAMENT COVERAGE:

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – Group 4 Semifinals (Boys): Montgomery 67, Cherry Hill East 37

Central 4 champion Montgomery got a career high 23 points and some big blocks from Shriyans Mallavarapu and a game-high 28 points from Mike Simborski – both sophomores – as the Cougars beat South 4 champion Cherry Hill East in the Group 4 state semifinals. The win sends Montgomery back to the state Group 4 championship game against Plainfield for the second year in a row.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Deptford High School on March 10, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

Record four Central Jersey Sports Radio-area basketball teams head to Rutgers for state finals

Talk about a banner year. In our sixth season of existence, a record four high school basketball teams from the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area will be playing for state championships over the next few days at Rutgers University.

There are two publics and two non-publics in the bunch, with Colonia the lone Middlesex County team to make the state finals. Gill St. Bernard’s will send its boys’ and girls’ teams to Piscataway, while Montgomery heads back for a second year in a row giving Somerset County three teams playing for titles.

Here’s the schedule for area teams, and all games can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Bookmark this link to listen all weekend!

THURSDAY, MARCH 12

Gill St. Bernard's celebrates a North Jersey Non-Public B championship on March 9th, 2026 (Photo: Alec Crouthamel).
Gill St. Bernard’s celebrates a North Jersey Non-Public B championship on March 9th, 2026 (Photo: Alec Crouthamel).
  • Non-Public Group B Girls’ Final: Gill St. Bernard’s (22-5, 1 seed, North) vs. Gloucester Catholic (25-4, 2 seed, South), 5 pm
  • Non-Public Group B Boys’ Final: Gill St. Bernard’s (27-2, 1 seed, North) vs. Holy Cross Prep, Delran (27-4, 2 seed, South), 7 pm
Gill St. Bernard's celebrates a North Jersey Non-Public B title on March 9th, 2026
Gill St. Bernard’s celebrates a North Jersey Non-Public B title on March 9th, 2026.

SATURDAY, MARCH 14

  • Group 4 Boys’ Final: Montgomery (26-4, 3 seed, Central) vs. Plainfield (25-5, 4 seed, North 2), 2 pm
Montgomery won its third straight Central Jersey Group 4 championship with a 55-47 win at Hillsborough on March 6, 2026. (Photo: Alec Crouthamel)

SUNDAY, MARCH 15

  • Group 3 Boys’ Final: Colonia (21-10, 1 seed, North 2) vs. Ocean City (25-6, 3 seed, South), 2 pm
Colonia with its 2026 North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 trophy, after beating Chatham at home on March 7, 2026. (Photo: Nick Hart)
by Mike Pavlichko

Montgomery earns another chance at a state title against Plainfield with dominant win over Cherry Hill East in Group 4 semifinals

It’s something he’s done his entire career, but it’s become even more a key for the Montgomery boys’ basketball team this season.

Senior Ethan Lin knows when he has to score, and when he can let the rest of the team do it’s thing.

Tuesday night down at Deptford High School in the state Group 4 semifinals, it was the latter.

Lin scored just nine points, but he distributed, allowing sophomore Shree Mallavarapu to go off for a career high 23, while fellow soph Mike Simborski added 28 – just three shy of a career high – to power Montgomery to a commanding and dominant 67-37 win over Cherry Hill East, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

After three lead changes in the first quarter, Montgomery took a 12-8 lead after the first eight minutes, but extended that to 32-18 at the half. Shree and Simborski were big reasons why. Shree was blocking shots, and had two big late first quarter put backs of misses. Simborski did much of the same in the second quarter, and had 15 by the half, while Mallavarapu had 13 at the break.

And in the second half, Monty continued to do no wrong. Every time Cherry Hill East – the other Cougars – had a punch, Montgomery would get them back with a 1-2 combo, and then another haymaker just for good measure.

The win puts Montgomery (26-4) in Saturday’s state Group 4 final at Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers, which will tip at 2 pm. The Cougars will have a rematch with North 2 champion Plainfield, an 82-69 winner Tuesday in Elizabeth over East Orange in the other semifinal.

Plainfield beat Monty in last year’s Group 4 final at Rutgers.

Click below for postgame reaction from Montgomery’s Shree Mallavarapu, Mike Simborski and head coach Kris Grundy, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Montgomery one win away from back-to-back trips to Rutgers, faces Cherry Hill East Tuesday in Group 4 semifinals

The good news is, just about everyone has been here before.

The bad news? Well, there is no bad news.

Fresh off its third straight Central Jersey Group 4 title, the Montgomery boys’ basketball team will play in the Group 4 semifinals Tuesday night, when the Cougars travel down to Deptford High School for a 5 pm tipoff. But unlike the last two years, they will not be playing Lenape.

Monty lost to the Indians two seasons ago in the Group 4 semis, but got revenge last year with a win that sent them to Rutgers, where they fell to Plainfield. This year, the Cougars (25-4) get, well, the Cougars of Cherry Hill East (25-3)

(So, it looks like referring to the teams by their nicknames is out.)

Cherry Hill East would have earned the top seed in the Camden County Tournament, but with a slew of injuries, they opted out. They did, however, also get the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group 4 bracket in the NJSIAA Tournament, and knocked off top-seed Lenape on the road, 57-52 to get here.

You can hear Tuesday evening’s game live from Deptford High School at 5 pm as part of a doubleheader on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Pregame is at 4:45 with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call. Click here to listen. It’ll be followed by the girls’ Group 4 semifinals, as Central champ Franklin takes on South 4 champ Lenape, with tip-off at 7.

Montogmery has been solid all year, with just four losses: two to Rutgers Prep, one to Gill St. Bernard’s, and another to Linden, which lost Friday night to Plainfield in the North 2, Group 4 final.

Penn commit Ethan Lin runs the offense with aplomb; he knows when he needs to score, but can sense when others need to get involved as well, and he did that better than anyone in Friday night’s CJ4 title win over Hillsborough, 55-47.

Sophomore Connor Benedict mixed things up with some threes and a couple of monster two-handed flushes, Sriyans Mallavarapu was swatting away shots, and Xavier Harrigan was shape-shifting into whatever the defense required of him.

And much of the same can be expected Tuesday night, after a long bus ride down to Deptford, which is just a few miles south-southeast of Philadelphia. There again, Montgomery has “been there, done that,” too. Each of their last two trips to the Group 4 finals were down at Central Regional in Bayville.

Click here for a preview of the Group 4 semifinal matchup between Montgomery and Cherry Hill East with Monty coach Kris Grundy and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

History repeats itself for Montgomery boys’ basketball coach Kris Grundy, as third straight CJ4 title nets his 350th win

Sometimes a milestone comes at the oddest time.

For Montgomery boys’ basketball coach Kris Grundy, his 300th career coaching win came on a big night: Friday, March 1st, when his top-seeded Cougars beat second-seed Marlboro to win the Central Jersey Group 4 championship.

That was Monty’s first title win since 2010, making the moment doubly meaningful.

This year, in his 21st season, a milestone struck again, in almost the same place.

While that title was won in Montgomery’s own gym, as was last year’s, this year’s squad had to go “on the road” – albeit just up the road, with that main road being Route 206 – to win the title. And that victory was No. 350 for Grundy.

The math was easy to do. After winning his 300th, the Cougars lost to Lenape in the Group 4 semifinals. They won 25 games the following year, last season, and are 25-4 this season.

Montgomery will move on to play Tuesday down at Deptford High School in Gloucester County in the state Group 4 semifinals, where they’ll face Cherry Hill East (25-4), the top-seeded South Jersey Group 4 champion.

READ MORE:

2024 Title, Grundy’s 300th Win: Cougars are Champs! Montgomery overcomes early speed bump to top Monroe for CJ4 title before packed house

2026 Title, Grundy’s 350th Win: Three-peat! Montgomery overcomes raucous road crowd, stingy Hillsborough defense to win third straight CJ4 crown

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – Central Jersey Group 4 Final (Boys): (3) Montgomery 55, (1) Hillsborough 47 (OT)

Senior Ethan Lin scored 22 points, while sophomore Mike Simborski added 15, as third-seed Montgomery won their third straight Central Jersey Group 4 title with a 55-47 overtime win at top-seeded Hillsborough.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Hillsborough High School on March 5, 2026.

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

Hillsborough boys may be top-seed, but will have to topple two-time title winner Montgomery to claim Central Jersey Group 4 championship

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: