Tag: Player of the Year

Woodbridge shortstop Gavin Slicner (6) hits a ball.
by Alec Crouthamel

Woodbridge’s Gavin Slicner is Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year after star-studded senior season

Sometimes in high school baseball, you see a stat that makes you rub your eyes to make sure you read it right.

Woodbridge shortstop Gavin Slicner could’ve wrote a whole book of those in his senior year.

The Barrons’ leadoff batter put up a stellar senior campaign and is the winner of the 2026 Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year.

Slicner had already put up a solid junior campaign, but came into his senior year with a determination to build and get even better for his follow-up.

The shortstop put up eye-popping offensive numbers as a senior, batting .517 on the year (including a .966 slugging percentage), with 12 extra-base hits and nine home runs, all team-highs. And even after doing the damage with his bat, Slicner was still a threat on the basepaths with 26 stolen bases to lead Woodbridge.

And the numbers weren’t of the empty kind at all. Slicner came through in countless big spots as a clutch hitter, with plenty of his 32 RBIs playing big roles in Barrons victories.

Comparing his junior and senior seasons, he raised his batting average – already at a solid .400 mark – by over 100 points, added 14 more RBIs, and hit six more home runs.

And while this is print, what we can’t show you is all the defensive gems he turned in at shortstop.

Slicner played a big role leading a veteran-laden Woodbridge squad, with an extremely strong senior class, flanked by standouts such as Xavier Diaz, Kevin Arroyo, Michael Gurovich, and Billy Mansfield. It was a tight-knit group, one that had played alongside each other since their younger days in Little League, and they helped the Barrons win plenty of games.

They made the North 2, Group 4 semifinals twice and the quarterfinals once, and two GMC Tournament quarterfinals. That included a sectional quarterfinal appearance this year, where tenth-seeded Woodbridge knocked off seven-seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood, and nearly took down second-seeded Bayonne on the road.

And the Barrons relied on Slicner plenty in that first-round win over Raiders, as he clubbed an insurance home run in the seventh as part of a three-hit, three-RBI day.

In the end, Slicner and his fellow veteran teammates put together a strong run of Woodbridge baseball to look back fondly on.

The righty shortstop won’t be veering too far away for his next step, either. Slicner will head to Edison to play baseball at Middlesex College after graduation. The Colts finished off a strong 38-17 year, making it to the NJCAA Region 19 / District Final Four Series.

They also featured two former Barrons, as well, in pitchers Drew Lukachyk and Eddy Nunez, as all three played together in 2023. Middlesex boasted 15 former GMC players on its 2026 roster, and will bring in the best of the conference this upcoming season.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel talk with CJSR GMC Player of the Year Gavin Slicner from Woodbridge

HONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Connor Murphy, Edison: The Monmouth-bound senior had an ERA you’d need a microscope to see: 0.54, while going 5-1 on the season, including a no-hitter on April 14 against St. Joseph-Metuchen. He fanned 83 this year, after striking out 82 last year, and graduates with 207 career whiffs, and an ERA of just 2.05 for his four varsity seasons.
  • Grant Lorentzen, JFK: This kid does it all, and not just in baseball. While he was 4-5 as a pitcher despite a 1.97 ERA, he also hit .472 this season. He finished his career with 220 strikeouts and a 1.81 ERA over four seasons, while also logging 102 hits at the plate. And as an impressive side note, he was also a thousand-point scorer in basketball – finishing with 1,246 points – and finished his football career as a two-thousand yard receiver, with 2,470 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had 1,221 this past season along with 22 TD catches, one of the top single-season totals all-time in New Jersey. He’ll play baseball and football at TCNJ.
  • Chris Kozak, Middlesex: While Kozak and junior Dominic Long were really starters 1a and 1b this year – and the difference may at times have been microscopic, the senior Kozak gets the nod here. We saw him get his 200th strikeout late in the season against St. Joseph-Metuchen. Kozak was 6-2 this season with a 1.98 ERA, and fanned 76 hitters, a career high.
  • Ben Faigin, Monroe: Just a junior, Faigin – who’s committed to Rutgers – was 7-1 this season, winning three GMC Tournament games while allowing just four total hits, including a 9-2 first-round win over Colonia in which he threw an immaculate inning. He also got a 1-0 win over South Plainfield in the semis, and led the 9th-seeded Falcons to a 7-0 victory over Old Bridge in the GMC final; both were one-hit, complete-game efforts.
  • Matt Chin, Old Bridge: The senior hit .407 with 22 RBI and two home runs to pace the Knights’ offense this year, helping his team gain a berth in the GMC Tournament and Central Jersey Group 4 finals. He’s also an excellent and smart center fielder.
  • Aiden McCarthy, South Plainfield: “The Bull” is a Rutgers commit, and tough as they come. He was 8-2 this past season, always giving his team a chance to win the big game, including an upset of top-seed Chatham in the opening round of the North 2, Group 3 playoffs. McCarthy struck out 74 this season, and had an even 2.00 ERA, while also getting it done at the dish, where he hit .367 – the best of his career – with 28 RBI, ten doubles, and two home runs. He also no-hit Old Bridge in a 4-1 win on April 21.
  • Louis Rizzolo, St. Thomas Aquinas: The senior and Marist commit was 8-0 this season, with a 0.90 ERA, and also got it done at the plate, batting .382 with 12 RBI and three home runs. In the state playoffs, he hit a big, early three-run home run at Rutgers Prep in the Non-Public North B semifinals, en route to a 7-3 win and berth in the championship game against St. Mary-Rutherford. A four-year varsity player, he never had an ERA over 1.74 in his final three seasons, and finished with a career 1.49 ERA.

by Alec Crouthamel

Immaculata lefty Ryan Auten takes a big senior leap, and is 2026 CJSR Somerset County Player of the Year

Ryan Auten was already on a solid pace after his junior season.

The tall lefty sported a 2.80 ERA in 40 innings, with 69 strikeouts and 32 walks in his first season as a Spartan, after transferring in from Delaware Valley.

But Auten and his coaches knew there was still room to get even better.

The Wake Forest-bound southpaw took all of that room and then some, closing out his high school career with a dominant senior campaign, and has been named Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Somerset County Player of the Year.

COMING TUESDAY: Central Jersey Sports Radio’s GMC Player of the Year

On the season, he finished 7-1 with a 0.74 ERA in 57 innings, all career bests. He also attacked hitters at a wildly efficient level, upping his strikeouts to 114 this season alone — he came into the year with 142 over the previous three years combined — and just 12 walks.

Auten went from pretty good to flat-out dominant, thanks to a strong offseason plan to focus on attacking batters early in the count, and finishing them off, with plenty of simulated game environments leading up to the year.

He allowed just six runs all year, no more than two in any outing, and struck out double-digit batters in all but one start.

Even from the first time he stepped on the rubber as a senior, it was apparent Auten was in for a big year. He finished off an opening week sweep of Hillsborough with a four-hit shutout, striking out 15 Raiders in 100 pitches flat.

With a daunting fastball and wipeout breaking ball combination, Auten was able to put Immaculata in a good position to win every single time he went out to pitch. The Spartans won seven of his nine starts this year, with the only losses coming against Winter Park (FL), where he still struck out 12 batters in five innings, and in an epic 1-0 pitcher’s duel against Watchung Hills in the Somerset County Tournament final. Auten pitched into the extra eighth inning in that one and struck out 15, before ultimately reaching his pitch count.

This year gave him a bonus, as well. He got to share the field with his younger brother, Bryson, for the first time as a senior and a freshman in high school. The younger Auten contributed heavily at the plate and on the mound, looking into his bright future, as well.

After a stellar prep career, Auten is headed to the ACC with the Demon Deacons, where he committed in November of his junior year. Wake Forest has made five straight NCAA Tournaments, and will look to continue its high level with Auten joining the fold next season.

Click below to hear CJSR’s Alec Crouthamel talk with Immaculata pitcher Ryan Auten, the 2026 CJSR Somerset County Player of the Year:

HONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Li Perez, Rutgers Prep: A four-year varsity player, Perez had his best year on the mound, going 6-2 with a 1.49 ERA, striking out 102 – a year after he came up one shy of 100, logging 99 last season. But he also contributed at the plate, hitting .356, with 15 RBI and two home runs.
  • Rob Centamore, Watchung Hills: A big reason for the Warriors’ success in 2026, he did it with his arm and his bat. As a pitcher, the senior was 8-0 with a 0.97 ERA, best on the team. And a big win in the Somerset County Tournament semis propelled them to the finals, where they beat top-seed Immaculata. He also hit .353 (second to Jacob Jaconski at .460) with 22 RBI and led the team with three home runs.
  • Jake Dolan, Ridge: A senior centerfielder, not only did he hit .436 to lead the Red Devils, with a team-best 36 RBI – the most by any Ridge player since at least 2011, and the fourth-best single season total in program history – he was an excellent reliever. He pitched a perfect final inning and two-thirds to clinch the North 2, Group 4 championship, in a 3-2 win over Watchung Hills. In nine appearances, he allowed runs in only three.
  • Michael Lobosco, Bridgewater-Raritan: The senior catcher took over from the excellent JR Rosado full-time in 2026 and managed ten different pitchers this season, and even threw two innings himself. In addition to managing the staff well, helping guide the Panthers to semifinal berths both in the county tournament and state sectionals, he hit .352 to lead Bridgewater, with 26 RBI and one homer.
  • Luca Catanzarite, Immaculata: Just a sophomore, the Spartans’ centerfielder and leadoff hitter led the team with a .427 batting average, while knocking in 19 runs and hitting two home runs. He’ll be a centerpiece of the offense – and the middle defense – for years to come.
by Mike Pavlichko

Stellar sophomore campaign earns East Brunswick’s Ava Catanho CJSR GMC Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year

We get asked a lot about our process for naming a Player of the Year. It starts out that they have to be really good, of course, but there are a lot of very good ball players out there.

So, our next criteria is the value to their team. A team is just that, never one player, but sometimes, there’s one star who stands out, without whose contributions the success of that season might very well not have been possible.

For East Brunswick, that’s sophomore Ava Catanho.

Sure, senior Julianna DelosSantos-Branson had a huge impact, nearly averaging a double-double, with 64 steals, and no one really knew what she might be able to do this year coming off an ACL injury. Juniors Sophia Tannura and Zoey Alexio could hit the three, with 50 each. And sophomore Ave Krzywdzinski dished the ball to the tune of 161 assists with the best of them.

But without Catanho – the team’s top scorer with 543 points (18.7 per game) and a team-best 61 treys, and now a member of the 1,000 point club (at 1,011 and counting) – East Brunswick doesn’t reach the GMC Tournament finals, nor do the Lady Bears get to the CJ4 semis.

And for that reason, Catanho is our 2025-26 GMC Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

Catanho also has the athletic lineage: her mother, Kara (nee Motusesky), is an assistant under Travis Retzlaff, who was named CJSR Coach of the Year in the GMC as well, and was a thousand-point scorer at East Brunswick when she was in high school. Her father is Alcides Catanho, a standout football player at Elizabeth and Rutgers who spent two seasons in the NFL with New England and Washington.

“I’ve been shooting since I was in the crib,” Ava says.

And she’s still going to be shooting for years to come.

Click below to listen to East Brunswick sophomore Ava Catanho – with additional comments from head coach Travis Retzlaff – with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Jordan Barnes, St. Thomas Aquinas: Barnes finishes a four-year career in North Edison with 1,385 points and 746 rebounds, good for career averages of 11.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. This year, she averaged 16.2 points and 5.6 boards in helping lead STA to its record seventh straight GMC Tournament championship, and next year, she’ll be playing at Rider.
  • Trista Whitney, St. Thomas Aquinas: The senior – who played her first year at Edison – also has been a huge factor in the last three championship seasons for the Trojans. This year, she averaged 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and next year, will play at Maryland-Eastern Shore.
  • Angel Smith, Woodbridge: The senior was consistent for the Lady Barrons, scoring double figures in all but four games this year, while also registering 15 double-doubles. She hit for 15.7 points per game and 11.2 boards, helping Woodbridge flip the script this year, going 17-9 coming off a 6-19 campaign a year ago.
  • Layla Gutierrez, North Plainfield: Finishing her career with 1,289 points, the senior was one of the league’s most prolific scorers the last three seasons. She even dropped 50 in a GMC Tournament game this season against New Brunswick, less than a month after scoring 42 against South Brunswick. And she opened the season with 30 against a solid Piscataway team.
  • Gabrielle Hill, Spotswood: Though her scoring was down a tad from last year (15.4 to 13.8), the junior more than doubled her rebounding numbers from a year ago, grabbing 6.4 a game this year. She also got to the foul line 24 more times and hit 34 triples on the season for the Chargers.
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

St. Joseph’s Aidan Carter helped lead Falcons to the top of the heap, named GMC boys’ basketball Player of the Year

There are a lot of good boys’ basketball players in Middlesex County. Some, you’ll see at the end of this article.

But one in particular got all the hype in the preseason, and it turns out none of it was hot air.

Injuries hobbled Aidan Carter last year at St. Thomas Aquinas, which had some of its own upheaval going on around the basketball program after the departure of Bob Turco, who moved on to Piscataway and took the Chiefs right to the county finals. He managed to play 13 games, and averaged 12.8 per contest, hitting nine treys on the season.

But he was perhaps the biggest prize Mark Taylor picked up upon his return to St. Joseph-Metuchen during the off-season. Sure, Joel Patrick from Union made a splash, and Andrew Kretkowski – who came from Rutgers Prep – asserted himself as a leader early on.

And with Carter having to sit the first 30 days due to NJSIAA transfer rules, the Falcons were still 7-0 before he could step foot on the floor. Minus an opener against Wesley College (Australia), the St. Joe’s was winning games, but with Carter, they began to dominate.

Wins by ten and 20 points turned into wins by 20, 30 or more. They had height, and would fly all over the court.

But a 6′ 7″ junior guard who could do it all? He turned out to be perhaps the most valuable piece for St. Joseph, and he’s the Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC boys’ basketball Player of the Year.

Carter upped his game, not having to be bothered by an injury. He played in 24 games, only sitting out what he was required to, and finished with an 18.2 point per game average, nine boards per contest, and 23 triples on the year, to go along with 188 assists, 40 blocks and 63 steals.

Click below to hear from St. Joseph-Metuchen’s Aidan Carter, the GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year:

GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year Honorable Mentions:

  • Andrew Kretkowski, St. Joseph-Metuchen: A transfer in who started his first two seasons at Rutgers Prep, Kretkowski was the second-leading scorer for the Falcons at 17.5 points per game, with 8.2 rebounds. Like Carter, he has in infectious energy that helped rejuvenate his teammates in a huge bounce-back year for St. Joe’s
  • Jayce Rodriguez, Colonia: Along with Dylan Chiera, Jayce was one of two returning starters for a Patriot program that lost major pieces in the off-season, including Aiden Derkack and R.J. Wortman. But his steady demeaner – along with his 20/2 points per game and 79 treys – helped lead Colonia to a fifth straight North 2, Group 3 title, and to its first state championship game in school history.
  • Sam Jones, Sayreville: Scoring a personal best 617 points this season (22.1 ppg) with 66 treys, Jones will graduate as the all-time leader in scoring – boys or girls – at Sayreville, first passing 1970s standout Steve Makwinski’s boys’ record, then Rhonda Rompola’s school record, set in 1978. He finished his career 1ith 1,853 points and 233 triples.
  • Donald Nwaigwe, Piscataway: A thousand-point scorer in four varsity seasons for the Chiefs (who only scored three points in nine games his freshman year, making it even more impressive) Nwaigwe is an energetic ballplayer who averaged 15.7 points per game this season and 8.2 rebounds, leading Piscataway in both categories.
  • Matt Mikulka, East Brunswick: The Bears had their best season since the Bo Henning era, winning 21 games, with Mikulka a big reason why. The senior point guard averaged 20.7 points per game this season, and connected on 83 triples.
  • Yandel Susana, Perth Amboy: Susana was the most prolific scorer the Panthers have had in a single season since Josh Cabezudo scored 544 in 2017-18. He scored 484 points for a 17.2 point per game average as Amboy won its first division title since 1993.
  • Cameron Hayes-Durina: Averaging 16.3 points a game for the Bulldogs (he’s also a solid football player) helped Metuchen to a 24-5 season, 7-0 in the GMC’s White National to win the division, its first title since winning the GMC Blue in 2006, a year the Bulldogs went all the way to the GMC Tournament title game, ultimately falling to Colonia.

by Mike Pavlichko

Perfection!  Middlesex soph Dominic Long goes 12-0, with four state tourney wins, is named CJSR’s 2025 GMC Player of the Year

Last year, it was Cory Rible, the Bridgewater-Raritan closer – whose team won all 17 games he appeared in – taking home Player of the Year honors from Central Jersey Sports Radio.

This year – as we honor two winners – one in the Greater Middlesex Conference and one from Somerset County – it’s Dominic Long of Middlesex, who also was perfect this year. The uncommitted sophomore – though he won’t be for much longer – went 12-0 this season, winning four of his club’s six games in the state tournament, en route to a GMC record seventh state title for the Blue Jays.

Though he admits he issued too many walks for his taste, Long was still incredibly efficient, even if he wasn’t always overpowering.

Dominic Long pitches against Midland Park in the NJSIAA Group 1 title game at Wood-Ridge Athletic Complex on June 16, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Part of that is the pace at which he pitches. Long is of a mind to throw as soon as he gets the ball back, much to the chagrin of opponents, who often will call time to seemingly just catch their breath in between tosses.

He’s also a complete game machine. Of his 13 appearances this season, Middlesex only lost one of those games. He threw 2/3 of an inning in relief in their season opener against St. Thomas Aquinas, and gave up no earned runs, and also closed out the Schalick game in the NJSIAA Group 1 semifinals, throwing the last 2/3 of an inning, and got the win.

But otherwise, he threw complete games in ten of his eleven starts, only missing the last two-thirds of an inning in a 5-3 win at Delbarton on May 8th, where he had to come out after reaching the daily pitch limit of 110.

Even more impressive, he went the distance in the Central Jersey Group 1 final over Point Pleasant Beach on just 76 pitches, and threw 92 against Midland Park in the Group 1 title game.

Long is just a junior, so he’ll be back next year along with junior Chris Kozak, the only other Blue Jay pitcher to start a state game this postseason. While Long has no college offers yet, that will most assuredly change after this season’s performance.

He threw 76 2/3 innings, 1,159 pitches, and finished the year with a 1.37 ERA, allowing just 15 earned runs all season, striking out 72.

Click below for our conversation with 2025 GMC Baseball Player of the Year Dominic Long:

by Mike Pavlichko

Feared Ridge starter Aidan Stieglitz named Central Jersey Sports Radio’s 2025 Somerset County Baseball Player of the Year

Once in a while, there’s a pitcher no one wants to face. One who’s often dominant and unhittable, and on his worst days, just plain damn good.

That’s Aidan Steiglitz.

The Ridge senior who will head down South after he graduates today to play college ball for Elon has been a huge part of Ridge’s baseball success the last few years, even though he was limited last year due to injury, then got banged up again in football.

This season for the Red Devils – who shared the Skyland Conference Delaware Division pennant with Immaculata – the righty Stieglitz was very much more often that not, unstoppable.

And he’s our Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Player of the Year for 2025.

With a 9-3 record, the wins were solid and some of the losses were hard-luck defeats:. There was a 1-0 loss in a rain-shortened five-inning game against Seton Hall Prep that was called off with Ridge still having six outs to work with on offense. (Steiglitz had pitched the top of the sixth, but the game was called a few pitches into the bottom of the inning and the final reverted back to a five-inning official game.)

And in the Somerset County Tournament final against Immaculata, he took the loss in a 3-0 defeat, striking out 12 and allowing just four hits. All three runs were unearned.

In fact, in his 13 appearances this season – with a 0.79 ERA – Stieglitz only allowed earned runs in two games: an early-season 10-4 loss to the Spartans, and that game cut short against Seton Hall Prep.

He finished the season with 99 strikeouts, and 166 in his career with an ERA of 1.15, impeccably consistent in two years and change on the varsity club.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio 2025 Somerset County Player of the Year Aiden Stieglitz talk about his season and future career at Elon with Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year: Gill’s Gandy Malou-Mamel has stellar year, heads to UConn

All across the state of New Jersey, every year, dozens upon dozens of players will graduate and play at the college level. But only a handful get to go play for a major college program that has won multiple national championships.

But that’s the future for Gandy Malou-Mamel, the Gill St. Bernard’s senior who is the 2025 Central Jersey Sports Radio Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

Malou-Mamel didn’t start playing basketball in earnest until she was 12, and in her native Ireland. But playing for the Huskies and the legendary Geno Auriemma was her dream. Now that her career at Gill is over, that’s her reality.

She earned the chance to play in Storrs over the span of three seasons, in which she averaged almost 14 points per game in her career – 1,144 total – and a career-best 17 points a game this season, her senior year. She had double-doubles in 18 of her 28 games this season, and averaged a double-double, at 10.2 boards a game this season. She also recorded almost 200 career blocks (60 this year) and 40 steals.

At 6′ 6″, she was dominant much of her career, and especially this season, leading Gill St. Bernard’s to its first Somerset County Tournament title since 2014, as well as the Non-Public North B finals, where they lost to Immaculate Conception of Montclair, which is closing at the end of the school year.

Unfortunately – for us, not her! – Gill is on Spring Break this week and next, and Malou-Mamel is back home in her native Ireland, where coach Mark Gnapp says she often disconnects and recharges. So we had Gnapp speak on her behalf to talk about her season and career at Gill.

Click below to hear Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mark Gnapp talk about Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Somerset County Girls’ Player of the Year Gandy Malou-Mamel:

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

  • Aleah Sunkins, Franklin: Sunkins had an impressive freshman campaign, and there was no hint of a sophomore slump in 2024-25. While Precious Wheeler is a tenacious defender, Sunkins averaged 15.5 points per game and 8.5 rebounds in her second season as a varsity starter, and eight double-doubles this season for a squad that may have gone 11-16 this year, but they also played in perhaps the toughest girls’ basketball division in the state, losing three times to Gill St. Bernard’s and twice to Rutgers Prep – both state sectional finalists – as well as twice to Hillsborough, the state Group 4 champs and No. 4 team in the final statewide rankings. That’s seven losses – almost half their overall total – to state-ranked teams just in their division alone.
  • Francesca Schiro, Hillbsorough: A talented all-around team, the Raiders don’t do what they did without “Cesci.” With back-to-back Central Jersey Group 4 titles, and this year the state Group 4 title – Hillsborough’s first ever – Schiro was instrumental in it all. This Siena-bound senior averaged 21.1 points per game this season, 6.3 rebounds, and led the tea, in assists (156) and steals (120). She was the undisputed leader of the team, and had big buckets down the stretch of the state finals against West Orange, along with fellow senior Mya Loniewski.
  • Taylor Francis, Pingry: The all-time leading scorer in school history, she finishes with 1,793 points before heading off to Georgetown to play softball. She averaged 27.3 points per game this year, with 66 treys, on a team that went 19-8 this season, and won the Skyland Conference Raritan Division by running the table to a 10-0 record.
  • Ava LaMonica, Rutgers Prep: Just a junior, it just seems like LaMonica has been an Argonaut for the last five years. A fierce competitor not afraid to hit the deck if she’s fouled hard or diving for a loose ball, she led a young, inexperienced group with 65 steals this season while averaging 13.4 points and 5 rebounds per game. And if the band stays together – last year’s team lost three starters to graduation, while another moved to Florida – next year’s group, with another year under its belt – could be primed for something big.
  • Charlotte Taylor, Somerville: While junior Kaylee Lauber also had a fantastic season, and was the team’s leading scorer, Taylor gets the nod here as a senior who’s been consistent her entire career. Averaging 11.5 points, four rebounds, and five asissts per game, Taylor played the senior leader role to a tee on a 23-6 team that went to the North 2, Group 3 semifinals.

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 GMC Boys’ Player of the Year: Colonia’s Aiden Derkack led Patriots to back-to-back GMC titles, another sectional crown

While the Colonia boys’ basketball team was very much a team in every sense of the word, there’s no doubt who is the big draw: Aiden Derkack.

They’ve got a lot of excellent ballplayers. Even Derkack – who was named GMC Tournament MVP for the second year in a row, the first to be so honored since Quentin DeCosey of St. Joseph-Metuchen in 2011 and 2012 – admitted R.J. Wortman could have at least shared the MVP honor with him.

That shows you, of course, what kind of leader Derkack is. But that’s not even something that came as naturally’ it was something he really worked on in the off-season leading into this, his junior year.

Which is another scary proposition for their Greater Middlesex Conference foes. While losing excellent senior guard Zach Smith to graduation, he’s the only senior departing – there’s not even another bench player moving on. So essentially, the entire band will be back in 2025-26.

And that includes Aiden Derkack, Central Jersey Sports Radio’s GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year.

But back to Derkack. The numbers he’s been putting up are off the charts. While a full list of all-time scorers isn’t available, among GMC boys school career scoring leaders, he’s 14th all-time at 1,739 career points. He’ll easily crack the 2,000-point mark next year, joining a club that includes just ten players, although two of them just joined this year, seniors Jalen Fleming of Timothy Christian (2,152) and Alex Grospe of South River (2,173).

Derkack won’t catch No. 1 on the list – John Somogyi at 3,310 points – he could get very, very close, depending on how deep the Patriots go in next year’s postseason, to Blake and Brian Taylor of those great Perth Amboy teams. Brian finished with 2,495, graduating in 1969, while Blake landed at 2,541, graduating in 1975. Derkack would need 802 points to reach Blake Taylor; he scored 790 this season, averaging 24.7 points per game.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s GMC Boys’ Player of the Year Aiden Derkack:

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

  • R.J. Wortman, Colonia: Aiden Derkack may be the star, and everyone plays a role for the Patriots, but their run in the postseason may not have been possible without Wortman, who only played in eleven games last season and scored a grand total of nine points. This season he averaged 12.2 points per game, but was even bigger in the postseason. In the GMC Tournament, he averaged almost 18 points through four games, scoring 20 in the semifinals over St. Thomas Aquinas, then registering a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds in the title game win over Piscataway.
  • Nate Davis, Piscataway: There was plenty of talent to go around with the Chiefs as well, and Davis was the team’s leading scorer. Davis averaged 14.5 points per game, and hit a team best 53 treys on the year. Sophomore Landon Pernell was an excellent point guard, and he’ll have his day, but Davis – along with fellow senior Vaughn Turner, the two biggest pieces graduating – was instrumental in the success the Chiefs achieved under first-year head coach and Coach of the Year Bob Turco: providing senior leadership for the rejuvenated Piscataway program.
  • Aiden Ur, St. Thomas Aquinas: It was a difficult year around the Trojan program in 2024-25, but one player who was key and stuck with it en route to a 15-12 season amongst all the turmoil was Aiden Ur, who joined St. Thomas after playing his first two seasons at St. John Vianney in Holdmel. Ur averaged 16.2 points per game this season with 44 treys, and scored in double figures in all but five out of 27 games. Ur was a steadying force this year.
  • Alex Grospe, South River: The Rams weren’t able to duplicate their success of a couple of years ago, when they went to the Central Jersey Group 2 title game, but he had another outstanding year and was one of two GMC players to join the elite, eight-member 2,000-point club. Grospe – the program’s all-time top scorer – averaged an even 30 points per game this year, and finishes with 2,173 points, placing him fifth all-time in Middlesex County history (including before the GMC era). In his career, he hit 170 three-pointers, and was never someone you’d want to put on the foul line, where he was a nearly 80-percent free-throw shooter in his final three seasons as a Ram.
  • Jalen Fleming, Timothy Christian: Fleming is the other one to join the GMC’s 2,000-point club this year, finishing at 2,152, and also becoming the all-time leading scorer in his school’s history. Quick, but also powerful, he can hit the three or throw down a dunk in transition. Fleming had the biggest scoring season of his four years with the Tigers, going for 681, a 26.2 point per game average. He hit 136 triples in his career, and is an 82-percent free-throw shooter. On defense, he averaged over 40 steals a season all four years on varsity.