Gill St. Bernard’s got 19 points and five treys from Dorsett Mulcahy, plus 16 from Prosper Sonkoua and ten from Jahmal Dixon en route to a 58-49 win over Roselle Catholic in the Non-Public North B final, giving the Knights their first sectional championship since 2012.
Click below to listen to Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from JFK High School in Paterson on March 9, 2026.
Gill St. Bernard’s is back on the mountaintop.
Its been 14 years since their first – and only – sectional title, won all the way back in 2012.
The Knights (27-2) extended their winning streak to 23 games and won the Non-Public North B title 58-49 over Roselle Catholic in a rematch of last year’s sectional final.
It took a heroic closing effort, as the Lions (22-7) never went away, but Gill came up with just enough stops to come away victorious.
The upperclassmen trio of Dorsett Mulcahy, Prosper Sonkoua, and Jahmal Dixon led the way in a veteran-like effort. Mulcahy paced the game in scoring with 19 points — 14 coming in the first half — while Sonkoua found his scoring touch late and defended all over the floor, finishing with 15 points.
Similarly, Dixon wreaked havoc as a roving defender, coming up with three steals and eight points in the third quarter alone. He finished with ten. Sophomore guard Connor Junker hit some big-time free throws late to seal the win as part of a seven-point performance.
Gill took the early edge, led by two three-pointers from Mulcahy for a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Roselle Catholic continued to battle, drawing back even with some tough shotmaking and effort from senior Caleb Jones, usually the team’s third or fourth option. He tied senior Trevon Lewis for the team lead with 15 points each, and Jones hounded the glass, resulting in easy looks at the rim, taking advantage of his 6-foot-7 frame. They were the only two Lions in double figures, though freshman Holland Johnson knocked down a trio of threes off the bench for nine points, thrice his season average per game.
By the time the dust settled in the first half, both teams went into the locker room looking to need a breather after a physical, intense 16 minutes of play. The Knights eked ahead 28-27 at the half.
Then in the third quarter, Gill finally put its foot down and took control. Dixon proved why he’s one of the top all-around glue-guy point guards in the area, running the half-court offense and hunkering down on the defensive end. He scored eight of the Knights’ 15 points in the quarter, with Sonkoua also knocking down a three-pointer to help keep Gill ahead. It held onto a four-point lead after three quarters.
Roselle Catholic threw its final haymakers in the fourth, as the game ground to a halt of half-court offense. The Knights tried — and succeeded — to slow the game down with their lead barely intact. Lewis came alive with eight points in the fourth, and brought the Lions back to within a possession in the final minutes.
With the game in the balance, Mulcahy knocked down a layup, then Gill worked a tough shot that Lewis missed, and it was smooth sailing from there. The Knights made their free throws and came away with their first sectional title in 14 years.
Gill will play in one last game, the State Non-Public B Championship Game, on Thursday at 7 pm at Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers University in Piscataway against the South B champion, Holy Cross Prep, which beat Bishop Eustace Monday night, 55-42.
Click below to hear postgame reactions with Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mergin Sina and guards Dorsett Mulcahy and Jahmal Dixon, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:
It’s hard to be much better than near-perfect.
Gill St. Bernard’s will put that to the test in the sectional final.
The top-seeded Knights (26-2) bring a 22-game winning streak into the Non-Public North B title game against second-seeded Roselle Catholic, a rematch of last year’s final. The Lions (22-6) return a good piece of their core from that team, while Gill St. Bernard’s has seen a mix of returning talent and players stepping up into new roles.
Last year’s game was a true grinder, won by Roselle Catholic 43-35, though six of those points came in one trip to the foul line amid a wild finish, where the Lions attempted to let the ball stay on the ground with the clock running after a late basket by the Knights. Head coach Mergin Sina, irate with the precious seconds coming off the clock, picked up two technical fouls and was ejected.
This year’s iteration features two increasingly-explosive offenses from last year, and hopefully without the fireworks this time around. You can hear the game on Monday at 5 pm from John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, with pregame coverage starting at 4:45, as Alec Crouthamel will call the action. Click here to listen.
Gill St. Bernard’s brings a balanced and multifaceted offense that can beat you in several different ways.
There’s senior guard Dorsett Mulcahy, a veteran who looks and plays similarly to his older brother Paul, but with his own skillset brought to the table. He can shoot over defenders, or post them up to set up passes to the outside. Many of those passes have gone to sophomore Connor Junker, a sniper from the outside who is beginning to fully round out his game on both ends.
Then there’s senior forward Prosper Sonkoua, a true two-way force. He has taken a step forward in nearly every part of his game, with a blossoming off-the-dribble driving game, a pull-up threat from the outside, and a strong passer while slashing. And that’s not even mentioning his ability to guard — and stop — any position, point guard to center. Senior Jahmal Dixon has also taken a step forward as a true Swiss Army Knife, with the ability to create for himself and set up others, while growing into a pesky defender.
To sum it all up, Gill can beat an opponent in so many different ways, and it’ll have to do so in a highly-anticipated matchup against the Lions.
Top scorers Trevon Lewis (15.8 points per game), Tyrease Hunter (13.2 points per game), and Kahlik Thomas (12.7 points per game) all played in this matchup last year and made their own impacts. Hunter and Lewis combined for 33 of Roselle Catholic’s 43 points in the game, while Thomas grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds as a force on the interior.
All three have improved their respective games as seniors, with Lewis even dropping a quadruple-double on Westfield earlier in the year.
Third-year head coach Todd Decker has done plenty of winning in his career, with prior stints at St. Peter’s Prep and the Patrick School, and has another crew ready to defend its Non-Public B title from last year.
But one year after a grind-it-out style game last season, both teams have the offensive horses to reach or even surpass those numbers.
By halftime.
It’ll be a hotly-contested matchup in Paterson between several veteran stars.
Click below to hear a preview interview with Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mergin Sina and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:
St. Thomas Aquinas brought its A game against Roselle Catholic. Or at least its A effort..
But it still wasn’t enough as the fourth-seeded Rams – the No. 1 team in New Jersey – proved why it deserved that ranking with a 90-72 win over top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas – ranked No. 5 in New Jersey – in the Non-Public North B Semifinals in North Edison Monday night, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The Rams – with several high-level Division 1 college recruits – jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first couple of minutes before Aquinas head coach Bob Turco called a timeout to stop the bleeding. It worked, if only momentarily, as the Trojans got the next two buckets to cut it to 10-4.
But Roselle Catholic went on a 15-9 run from there to close the half with a 25-15 lead, and built their lead by five more points at halftime, taking a 47-32 lead into the break that they could not overcome.
The loss ends the season for Aquinas at 25-4, and ends the scholastic careers of three senior starters, Kamal Lee, Terrell Pitts and Jalen Pichardo. Bench players Chris Santner and Sherief Guinyard also will graduate.
The game had all the hype leading up to it, and it wasn’t even a title game. It was just a semifinal, with the Rams seeded fourth and Aquinas first based on power points, not human rankings, which bore themselves out in the game.
North-Carolina bound Simeon Wilcher led all scorers with 27 for Roselle Catholic, and Mackenzie Mgbako – in his first action since late January, added 13. Michael “Deuce” Jones led the Trojans with 19 in defeat.
Roselle Catholic (20-5) now goes on to the Non-Public North B title game Wednesday night at 5 pm at Franklin, against the winner of second-seed Gill St. Bernard’s and 6th-seed Montclair-Immaculate.
COMING SOON! Postgame reaction from CJSR’s Justin Sontupe with Aquinas head coach Bob Turco, presented by SportsPlex at Metuchen.
It’s a game that’s more befitting a sectional final, a group final, or maybe even a Tournament of Champions final – if they still played it.
But it’s only going to be a trip to a title game on the line Monday night when top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas (25-3) welcomes fourth-seed Roselle Catholic (19-5) into the Trojans’ tiny, sweaty gym in the a Non-Public North B semifinal game at 6 pm, that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Justin Sontupe and Chris Tsakonas will call all the play-by-play of what is a marquee state matchup, with pregame beginning at 5:45 pm. Click here to listen to the fill broadcast live on Monday night.
Aquinas is the three-time defending Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Champion, and has gone 84-15 over the past four seasons. They’ve got some great players who are household names in the GMC, including Jaden Kelly, Jalen Pichardo, Terrell Pitts, and seamlessly added Trenton Catholic transfer Michael “Deuce” Jones to the mix this year.
That’s all well and good, but Roselle Catholic – last year’s last-ever TOC winner – is stacked with major D-1 talent. Senior guard Simeon Wilcher is going to the ACC to play for North Carolina. Akil Watson is committed to Arizona State. Mackenzie Mgbako will face Wilcher in the ACC at Duke. Tarik Watson, Akil’s younger brother also is a physical presence.
And even though Mgbako – the transfer from Gill St. Bernard’s – is injured, and hasn’t played since late January, there’s plenty of talent at the ready for the Rams, who count three losses to teams ranked No. 1 nationally – Duncanville (TX), Paul VI (VA) and Montverde (FL) – among their five losses.
In fact, Roselle Catholic hasn’t lost to a New Jersey opponent since dropping its opener last year to Camden, the team it beat to win the Tournament of Champions.
Click below to hear Justin Sontupe talk about the matchup with St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco:
Mergin Sina would be forgiven if he woke up tomorrow, got out of bed, and found himself on Gobbler’s Knob with Phil Connors.
Top-seeded Roselle Catholic beat third-seed Gill St. Bernard’s 68-62 Wednesday night at Franklin High School in the Non-Public North B title game. It was the sixth straight tournament that has ended that way for Gill, extending a streak that run from 2016-2020 (with no tournament in 2021 due to COVID), and the second time the Rams ended their season with a furious rally.
The loss came despite a shooting clinic for the ages put on by Georgetown-bound senior Denver Anglin, who hit ten treys in the game.
But Roselle Catholic rallied big, as they did two years ago, and came away with the win, to move on to Saturday’s Non-Public Group B Final at Rutgers against the South B winner, Trenton Catholic.
Gill St. Bernard’s season ends at 20-7, with losses to nationally-ranked clubs like Camden and LaLumeiere of Indiana.
Roselle Catholic came into the game ranked second in New Jersey, while Gill was No. 4 in the latest statewide rankings released last week.
The way things have gone with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has put high school sports teams in some strange situations. Add in the usual flurry of transfers, particularly in high school basketball, and not everyone has “veterans” who remember – or even played in – the state tournament.
That’s hardly the case, however, for Gill St. Bernard’s, as the third-seeded Knights get set to play top-seed Roselle Catholic for the Non-Public North B title at Franklin High School at 5 pm this evening.
Gill is ranked fourth in the state, Roselle Catholic Number Two. It’s the biggest matchup you’ll see in the state tournament until the final-ever Tournament of Champions, which begins next week.
And yet, senior Denver Anglin and junior Mackenzie Mgbako remember their last matchup with Roselle Catholic well. At least they should. They were on that 2019-20 team, as a sophomore and freshman, respectively.
It was before the pandemic. Right before the pandemic. It was the last game either team played before the pandemic, and the state tournament was shutdown.
It was an epic battle that saw Roselle Catholic mount a furious rally to win 59-58.
But it wasn’t their first epic battle. The Rams beat the Knights by four the year before, and have now beaten GSB in five straight sectional finals in Non-Public South B, from 2016 to 2020. Roselle Catholic won the tournament of Champions in 2018.
How they got here:
(3) Gill St. Bernard’s: first-round bye; def. 6-Montclair-Immaculate in the quarterfinals, 80-59; def. 2-Saddle River Day in the semifinals, 81-42
(1) Roselle Catholic: first-round bye; def. 8-Wardlaw-Hartridge in the quarterfinals, 109-56; def. 4-Morris Catholic in the semifinals, 93-73
Here’s a look at Gill St. Bernard’s history in the NJSIAA tournament under Mergin Sina, all in Non-Public South B, except where noted:
