Tag: Somerset County Tournament

by Mike Pavlichko

Your Saturday Playoff Tour Guide: Here’s the full slate of Somerset County, GMC Tournament games for boys’ and girls’ basketball

We’re officially in the thick of county tournament season in high school basketball!

Here in Central Jersey, Franklin High School will play host for the second year in a row to the Somerset County Tournament semifinals. Two boys’ and two girls’ games highlight a four-game extravangaza with the first tipping at 10 am, and the last at 4 pm. Winners will move on to next Saturday’s finals down at Montgomery High School in Skillman, with the girls’ final at 1 pm, and the boys’ title game at 3 pm, both of which can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Meanwhile, the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament is in the quarterfinal stage, with all eight games – four on the boys’ side, four on the girls’ being played at the higher seeded school for the first time in ages. All will be played Saturday, with several doubleheaders.

Winners move on to next week’s semifinals, all at Monroe Township High School. The girls’ semis are at 5 and 7 pm Tuesday, and the boys’ semis are at the same times on Wednesday. The half of the bracket with the top seed will play the late game, regardless of who advances. The finals are on Friday night back at Monroe, with the girls’ title tilt at 6 pm and the boys’ championship at 8. Central Jersey Sports Radio will air all six of those games.

Here’s the chronological schedule of games for Saturday, along with coverage plans:

10 am
SCT Boys’ Semifinals: (2) Rutgers Prep vs (3) Montgomery (at Franklin H.S.) (LIVE on CJSR)

11:30 am
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (6) Woodbridge at (3) Piscataway

Noon
SCT Girls’ Semifinals: (1) Rutgers Prep vs. (4) Bound Brook (at Franklin H.S.) (LIVE on CJSR)
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (5) Spotswood at (4) Colonia
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (8) Middlesex at (1) St. Thomas Aquinas
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (5) St. Thomas Aquinas at (4) East Brunswick

1 pm
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (9) Metuchen at (1) St. Joseph-Metuchen
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (7) Sayreville at (2) Piscataway

2 pm
SCT Girls’ Semifinals: (2) Gill St. Bernard’s vs. (3) Franklin (at Franklin H.S.) (Follow Alec Crouthamel for updates)
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (7) Monroe at (2) East Brunswick

3 pm
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (6) South Plainfield at (3) Colonia

4 pm
SCT Boys’ Semifinals: (1) Gill St. Bernards vs. (5) Immaculata (at Franklin H.S.) (Follow Alec Crouthamel for updates)

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending champ Gill St. Bernard’s, Immaculata get set to tussle in Saturday’s final Somerset County Tournament semi

With four Somerset County Tournament semifinal games on tap at Franklin High School this Saturday, it’ll be defending champion and top-seed Gill St. Bernard’s taking on fifth-seed Immaculata for a trip to the championship game next week at Montgomery in the last of the hoops extravaganza’s four games.

There was little doubt who the top-seed would be. The Knights are 22-2, their only losses coming to St. Peter’s Prep and Linden. They’ve beaten everyone they’ve played in the Skyland Conference and Somerset County, and are ranked No. 3 in New Jersey (one of three Somerset schools in the top ten, with Rutgers Prep nine and Montgomery at ten).

They are the team everyone is chasing.

The Spartans (17-5) are one of those doing the chasing. And they have their share of quality wins in the county this year. They handed Bridgewater-Raritan its first loss of the season when the Panthers were 8-0, and – if you believe in the transitive property of sports – beat a Pingry team in the quarterfinals last week on the road, one which they had lost to earlier in the season, but also which had knocked off Rutgers Prep.

Gill and ‘Lata will face off at 4 pm, and Alec Crouthamel will have coverage on Twitter, with a game story and postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen later at cjsportsradio.com.

Make no doubt about it, it’s a huge challenge for Immaculata. Gill is stacked, and that’s a fact. Senior point guard Dorsett Mulcahy is averaging 19.8 points per game with 57 treys, second only to sophomore Connor Junker, who has 58 and is scoring nearly 13 per contest; he was the hero of last year’s county final, with a game-high 15 points and four treys in the win over Rutgers Prep.

They fly up and down the floor, run half-court sets well, and play strong defense, all the ingredients needed.

Likewise, Immaculata plays with particular intensity as well. Their challenge will be having the depth, physicality, length and speed to match. The focal point of the offense is Riley Gorman and Tyler Burns.

Gorman, who scored his 1,000th point in the first round against Bernards, is averaging a whopping 22 points per game, and has hit 71 treys on the year for a team that has hit 183. (Gill has 219, third best in the state.) Burns is averaging a cool 15 points per game, with another 42 triples.

Immaculata is seeking its first trip to the finals since 2009, when they were the top seed and beat Ridge for the trophy. Gill is looking for its second straight trip, but has made 13 of the last 14 title games going back to their very first appearance in 2010.

by Mike Pavlichko

New-look Gill St. Bernard’s back in a familiar spot, while Franklin looks to take next step in Saturday’s SCT semis

Both of the teams who will meet in Saturday’s second girls’ basketball Somerset County Tournament semifinal game have some newness to them.

Jimmy Kreie is in his first year as Franklin head coach, and he has he third-seeded Warriors a win away from getting back to county championship for the first time since 2019, when Audrey Taylor’s squad went 34-0 and won the Tournament of Champions for the second time in three years.

Mark Gnapp at second-seed Gill St. Bernard’s graduated a slew of talent, but has persevered this season with less height, but more speed to get up and down the floor, and is poised to make its fifth straight appearance in the county final.

Tip-time as the two square off this Saturday in the SCT semifinals at Franklin High School is 2 pm. Follow Alec Crouthamel on Twitter for coverage, and he’ll have a game story and postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen later at cjsportsradio.com.

The Warriors (16-7) had a rough start, partially due to the schedule. They lost their opening three games to Rutgers Prep, Gill, and Demarest, three teams that now are a combined 57-8. Since then, they are 16-4.

Junior Aleah Sunkins has been impressive, averaging a double-double – 18.9 points per game and 10.8 rebounds – while hitting 26 treys. Senior Alyssa Meyers has been bombs away from downtown, connecting on 40 triples. And the rest of the team’s scoring has been quite balanced, making defenses have to pick their poison: let Sunkins get her points, our double-down and risk leaving someone else who can score open.

It’s been a similar scenario for the Knights (18-4), who are led in scoring by senior Addy Platt, who’s averaging 19.8 points per game, with her youngest sister Kaity, a junior at 12.8, with everyone else fairly even after that. With an emphasis this year on defense and getting out in transition, they’ve hit just 89 treys on the year, and don’t rely as much on the long ball as Franklin – with 127 – does.

by Mike Pavlichko

Rematch between Rutgers Prep, Montgomery kicks off Somerset County Tournament semis at Franklin Saturday

Montgomery’s last win over Rutgers Prep in boys’ basketball came in the 2018-19 season, with the Cougars winning twice that year. Since then, the Argonauts have won ten straight, but the majority – especially in recent seasons – have been close, including a three-point loss in the 2024 Somerset County Tournament final.

This Saturday, the second-seeded Argonauts (15-8, No. 9 in New Jersey) and the third-seeded Cougars (20-3, No. 10 in NJ) will square off at 10 at Franklin High School to open a full day of basketball in the Somerset County Tournament Semifinals, with all four games on tap.

You can hear that opener as part of our doubleheader broadcast Saturday, starting with pregame at 9:45 am, and tip-off at 10. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action, with the girls’ semifinal between top-seed Rutgers Prep and fourth-seed Bound Brook to follow. Click here to listen to both games.

Both teams have endured playing brutal scheduled. Prep has taken losses to the likes of Linden, St. Peter’s Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s, and even got knocked off by a pesky Pingry team in early January. Mongtomery had a particularly challenging three-game stretch around the same time with losses in three straight games to Linden, Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s.

The Argonauts lost to Linden by nine earlier in the season, while the Cougars fell by two a few weeks later.

And both have some great players.

Sophomore Will Brunson paces Rutgers Prep with 23.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game , with a team-best 27 blocks. But his 48 threes are just second on the team to the 65 Rocco Loomis has hit; he’s averaging 16.2 a game. And senior Nicholas Nsenkyrie is scoring almost 13, with 30 treys, on a team that has hit a whopping 245 times from beyond the arc. That’s tops in New Jersey.

Montgomery also has some young talent in the likes of Mike Simoborski – second in scoring at 17.9 – and lanky 6′ 9″ Shriyans Mallavarapu, who’s averaging seven boards a game and four blocks. Both are sophomores. Junior Connor Benedict had 46 triples to lead the Cougars – who still have 100 fewer than Prep as a team – and then there’s Ethan Lin.

The Penn-bound senior is the voice of experience, leading by example, and a settling influence if things seem like they’re getting out of hand. Besides his 19.9 points and four assists per game, it’s the intangibles that make him the player he is.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom with Chris Tsakonas
Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy with Mike Pavlichko

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerset County’s two 20-win teams to square off in Saturday’s SCT semifinals, as resurgent Bound Brook girls face powerhouse Rutgers Prep

By no stretch of the imagination did the Rutgers Prep and Bound Brook girls’ basketball teams have “bad” years, or even so-so seasons, at least not by most people’s standards.

The Argonauts finished 20-7, while the Crusaders went 19-7.

But Rutgers Prep didn’t make the county finals for the first time in ten seasons, and they got beat by Gloucester Catholic in the Non-Public South B Final. And The Brook won five titles in a row from 2016-2020.

This season, they are the only two 20-win teams in the Skyland Conference (so far), their county, and Saturday at noon they’ll face off at Franklin High School in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the action, with pregame set for 11:45 am. Click here to listen.

Rutgers Prep (20-2, 5-0 Skyland Delaware Division Champs) is the well-deserved No. 1 seed, their only two losses have come to Red Bank Catholic and Cardinal O’Hara (PA) in showcase games. Bound Brook (21-1, 8-0 Skyland Mountain Division Champs) took its only loss at the hands of Union Catholic, in their own Crusader Classic over the holidays. And yet, Bound Brook, the five-seed is a decided underdog.

Not that that’s ever stopped the Crusaders before. And it helps that hey have a freshman sensation in Peytan Pugh. Averaging 18.1 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, she’s also the team leader in assists (149, 6.8 per game) and steals (191, 8.7 per game), along with a team-best 20 blocks.

But she’s not the only one who can score. Senior Ti’asjah Ferguson is averaging 12.6 per game, and has 75 steals on the year for a defense that has logged more than Rutgers Prep, by a wide margin: 372-217.

That’s the kind of defense Bound Brook will need.

But while they have played a challenging schedule when they can, Rutgers Prep is another story. While Bound Brook coach Jen Derevjanik has been through the wars (go back to those five straight sectional titles) and has WNBA playing experience, her players have not – at least not yet – and with the Argonauts, they will see a veteran group.

Prep was fully expecting a bounce-back year coming into 2025-26, bringing back every starter and every single key bench player as well. Sophomore Hailey Benbow is the team’s top scorer (13.5 per game) and rebounder (7 per game), while also logging a team-best 52 steals, but the senior leader is Ava LaMonica.

Talk about someone who’s been through the wars, the four-year starter is averaging 12.7 points per game. Fellow senior Sophia Georgiades – in her second year at Prep after a transfer in from Ridge last season – is the team’s top three-point shooter, with 23 on the year.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger
Bound Brook head coach Jen Derevjanik
by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – SCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (5) Immaculata 72, (4) Pingry 68

Fifth-seed Immaculata got 23 points from Riley Gorman and another 20 from Tyler Burns as they erased a 10-point halftime deficit to beat fourth-seed Pingry, 72-68, in the quarterfinal round of the Somerset County Tournament.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the play-by-play from The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, NJ on February 7, 2026.

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerset County Tournament semis are set, as Immaculata boys, Bound Brook girls pull quarterfinal upsets, defending champs both win

They were upsets by seed, but the result wouldn’t have been surprising either way.

In what looked on paper like the most competitive matchups of the day, the fifth-seeded Bound Brook girls knocked off fourth-seed and 2025 SCT finalist Hillsborough 54-47 on the road Saturday morning, to advance to next week’s semifinals at Franklin.

And in a 5/4 upset on the boy’s side, Immaculata rallied in the second half to win at Pingry, 72-68, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Defending champs Gill St. Bernard’s – boys’ and girls’ – also advanced.

Scroll down for recaps of each game, followed by the semifinal matchups for next Saturday’s semifinals with times, per Tournament Director and Immaculata AD Tom Gambino. Game times are 10 am, noon, 2 pm and 4 pm at Franklin High School, and Central Jersey Sports Radio will have play-by-play coverage of one girls’ and one boys’ game, with recaps and postgame reaction from all four on cjsportsradio.com.

2026 SCT GIRLS’ SEMIFINALS

(5) Bound Brook 54, (4) Hillsborough 47: Freshman sensation Peytan Pugh led all scorers with 27 points, as the Crusaders bounced back from a 27-25 halftime deficit with a 13-7 third quarter to take the lead Pugh finished with a double-double, also grabbing 14 rebounds for the Crusaders (20-1), who are the first 20-game winner this season in the entire Skyland Conference. It will be Bound Brook’s first trip to the semifinals since 2022, when they lost to eventual champion Rutgers Prep, 86-42. They’ll face top-seed Rutgers Prep as they seek their first ever trip to the county final.

(1) Rutgers Prep 73, (9) Watchung Hills 30: The Argonauts expanded an eight-point lead at the end of one quarter to 44-19 at halftime, then held Watchung Hills to single digit scoring in the final three quarters en route to the win. Senior Ava LaMonica led all scorers with 22 points and a pair of treys for Rutgers Prep (18-2), which will face Bound Brook in the semifinals next Saturday. It’ll be the 12th straight trip to the semifinals for the Argos, as they look to get back to the championship game after getting knocked out in last year’s semifinals by Hillsborough. Prep had won the last four SCT titles before missing the game last season.

(3) Franklin 45, (6) Pingry 33: The Warriors (13-7) got 14 points from Jamila Riley, and despite just six points from Aleah Sunkins – the team’s top scorer, averaging over 18 per game coming in – came out with the quarterfinal victory. Franklin held Pingry to just two first quarter points, leading 9-2 after one, but the Big Blue tied it by halftime, and the teams went into the locker room at 15-all before Franklin pulled ahead for good on the strength of a 17-4 third quarter. They’ll meet Gill St. Bernard’s in the semis in their fourth straight trip to the semis; last year, they got knocked out in the final four by the eventual champion Knights, 61-34.

(2) Gill St. Bernard’s 67, (7) Bernards 46: Sisters Addy and Kaity plat combined for 49 of their team’s 67 points as the Knights jumped on Bernard’s early, up 23-9 after one quarter of play. The Mountaineers trimmed the deficit to nine by halftime, but Gill pulled away in the fourth. The Knights (17-4) will meet Franklin for a second straight year in the semis in their fourth straight trip to the girls’ final four.

SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS:

  • (1) Rutgers Prep (18-2) vs. (5) Bound Brook (20-1), 12 pm (CJSR)
  • (2) Gill St. Bernard’s (17-4) vs. (3) Franklin (13-7), 2 pm

2026 SCT BOYS’ SEMIFINALS

(1) Gill St. Bernard’s 71, (8) Ridge 55: The Knights (20-2) got a game-high 21 points from Prosper Highlander, who recorded a double-double, also grabbing 11 rebounds. Dorsett Mulcahy finished with 15 points and seven assists, while Connor Junker added 11 points. This will be Gill’s second straight trip to the semis as the Knights – whose girls’ team is in the semifinals as well – look to get back to the finals and sweep the Somerset County Tournament for a second straight year. The Skyland Conference’s first 20-game winner this season, they’ll face Immaculata next Saturday at Franklin.

(5) Immaculata 72, (4) Pingry 68: Riley Gorman scored 25 points – 17 in the second half – as Immaculata erased a 13-point second quarter deficit with a rally in the third to win on the road. Now 16-5, the Spartans are in the semis for the first time since 2020, seeking their first trip to a final since they beat Ridge to win it in 2009 as the top seed. Click here for our full game story, and postgame reaction from senior Riley Gorman and head coach Ryan McKeever, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen.

(3) Montgomery 53, (6) Hillsborough 38: The Raiders got out to an early lead, ahead 12-9 after one, but the Cougars clamped down on defense over the next eight minutes, holding Hillsborough to just seven points to take a 21-19 lead at the half, and they pulled away late, winning it in the fourth. Penn-bound Ethan Lin led all scorers with 21 points, including six from the free throw line. Montgomery (19-3) will face Rutgers Prep next Saturday in its third straight trip to the boys’ final four.

(2) Rutgers Prep 85, (7) Bridgewater-Raritan 58: The Argonauts (15-7) got a mammoth game from William Brunson, who scored 31 points, went 7-of-8 at the foul line, and hit six times from downtown, part of a 13-trey afternoon for his squad. Nicholas Nsenkyire added 12 for Rutgers Prep, which will be seeking its sixth straight finals appearance when the Argos’ face Montgomery next Saturday at Franklin in their ninth straight trip to the finals. Head coach Matt Bloom has never missed a Somerset County Tournament semifinal in his eight seasons as Prep’s head coach.

SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS:

  • (2) Rutgers Prep (15-7) vs. (3) Montgomery (19-3), 10 am (CJSR)
  • (1) Gill St. Bernard’s (20-2) vs. (5) Immaculata (16-5), 4 pm

by Mike Pavlichko

Immaculata rallies from 13-point deficit to get past Pingry, 72-68, moving on to SCT semis for first time since 2020

The last time the Immaculata boys’ basketball team was in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, no one had any idea what a “coronavirus” was.

But now, fir the first time since 2020, they’re back in in, as the fifth-seeded Spartans beat four-seed Pingry up in basking RIdge Saturday afternoon, 74-68, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

And Immaculata had to rally to do it.

In a five-point loss back in early January, the Spartans – now 16-5 – fell behind 28-10 after on quarter of play, and new they needed to come out stronger in the rematch. They did, never trailing in the period, and it was 16-16 after the first eight minutes.

But with strong play inside and out, Pingry (11-7) went on a run – punctuated by a couple of two-handed slams by 6′ 8″ Dylan Cowell – to take a 13-point lead late in the half, and a ten-point lead, 38-28 at the break.

Turnabout came in the third quarter, however, as Riley Gorman had two big three to spark a run that saw the Spartans regain the lead with 2:05 to go in the period. Immaculata also got the benefit of two goaltend calls on the run against Pingry.

Gorman – the 6′ 2″ senior who scored his 1,000th point last Saturday at home against Bernards in the first round – finished with 25 points and three triples, giving him a team-best 66 treys this season.

Down the stretch, he and many others contributed. Senior Noah Doss executed on defense. Adam Sandborg off the bench had a key rebound late off a missed Doss free throw that kept Pingry from getting any closer.

Immaculata will play the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup between 8-seed Ridge and top-seed Gill St. Bernard’s next Saturday at Franklin High School, where all four semifinals – between the girls and boys – will be played.

It’s their first trip to the semifinals since 2020, when they beat Somerville to get there, but lost to Rutgers Prep in the semis. Their last trip to the SCT title game was 2009, when they were the top-seed and won it all, beating second-seed Ridge 58-49 for their first win in six finals berths.

Click below for postgame reaction with Immaculata senior Riley Gorman and head coach Ryan McKeever, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Somerset County Tournament moves into quarterfinal round this weekend as top four boys’ and girls’ seeds join the fray

Somerset County Tournament play resumes this weekend, with eight games – four girls’, four boys’ – all taking place in the late morning and early afternoon, with a couple of doubleheaders on tap.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have live play-by-play coverage on Saturday afternoon at 1:00, when the 5th-seeded Immaculata boys visit 4th-seed Pingry. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action with pregame at 12:45; click here to listen.

Scroll through for a look at the full slate, with notes on each game.

SCT BOYS’ QUARTERFINALS:

(8) Ridge (10-10) at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s (19-2), 1 pm: The Red Devils draw the top-seed here in the Knights, who beat Rutgers Prep 73-68 Thursday night for their 15th straight win. And Gill hasn’t lost to a public school in nearly two years, their last defeat coming at the hands of Montgomery on Valentine’s Day 2024 against Montgomery in the very same quarterfinal round of the Somerset County Tournament. Ridge, meanwhile, lost four straight in the middle of the month, but has won four straight since, including a three-point victory at Hunterdon Central Thursday night, 46-43. These two played back on January 6th, with Gill coming away with a 79-46 win behind 19 points from Prosper Highlander, with three others in double-figures. Gabe Kielb led Ridge with 14 in defeat. The Red Devils were 4-58 winners at home over 9-seed Franklin last Saturday in the first round.

(5) Immaculata (15-5) at (4) Pingry (11-6), 1 pm (LIVE on CJSR): The two met on January 6th, with The Big Blue coming away with a 64-59 win in Somerville that snapped a five-game skid against the Spartans dating back to 2022. Immaculata will want to come out hot in this one to avoid a repeat of a disastrous first quarter in that first matchup that had them playing from behind all game. They trailed 28-10 after one, yet managed to get to within one in the fourth before losing by five. Pingry had balanced scoring, led by Daniel Hall’s 14 points. Riley Gorman led Immaculata with 18. This might be the best game of the day on the boys’ side, as their first meeting was the closest of any of this weekend’s quarterfinal matchups. Immaculata beat 12-seed Bernards, 74-49, last Saturday in the first round. Mike Pavlichko has the call on this one, with pregame starting at 12:45. Click the link above to listen to the game live. READ A FULL PREVIEW WITH HEAD COACH INTERVIEWS HERE.

(6) Hillsborough (15-5) at (3) Montgomery (18-3), 1 pm: These two teams have split their last four meetings, including a 53-37 win by the Cougars in their first matchup this season, back on January 13th. Mike Simborski was the only one in double figures for Montgomery, but had a monster game: 26 points, and 6-of-6 at the foul line. Aaron Feath was the lone double-digit scorer for the Raiders, scoring 15 while grabbing seven rebounds. Monty had a tough three-game stretch to start 2026, losing to Linden, Rutgers Prep and Linden in rapid succession, but they’ve won ten in a row since, including the Hillsborough win. The Radiers have won four straight and 12 of their last 14. They beat 11-seed Watchung Hills 60-50 in last Saturday’s first round.

(7) Bridgewater-Raritan (13-6) at (2) Rutgers Prep (14-7), 1 pm: The Panthers have lost seven straight games against the Argonauts going back to 2017, their last win coming in their first meeting that season, 61-55. Only one of those losses was by fewer than ten-points, a 53-52 Rutgers Prep squeaker in January of 2018. This year’s lone meeting came on January 13th, a 72-56 Rutgers Prep win that saw William Brunson lead the way to victory with 27 points, including 4-of-6 at the line, with three treys. Richie Gardner led the Panthers with 14, going 6-of-6 at the stripe. Bridgewater started the season 8-0 before taking their first loss, coming to Immaculata, and is coming off a 49-42 loss Thursday night to Montgomery, while Prep also lost Thursday night, a 73-68 home loss to Gill St. Bernard’s. BR beat 10-seed Somerville last Saturday in the first round, 71-43.

SCT GIRLS’ QUARTERFINALS:

(9) Watchung Hills (8-10) at (1) Rutgers Prep (17-2), 11 am: A look at their season results, and the Argonauts have been as dominant as usual, but coach Mary Klinger is still looking for more from her squad, especially consistency on the defensive side. But this is a tall order for the Warriors, who have had an up-and-down season, but have never won or lost more than two straight all year. Prep has not lost to a public school all year. These two did not meet this year, nor did they play last year. The Argonauts won their most recent meeting in January 2024, 84-42, and they’ve won seen straight dating back to 2016. Watchung Hills’ last win in the series also came in SCT play, 60-37 in the 2013 county quarterfinals. Sophomore Hailey Benbow and four-year starter Ava LaMonica are the top two scorers for Prep, with LaMonica a gritty defensive player who grabs steals and rebounds with reckless abandon. Watchung Hills is led by senior Eleni Esposito, averaging 10.9 points per game. Both teams get a ton of steals. Hills crushed Somerville in last Saturday’s first round, 69-33, the largest margin of any of the four games last weekend.

(5) Bound Brook (19-1) at (4) Hillsborough (15-4), 11 am: This might be one of the more intriguing games of the day on the girls’ side, with the Crusaders led by freshman sensation Payton Pugh. She’s averaging 17.8 points per game, and has 137 assists and 181 steals, all leading the team by wide margins, and a big reason why The Brook has won 15 straight games since their lone loss, a 62-53 defeat at the hands of Union Catholic on December 29th in the Crusader Classic final over the holidays. The Raiders, of course, are the defending state Group 4 champs, and two-time defending sectional champs, winning North 2, Group 4 in 2024 and Central Group 4 last season en route to the state title. But they’ve also lost two straight, those defeats coming a week apart: 57-55 in overtime at Bernards last Thursday, January 29th, and 72-30 to Rutgers Prep this past Thursday. Junior Alexa Gaspar (12.1 ppg) and senior Isabella Ruh (11.9 ppg) are neck-and-neck as the team’s top two scorers. The two haven’t played since 2023, an 82-69 Hillsborough win and their last meeting before that was in 2017, a 55-34 victory for the Crusaders. Bound Brook beat 13-seed Montgomery, 55-20, last Saturday in the first round.

(6) Pingry (11-7) at (3) Franklin (12-7), noon: The Warriors have won the last four in this series, with Pingry last winning in 2024. In their only meeting this year, Franklin won 57-40 on January 13th, with a balanced scoring attack that saw four players finish in double-figures, led by Alivia Stewart’s 12, and six rebounds, while Kayla Duncan hit three times from downtown. Val Triana led Pingry with 17 in defeat. Franklin has won five of its last six, while Pingry has won three straight coming in. The Big Blue beat 11-seed Mount St. Mary in the first round last Saturday, 44-35.

(7) Bernards (17-2) at (2) Gill St. Bernard’s (16-4), 11 am: It’s been a long time since the Mountaineers and Knights last met – eight years ago – with Gill coming away with a 60-33 win in February of 2018. The Mountaineers started the year 10-0 before a non-conference loss to Roselle Park on January 27th, 67-52, then lost their first league game of the year Thursday, 50-37 out at Voorhees. Aletha Reynolds finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Gill has won two straight and 14 of their last 15 dating back to a post-Christmas win over Roselle Catholic in the Holiday Hoopfest at Paterson Kennedy, a 50-20 victory. Bernards beat 10-seed Bridgewater-Raritan, 64-38, in last Saturday’s first round.

by Mike Pavlichko

Immaculata looks for stronger start when Spartans travel to Pingry Saturday for SCT quarterfinal matchup

Despite a disastrous first quarter where Immaculata trailed Pingry at home 28-10 at the end of it, the Spartans fought back and were able to cut their deficit to one measly point in the fourth the last time these two teams met, almost a month ago. The Big Blue held on, though, picking up a 64-59 win.

So when the fifth-seeded Spartans (15-5) visit fourth-seed Pingry (11-6) Saturday afternoon in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals, getting out to a good start will be Job No. 1.

A trip to the semifinals is on the line, and you can hear it on Central Jersey Sports Radio beginning with pregame at 12:45, and tip-off at 1:00 from the Pingry School in Basking Ridge; click here to listen.

This is the highest seed Pingry has ever earned in the Somerset County Tournament, getting a double-by for the very first time, according to head coach Jason Murdock, whose team has a signature win this season over 2025 SCT and Non-Public South B finalist Rutgers Prep.

That was a 64-58 win that reverberated far and wide, knocking off a team ranked in the state’s Top Ten at the time. Dylan Cowell scored 29 in the win, and three players finished with double-doubles in an inspired effort. Cowell grabbed 14 rebounds, while Neel Sapidi scored 15 and grabbed ten, while Ryan Rust went for 12 and 14.

Immaculata has played solid basketball for much of the year, with no real clunker losses. Four of the Spartans’ five losses have come to the top four seeds in the tourney – Gill St. Bernard’s, Rutgers Prep, Montgomery and Pingry, with the other to the team right behind them, sixth-seed Hillsborough. And they have a signature win over Bridgewater-Raritan, a 64-57 victory on January 8th that was the Panthers’ first of the season after winning their first ten.

Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Pingry head coach Jason Murdock
Immaculata head coach Ryan McKeever