Tag: Somerset County Tournament

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
by Mike Pavlichko

First Round of Somerset County Tournament gets underway with just one minor upset among first six games

The Somerset County Tournament is underway for both the boys and girls, and there was just one first-round upset out of the six opening round games played, as 13th-seed Montgomery beat 12th-seed Ridge on the girls’ side, 38-37.

Everything else went to chalk, and now Thursday night’s winners advance to Saturday’s second round, with games to be played at higher seeds.

From here on out, all the remaining games will be played on successive Saturdays, starting with this weekend’s second round. The quarterfinals next weekend are at higher seeds, but the semifinals on February 14 will be played at Franklin High School, with games at 10 am, noon, 2 pm and 4 pm, though tip times for individual games will depend on who advances.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of the semis, as well as the finals. Those will be held on Saturday, February 21 at Montgomery High School, with the girls’ championship at 1 pm, and the boys’ title tilt at 3:00.

Here’s a rundown of Thursday night’s first-round SCT action, along with next round matchups.

SCT GIRLS’ TOURNAMENT – FIRST ROUND

(13) Montgomery 38, (12) Ridge 37: The Cougars managed just seven combined points in the second and third quarters, but overcame a six-point deficit heading into the fourth to win by one. Trailing 37-35, Senior Sophia Lehmann knocked down a three with 24 seconds to go from the left wing – her only basket of the game – to put Montgomery up 38-37. Ridge got the ball into the frontcourt and called timeout with 12.4 seconds left, and they eventually got a look at a long triple that fell short, with Monty getting the rebound in the paint to secure the win. Aliza Schulberg and Alia Johnson led the Cougars (8-6), while Ridge (7-9) got 15 from Maggie Kiessling.

(11) Mount St. Mary 56, (14) Immaculata 44 (OT): Sophia Crum scored 20 points – including her own 5-0 run late in the fourth to force overtime, where the Lions eventually got the win, just their fifth of the season (5-10). Crum then had all six points for Mount in overtime. The Spartans (7-10) had an eight-point hafltime lead, 27-19, in a low-scoring game, but the Lions were able to get it closer, took a two-point lead with over a minute to go and held Immaculata off the board for the rest of the way to survive and advance.

(10) Bridgewater-Raritan 57, (15) Manville 14: Three players scored in double-figures for the Panthers, who got 19 from Amanda Ciser, 12 from Safaa Fakhry and 11 from Juliet Kohutis, moving above .500 (9-8) with the win. Manville (8-6) got seven in defeat from Sadie Fleming.

Second Round and Beyond…

  • (9) Watchung Hills at (8) Somerville (11 am), winner at (1) Rutgers Prep
  • (13) Montgomery at (5) Bound Brook (noon), winner at (4) Hillsborough
  • (11) Mount St. Mary at (6) Pingry (1 pm), winner at (3) Franklin
  • (10) Bridgewater-Raritan at (7) Bernards (2:30 pm), winner at (2) Gill St. Bernard’s

SCT BOYS’ TOURNAMENT – FIRST ROUND

(12) Bernards 51, (13) Manville 47: The Mountaineers (8-9) held off a furious Mustang fourth-quarter rush to move on the second round. Ahead 41-22, Bernards was outscored 25-10 in the final period on inspired nights from Jimmy Cuadra – who scored 19 points – and Josh D’Ambrosio, who added 18, connecting three times from downtown. Manville dropped to 11-7 with the loss, after they secured their first outright division title since 1987 Wednesday night with a win over College Achieve Central. Casey Hockele scored a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Ryan Frame added 18, 15 of which came on a quintet of treys.

(11) Watchung Hills 60, (14) Bound Brook 55: The Crusaders (13-6) got out to a 19-13 lead after one, but the Warriors (4-9) chipped away and used a strong third quarter – outscoring the Crusaders 17-11 – to get by Bound Brook at home by five. Four players scored in double-figured for Watchung Hills, led by 21 from Brady Simo and 14 from Will Randolph, as the Warriors hit nine times from beyond the arc. Bound Brook nailed seven from downtown, including three from Jasahn Canary, who finished with 15. Dorian Roundtree led with 18 in defeat.

(10) Somerville 72, (15) College Achieve Central 30: The Pioneers (12-6) played smothering second-quarter defense, extending a five-point lead to 43-14 at the half on the strength of a 26-2 period. Of the dozen players who got in the game for Somerville, eleven scored, led by 17 from James Hampton and another 12 from Messiah Bradley. Jayden Halley finished with 14 to lead College Achieve (1-11).

Second Round and Beyond…

  • (9) Franklin at (8) Ridge (noon), winner at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s
  • (12) Bernards at (5) Immaculata (3 pm), winner at (4) Pingry
  • (11) Watchung Hills at (6) Hillsborough (10:30 am), winner at (3) Montgomery
  • (10) Somerville at (7) Bridgewater-Raritan (1 pm), winner at (2) Rutgers Prep

by Mike Pavlichko

SCT’s top seeds weren’t unexpected, but that doesn’t mean we know what to expect once things get underway

It’s a rule of life, or maybe of simple mathematics. No matter how many groups of teams you make, or how balanced they are, there’s always going to be a division champion, and there will always be a last place team. That’s the way it is.

But one look around Somerset County basketball this season and you realize just about anything can happen when it comes to tournament time.

Just ask last year’s Rutgers Prep girls’ team, which was 17-4 last season when they were bounced from the county tournament by eventual Group 4 champion Hillsborough. Not that it was a shock in its own right; we all know how good Hillsborough has been, now victors of two straight sectional championships and a state title in 2025, but it had almost come as a given Rutgers Prep would be in the finals.

In fact, they had won seven of the last nine SCT titles heading into last season – and lost to Franklin there in 2018 and 2019.

That said, could this year’s tournament be as wide open?

It certainly looks so on the boys’ side. While no one but Rutgers Prep or Gill St. Bernard’s has won a title since 2014 – the year late Ian Progin’s Hillsborough squad won its first-ever SCT – a number of teams might be able to pull it off.

Gill is the top seed on the boys’ side (see the full bracket and story here), but let’s take a look at who beat who:

Gill St. Bernard’s: The Knights haven’t lost to a Skyland opponent all year, and they’ve beaten all the top teams they’ve faced in Somerset County. That includes a 90-84 home win over Rutgers Prep back on January 10th. They won by eleven at Montgomery two nights before, and came back and beat Pingry by 31.

Rutgers Prep: The Argonauts beat Montgomery, 89-73, but then lost to Pingry and Gill, both by six, both on the road. Still, the coaches voted them the two seed, and it’s likely out-of-conference schedule and wins came into play here.

Montgomery: The Cougars’ only three losses have come to Prep, Gill and Linden in non-conference play. It should be noted that Montgomery, Gill St. Bernard’s and Rutgers Prep all have lost to Linden this year, but Ethan Lin and company came the closest, falling by two at the Warrior Classic down at Manasquan on January 3rd.

Pingry: The Big Blue got the fourth seed behind Montgomery and Rutgers Prep, even though Pingry beat Prep head-to-head, 64-58 back on January 8th. But Pingry also had the big loss to GSB, and a five-point loss at home to Hillsborough just a couple days later. Their remaining schedule strength may have played a factor as well, but that doesn’t mean you can count them out.

But they aren’t the only ones who can win this tournament.

What about Immaculata? The Spartans are 12-3, 4-1 in the Skyland Conference Raritan Division behind Pingry, which they only lost to by five earlier this month. They lost to Rutgers Prep by just six at home and play Gill St. Bernard’s tonight (Tuesday).

Or Bridgewater-Raritan? The Panthers started the year 8-0 before getting knocked off by Immaculata, 64-57, on January 8th. They also have losses to Prep by six, to Gill (74-46) and to Hillsborough by 18. They’ve lost four of their last seven, but there’s still time to right that ship, and the Saturday schedule in the SCT could benefit them.

The way the brackets go, with the top four-seeds getting first round byes, here’s how the quarterfinals would look if it all went chalk, with previous results:

  • (8) Franklin at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s (will meet Feb. 10)
  • (5) Immaculata at (4) Pingry (Pingry won 64-59 on Jan. 6)
  • (6) Hillsborough at (3) Montgomery (Montgomery won 53-37 on Jan. 13)
  • (7) Bridgewater-Raritan at (2) Rutgers Prep (Rutgers Prep won 72-56 on Jan. 13)

Over on the girls’ side (see the full bracket and story here) it could get interesting, too. Rutgers Prep got the top seed over Gill St. Bernard’s, with the two having pretty similar records (Argos 14-2, Knights 13-3) and having not met head-to-head yet. They’ll play Thursday, in fact, in Somerset at 5:30 pm, a game you can hear live on Central Jersey.

“Being named the No. 1 seed, I think there’s a lot of respect there,” said Argonauts’ head coach Mary Klinger. “But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to win games.”

Prep’s lone losses have come to Red Bank Catholic by three in the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic down in Toms River on December 29th, and by ten to Cardinal O’Hara (PA) at the Blue Star Invitational in Pennsylvania on January 4th.

Gill isn’t a total surprise as the defending champions, but considering they lost one of their top stars every in Gandy Malou-Mamel to graduation (UConn) as well as Sidney Quinn, Maya Abramson, Tessa Lozner and Cassidy Moore – 70 percent of last year’s scoring – the two-seed is quite an accomplishment indeed.

And last year? These two blew out each other, an oddity in their rivalry: Rutgers Prep 61-38 on December 17th, and Gill St. Bernard’s 64-27 in the rematch on January 16th.

But they’re not the only ones with a chance. There’s Hillsborough, despite losing the school’s all-time leading scorer – girls’ or boys’ – in Cesci Schiro, plus fellow starters Reghan Bice and Mya Loniewski, whose sisters are still on the team.

The Raiders were 26-6 last year, but through 16 games are a win better than last year, when they were 13-3 at this point; they’re currently 14-2. In fact, the only public school they’ve lost to the last two years is Franklin. ‘Boro’s other loss this year is to Gill.

We saw them last week in a solid win over probably the second-best team in the GMC, East Brunswick, and they look crisp, like they know what they’re doing. What they don’t look like is a team trying to figure it out after massive graduation losses. The epitome of picking up where you left off.

Which brings us to the fourth-seeded Warriors. They’re playing for their third coach in four seasons, after longtime mentor Audrey Taylor stepped down in 2023, Daryl Robinson took over the last two years, and Jimmy Kreie is now leading the program.

The Warriors have been pesky, but lost double-digit games each of the last three years. This season, they are 10-6, even after a rough 1-4 start the the season in which they lost to Rutgers Prep, Gill St. Bernard’s, Demarest (15-2) in the Shore games before the holidays, and Immaculate Heart in the Holiday Hoopfest (12-3) over the break.

But they’ve gone 9-2 since and beat Hillsborough 72-44 on the road back on January 6th, pulling away with a big second quarter.

If all went to chalk, here would be the quarterfinal matchups, with only one of them having met already; the other three haven’t, nor do they have a regular season matchup on the schedule:

  • (8) Somerville at Rutgers Prep
  • (5) Bound Brook at Hillsborough
  • (6) Pingry at (3) Franklin (Pingry won 57-40 on Jan. 13)
  • (7) Bernards at (2) Gill St. Bernard’s

Bound Brook-Hillsborough could be the most entertaining of the bunch. They haven’t played since 2023, and 82-69 Raider win.

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending Somerset County Tournament champion Gill St. Bernard’s boys get top-seed, with Rutgers Prep, Montgomery and Pingry also getting double-byes and top four seeds

Defending champion Gill St. Bernard’s was awarded the top-seed in the boys’ basketball Somerset County Tournament in a vote by the coaches Monday night.

The Knights are 15-2 overall, and the Skyland Conference Delaware Division champs, 5-0 in division play with wins over two other teams seeded in the top four, Rutgers Prep and Montgomery.

The rest of the top four seeds go to Rutgers Prep (11-6) at No. 2, followed by Montgomery (14-3) third, and Pingry (11-4) in fourth. All of the top four seeds get double-byes to the quarterfinals, which are scheduled for Saturday, February 7 at the higher seeded schools.

First round byes go to seeds five through nine, who will jump ahead to the second round this Saturday’s. Immaculata was awarded the fifth seed, followed by Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan, Ridge and Franklin.

The last six seeds in the 15-team field went to Somerville at ten, followed by Watchung Hills, Manville, Bernards, Bound Brook and College Achieve Central.

First-round games will be Thursday night, with the following schedule at higher seeds, times TBD:

  • (15) College Achieve Central at (10) Somerville, winner at (7) Bridgewater-Raritan
  • (14) Bound Brook at (11) Watchung Hills, winner at (6) Hillsborough
  • (13) Manville at (12) Bernards, winner at (5) Immaculata

Below is the full 2026 Somerset County Tournament Boys’ Basketball bracket:

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of the SCT semifinals on Saturday, January 14 at Franklin High School, with games to be broadcast to be determined. We’ll also broadcast live from the finals on Saturday, January 21 at Montgomery High School. The girls’ final will be at 1 pm, the boys’ at 3 pm.