Tag: Somerset County

by Mike Pavlichko

Young Rutgers Prep, with slew of newcomers, hosts experienced Gill St. Bernard’s Tuesday

This is a bit of a role reversal for Rutgers Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s.

The third-ranked Knights open their season Tuesday night with four starters back, while the top-ranked Argonauts graduated three starters last year, and a fourth moved out of state.

Yes, Rutgers Prep is the less-experienced group.

You might not know that from their opener. Though they were slow out of the blocks, they eventually found their way, and rolled past Ewing 66-29, thanks to the Avas.

For the uninitiated, that’s Ava LaMonica – the lone returning starter from last year’s squad – and Ava Frith, a junior transfer in from public powerhouse Manasquan.

LaMonica scored 18 points and went 6-of-8 from the foul line against Ewing, while Frith scored a game-high 25, and added ten rebounds for a double-double.

For perspective, that’s more than half the points she scored in 29 games over two seasons at ‘Squan, where she scored six points in eleven games her freshman year, and 34 in 18 contests last year.

Rutgers Prep may need a lot more than that Tuesday, when they take on a star-studded, veteran Gill St. Bernard’s squad at home at 6 pm. You can hear that game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino on the call. Pregame starts at 5:45; click here to listen.

Both teams are 1-0.

While Gill graduated Brooke Baisley, who’s now at Boston University, it returns Maya Abramson, Sindey Quinn, Tessa Lozner and Gandy Malou-Mamel, who all signed their National Letters of Intent back on November 13th.

Abramson will be attending Stevens Institute of Technology, Quinn will be off to the Naval Academy, Lozner is going to Johns Hopkins, and Malou-Mamel has signed on to play for Geno Auriemma at UConn.

While the group has done many things, one thing they haven’t done is beat Rutgers Prep. The Argnoauts have won 23 straight in the series, with Gill’s last win coming over Prep in the 2014 Somerset County Tournament final, 77-47.

Since then, Rutgers Prep was won three state tournament matchups, and five in the county finals. Last year’s was the closest, a 58-55 win by the Argos, in which they trailed at halftime against a Skyland Conference opponent for the first time since losing to Franklin in the 2019 SCT title game.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger talk about the team’s opening win over Ewing, and Tuesday’s home opener against Gill St. Bernard’s, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio unveils 2024-2025 High School Basketball Schedule

With high school basketball season upon us – and some schools opening up early in a “Week Zero” opportunity from the NJSIAA this year – Central Jersey Sports Radio is kicking off our coverage with the unveiling of our 2024-25 Broadcast Schedule.

This year’s regular season slate includes eleven regular season games – with some additional late-season contests to be added at a later date – plus postseason coverage of the Greater Middlesex Conference and Somerset County Tournaments, as well as the NJSIAA State Tournament.

Though South Amboy and Sayreville open the season tonight, most schools begin play this weekend, turning down the opportunity to start as early as December 9, because the NJSIAA option included the caveat that those who tipped off the season early could not go back to scrimmages once they started playing games.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will open the season with three big games next week.

First, it’ll be girls’ basketball on Tuesday, December 17, as Gill St. Bernard’s travels to Rutgers Prep. The Knights lost super-talented Brooke Baisley to graduation, but return a tone of talent, while the Argonauts return just one starter in Ava LaMonica, but have some new players to shore things up.

Thursday will feature a matchup of two rival GMC coaches, as Colonia travels to Piscataway. The Patriots are led by Jose Rodriguez, whose team won two titles last year – North 2 Group 3 in the states and the GMCT – the only CJSR coverage area school to do so last season. He’s the student in the student/mentor relationship with Bob Turco, who left St. Thomas Aquinas last year to take the head job with the Chiefs. Rodriguez played at Carteret when Turco coached there under his brother, Dave, who’s now head coach at Kean.

We’ll wrap up the first week with the finale of the Friends of South Amboy showcase at South Amboy High School, as Montgomery and St. Joseph-Metuchen square off at 8. The Cougars were a Somerset County Tournament Finalist last year, and won Central Jersey Group 4 in the states, while the Falcons were the top seed in the 2024 GMC Tournament.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2024-25 H.S. BASKETBALL BROADCAST SCHEDULE

The schedule resumes in January with Middlesex and Somerset County matchups on both the girls’ and boys’ sides.

We’ll have semifinals and finals coverage of the GMC Tournament, as well as the Somerset County Tournament Finals. Coverage of the SCT semifinals will be announced at a later date due to a change in scheduling; the event has moved back to it’s “Saturday” format after having the semis on a Thursday and finals on Saturday the past several years, more like the GMC.

The GMC girls’ semifinals will be on Tuesday, February 18, with the boys the next day and the finals on Friday, February 21. All games will be played at Monroe High School.

The SCT semis will be at Franklin on Saturday, February 15, and the finals will be at Montgomery the following Saturday, the 22nd.

We’ll also have live coverage and stories on the seeding meetings, with the Somerset County Tournament confab taking place on Monday, January 27; the GMC will seed on Friday, February 7.

The NJSIAA State Tournament begins Thursday, February 27th, with public sectional finals on Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8. Non-Public sectional finals are Monday, March 10, and State Finals will be that weekend, with the Non-Publics at Rutgers on Friday, March 14, with Public finals there at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Saturday and Sunday, March 15 and 16.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2024-25 H.S. BASKETBALL BROADCAST SCHEDULE

by Mike Pavlichko

Opening Day almost here, but there are plenty more important HS baseball dates to be aware as 2024 season gets underway

The final sports season on the high school calendar is about to get going, with Opening Day for baseball set for April 1.

But there are lots of other key dates on the calendar.

Pitchers and catchers reported on March 11th, with full practices beginning just three days later. Last Thursday was the first day for pre-season scrimmages.

One things get started Monday, we’ll get about five full weeks of play before it’s time to seed the county tournaments.

The Greater Middlesex Conference seeding will take place on Friday, May 3rd at 9 am at East Brunswick Magnet High School. Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there with live coverage on Twitter (follow us at @cjsportsradio) and a full recap after it’s all done here on the website.

The GMC does a main tournament and an “invitational” with the remaining teams, with play quickly starting on Saturday, May 4th. The quarterfinals are held at North Brunswick Community Park on Wednesday, the 8th, with the semis and finals on successive Saturdays at East Brunswick Magnet’s Ray Cipperly Field. The semis are on the 11th and 12 and 2:30 pm, with the finals at 2 pm on May 18th.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast five GMC Tournament games: two from the quarterfinals, then both semis and the title game.

The Somerset County Tournament is just one bracket, and that will be seeded Monday, May 6th at 7:30 pm, with Central Jersey Sports Radio covering that as well. Play-ins and the first round are held that week, with quarterfinals on the 16th.

New this year, the SCT will hold its semifinals and finals in the same week. Previously, they’d been two weeks apart, not only to allow ace pitchers to reload, but also because of availability of TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, where the Somerset Patriots typically alternate one week away, then one week at home.

This year, the semis will be on Monday, May 20th, while the finals are set for Thursday, the 23rd. But that may not go off on time. That’s also the first day of the state tournament for public schools, so if one of them is in the SCT final, the game would be moved to the rain date of Friday, May 24th, per Immaculata Athletic Director Tom Gambino, the tournament director.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have live coverage of the semis and finals, whenever they’re played.

As for the NJSIAA state tournament, the cutoff date for qualification is Saturday, May 18th, with seeds coming out the following Monday, the 20th.

Non-Public schools will open state play on May 22nd, with the sectional quarterfinals on May 28th, semis on the 30th, and finals on June first. All those will be played at higher seeds, while the Non-Public State Finals will be held Thursday, June 6th at Veterans Park in Hamilton.

For public schools, after opening on the 23rd, sectional quarterfinals will be May 29th, semis on the 31st, and sectional finals on June 3rd. All those will be at higher seeds, as well, with state semifinals hosted by the champions of North 2 (vs. North 1) and South (vs. Central) on Wednesday, June 5th. State Finals will be played on Saturday, June 8th at Veterans Park in Hamilton.

State tournament coverage from Central Jersey Sports Radio will be announced at a later date.

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio announces 2024 HS Baseball Broadcast Schedule featuring 19 teams, plus GMC and Somerset County Tourneys

Central Jersey Sports Radio will air a ten-game regular season package in its fourth season of high school baseball coverage this Spring, with appearances by 19 different schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference and Somerset County, as well as both county tournaments and the NJSIAA state tournament.

Play-by-play coverage begins with three games the first week of the season, including two season openers on April first and second.

Among those included are defending Central Jersey Group 4 champion and state Group 4 finalist Old Bridge, defending GMC Tournament champion and Non Public South A finalist St. Joseph-Metuchen, SCT champ and Non-Public North B finalist Rutgers Prep, SCT runner-up Ridge, and a host of others.

There are also rivalry matchups, like Colonia at Woodbridge to open their seasons on April 2, and Bound Brook at Manville later in the month, and we’ll carry the Spotswood-South Brunswick all-GMC game from the Autism Awareness Challenge in North Brunswick.

GMC Tournament coverage will include two quarterfinal round games, both semifinals, and the championship game, as well as the Somerset County Tournament semifinals and finals at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, home of the Yankees AA affiliate Somerset Patriots.

Additional coverage of the state tournament will be announced at a later date.

Click here for the full 2024 Central Jersey Sports Radio baseball schedule.