Sophomore Rocco Loomis led Rutgers Prep in defeat with 19 points as the third-seeded Argonauts lost 86-55 to St. Rose of Belmar in the Non-Public South B Championship Game.
Click below to listen to all the action as called by Mike Pavlichko live on Central Jersey Sports Radio from Jackson Liberty High School on March 10, 2025.
If you sat down to watch the Non-Public South B boys’ final Monday night after watching the girls’ final that preceded it, your might have expected to see Phil Connors and Punxatawney Phil.
Just like the Argonaut girls, who just couldn’t seem to sink a shot and had so many tries rim out, the same thing happened to the boys, just in a higher-scoring game, as third-seed Rutgers Prep lost to top-seed St. Rose of Belmar, 86-55 at Jackson Liberty High School, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Prep never led, and was in the game at the half, down just by ten, 39-29.
But the third quarter proved disastrous. Rutgers Prep didn’t score for almost the first seven minutes of the second half, and by that point, the Purple Roses had gone on a 23-0 run to take a 63-29 lead before Nicholas Nsenkryie hit a basket with 1:05 to go in the period.
St. Rose was hitting everything, and Rutgers Prep wasn’t. And that was that.
Major D1 prospect Jayden Hodge, just a junior, finished with 21 for St. Rose, but the X-factor in the game was Evan Romano. The 6′ 3″ senior co-captain scored 25 points in just three quarters of play – he was already out by the fourth – but scored 17 in the third quarter, most on that 23-0 run.
Rutgers Prep also was hampered by being down two “big” players: 6′ 11″ Logan Franz has been out since February 19th, and 6′ 7″ Andrew Kretkowski – a big man who can step out and hit threes, too – missed the Holy Cross game in the semis, as well as Monday night’s final.
That certainly would have helped in one area Prep struggled – on the offensive glass.
St. Rose (23-7) will move on to play in the Non-Public B state final at Rutgers at 3 pm Friday against Roselle Catholic, which staved off a game run by top-seed Gill St. Bernard’s in the final minute of the North B final Monday night at JFK Paterson.
Rutgers Prep’s season ends at 20-10.
Click below for postgame reaction from St. Rose senior Evan Romano, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
One of two Top 15 matchups down at Jackson Liberty High School Monday evening – after their girls’ team takes on Gloucester Catholic for a title – the Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball team will have a tall order when the third-seed Argonauts take on No. 1 seed St. Rose of Belmar for the Non-Public South B championship.
Yes, there will be two great games on tap, and Central Jersey Sports Radio will be there with live coverage, beginning with the girls’ game at 5 pm, and the boys at 7. Mike Pavlichko will have all the play-by-play. Click here to listen.
Both teams have challenged themselves, playing and beating some top-flight competition. And they’ve also played each other, with the Purple Roses coming away with an 80-63 win on December 23rd.
But that was a long time ago, in basketball time.
Since then, Prep has played three tough games against Gill St. Bernard’s – twice in the regular season, and again in the Somerset County Tournament final; and, by the way, Gill plays for a title tonight, too, up in Paterson – and knocked off Montgomery, this year’s Central Group 4 champ, in the SCT semis.
Rutgers Prep (20-9) is ranked No. 11 statewide, the Purple Roses (22-7) are third. Both have taken losses against some tough teams. Prep lost its opener at the Tip-Off Showcase in Montgomery to Manasquan, 64-61, on a buzzer-beater – ironic, considering how the Warriors’ season ended in controversy last year – while St. Rose beat them by five two days later. They also beat Gill in early January in the Hoop Group Boardwalk Showcase, 50-48.
Prep is led by two sophomores, and a senior, in that order, in terms of scoring. And they’re all around the same mark: Jacob Canton is averaging 15.5 per game, Andrew Kretkowski 15.3, and senior Myles Parker is scoring at a 15.2 point per game clip. Together, they account for 65.5% of the Argonauts’ scoring in any game. But we’ll get back to them in a minute.
The Argonauts should have a height advantage over St. Rose, whose biggest losses to graduation are 6′ 8″ Matt Hodge and 6′ 6″ Gio Panzini. The Roses go as big as 6′ 6″ junior guard Jayden Hodge, an all-Shore Conference star who has offers from schools like Villanova, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, among a host of others. He’s averaging just over 19 points per game this season, and leads the team in rebounding, assists, blocks and steals.
But head coach Brian Lynch – a Christian Brothers alum who played with eventual Rutgers standout Geoff Billett in Lincroft, then faced him often while playing in the Big East at Villanova – runs nine-deep in his rotation, so a lot of players will get in.
And now back to the Big Three. Because 6′ 7″ sophomore Andrew Kretkowski – the team’s top rebounder, who’s second on the team in blocks with 29, and can step out and hit the three – sat out the sectional semifinals against Holy Cross Prep with an undisclosed injury, and is listed as day-to-day.
To make matters worse, 6′ 11″ junior Logan Franz has been out with an injury since February 19th, and won’t play either.
So maybe Prep won’t have that height advantage, but there enough talented players on both sides that this should be a hotly contested game.
That first meeting was on the road for Prep, in St. Rose’s tiny, loud, bandbox of a gym.
And seemingly ages ago, too.
Click below for previews of Monday’s Non-Public North B final with both head coaches:
The Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team got 14 points from Mikayla Blakes and a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double from Leah Crosby en route to the Argonauts’ third straight sectional championship, a 63-42 win over St. Rose of Belmar in the Non-Public South B title game.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the play-by-play live from Jackson Liberty High School on March 4, 2024, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Full disclosure: St. Rose star Jada Lynch was on her way to a monster game, with 14 first half points. And yet, the game was still tight with Rutgers Prep, which led by six at halftime.
The third quarter is when the Non-Public South B title game turned. GiGi Battle put on a masterclass in defense, and helped the Argonauts held Lynch scoreless for at least a 14-minute stretch of the entire third period and well into the fourth.
And that’s the story of how top-seed Rutgers Prep won its third straight state sectional title – and sixth overall – a 63-42 decision over third-seed St. Rose of Belmar.
The win puts the Argonauts in Friday’s 3 pm state Group B title game at Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers University in Piscataway against the North B winner, either top-seed Morris Catholic or second-seed Montclair-Immaculate, who play each other at 7:00 tonight at Paterson-Kennedy.
Prep trailed 5-0 early, but went on a 13-5 run the rest of the quarter to take a 13-10 lead after one. They went on another run to start the third – 12-5 – and all of a sudden – fueled by their trademark defense, as usual – Rutgers Prep was fully in control.
Mikayla Blakes – who will get one more game – will have three sectional titles to her credit, the most she could win, with no state tournament in 2021, her freshman years. She finished with a team-high 17. Fellow senior Chloe Escanillas followed with 13, while senior Leah Crosby and sophomore Ava LaMonica had ten apiece.
Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!
When you talk to Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger in the preseason, she’s quick to point out that the preseason is long. Specifically, 23 games long.
In her world, the regular season is the tune-up. They’ll play their Skyland Conference games, some other top Jersey schools out of league, and go to showcases like the John Wall Invitational in North Carolina to play nationally-ranked foes.
All that prepares her team for the real season: the postseason.
Well, their first postseason ended with their third straight Somerset County Tournament title, and now they’re looking for their next one in the state tourney, in Non-Public South B.
The top-seeded Argonauts (23-4) have won the last two titles in this section, beating Wildwood Catholic each of the last two seasons. Monday, they’ll face third-seed St. Rose-Belmar (19-9) in the Non-Public South B final down at Jackson Liberty High School. Central Jersey Sports Radio will have live play-by-play with Mike Pavlichko on the call beginning with pregame at 3:45 pm, tip-off at 4; click here to listen.
The Purple Roses are led by sophomore Jada Lynch, who’s averaging team-bests 15.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds. She also leads in assists (89), blocks (11) and steals (62). Meanwhile, junior Cassidy Kruesi is scoring nine points a game and leads the team in threes with 48.
Expect a lot of shots from downtown in this one, if either team can find good looks. Rutgers Prep hits a lot of them, 159 this season in 27 games, an average of almost six per contest. The Purple Roses have hit 183.
Rutgers Prep is led by Vanderbilt-bound senior Mikayla Blakes, who’s averaging 20.7 points per game, and four others are scoring in double figures as well: sophomore GiGi Battle is at 11.7 a game, while sophomore Ava LaMonica and senior Chloe Escanillas are both averaging an even 11 points per game.
And that’s where the difference may lie. St. Rose has won low scoring games, averaging just 54.1 per game, but the Argonauts are averaging 71 per contest on the season. Although the Purple Roses scored a lot in the first two rounds of the sectionals – in an 82-11 win over St. Joseph-Hammonton in the first round and a 76-34 victory over Holy Spirit in the quarterfinals – they just eked one out against Ranney in the semis, 46-43.
Meanwhile, all but two of Prep’s wins this season have seen them score at least 60 points.
Click below to hear both head coaches preview Monday’s Non-Public South B Final:
