BASKETBALL

Boys Basketball: Rutgers Prep advances back to SCT final

Harry Frezza
@thefrez56

SOMERSET - The Rutgers Prep and Montgomery boys basketball teams put on the kind of show Thursday night deserving of a Somerset County Tournament semifinal.

The second-seeded Argonauts made a big third quarter stand up and beat the third-seeded Cougars, 67-56, to advance to their second-straight county final. Rutgers Prep (15-8) will meet top-seeded and three-time county champ Gill St. Bernard's (20-4) Saturday afternoon in a rematch of last year’s final.

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"We are very excited, we have to give them our best effort because we know they will," said Rutgers Prep sophomore forward Zach Martini, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

"We are excited to be representing Rutgers Prep on Saturday, and we will give it our best shot," Argonauts coach Matt Bloom said.

Bloom's team looked much smoother than it did a month ago when Gill St. Bernard's beat them 74-60 and 54-40 in a span of 10 days. To get another crack at Gill St. Bernard's, Rutgers Prep had to commit to a strong defense, which led to a polished offense in a breakthrough third quarter when the Argonauts outscored the Cougars 16-9.

But Montgomery didn’t fold.

"We really put an emphasis on moving the ball, playing for each other and good things happen when we do it," Bloom said. "We are going to keep getting better every day, that’s the goal and we like where we are right now. We are playing good basketball right now and we’re playing together."

Rutgers Prep led 37-28 at the half behind 11 points from junior Jonah Charles, including three 3s. The Argonauts collected seven 3-pointers in the first half. Junior guard Kevin Fromelt and junior center Rohan Prakash kept the Cougars close as Prakash had 12 points with two 3s, and Fromelt had seven points in the first half.

Montgomery (15-9) never wavered from its plan and Rutgers Prep stayed composed.

“We defend really, really hard and really, really well and offensively we run our stuff, and we try to stay within what we try to do," Montgomery coach Kris Grundy said. "We don’t try to be anything that we’re not, and that was the game plan tonight."

The third quarter is when Rutgers Prep made its break. Back-to-back baskets from Martini made it 46-33 and a field goal from Charles extended the lead to 48-33.

"Zach makes all the winning plays, he dives on loose balls, he gets the rebound in traffic, he makes the extra pass. He’s the glue that keeps us together," Bloom said of Martini, who is the brother of Watchung Hills freshman forward Chad Martini.

Montgomery never budged from its patient approach and cut the Argonauts’ lead in half late in the fourth quarter, after Rutgers Prep had built a 60-41 lead.

"Montgomery plays hard from the tip to the very end," Bloom said.

But Rutgers Prep’s length, size, quickness and ability to hit open shots was too much to overcome. Charles ended with 17 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Richie Greaves added 14 points and freshman Trey Patterson hit for 11 points and grabbed nine boards. Junior guard Nahshon Battle scored 10 points.

"They really come after you from everywhere," Grundy said.