Central Regional’s Jimmy V Showcase Celebrates 10th Year of Making a Difference

10th Annual Jimmy V Showcase

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

At Central Regional High School

A lot has changed in the 10 years since Mike Clemente Jr. established the Jimmy V Showcase at his home gym at Central Regional High School in January of 2016. For one thing, the Central head boys basketball coach has led his team to status within the Shore Conference and South Jersey that it had not reached prior to him taking the job.

The soon-to-be back-to-back Shore Conference Tournament champion in 2016 was Mater Dei Prep, a school that is no longer open. Since that Saturday in 2016, four Shore Conference programs – Mater Dei, Ranney, Marlboro and St. Rose – won their first ever Shore Conference Tournament championships, while Manasquan won its first SCT title in more than a half-century. In that time, the Shore Conference even claimed its first and only NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title, when Ranney finished No. 1 in New Jersey in 2019 – a feat St. Rose would later accomplish without a T of C in 2024.

The only thing to disrupt the Jimmy V Classic from growing each year was the COVID pandemic of 2020-21, which limited the state-wide schedule to just January and February of 2021 and forced cancellations of showcases around the state.

A lot has happened in and away from the Shore Conference since 2016, and for Clemente, everything has changed. The association with the Coaches Vs. Cancer Foundation that the showcase benefits hits close to home for Clemente, who was battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma back in 2018, when showcase was in its third year. By year four of the showcase, Clemente was cancer-free.

Over the decade since the Jimmy V Showcase came to Central, the event has raised more than $160,000 dollars for Coaches vs. Cancer, according to Clemente and will add to that total this Saturday with another deep roster of games.

Donovan Catholic (4-5) vs. Sayreville (8-5), 10 a.m.

Since winning the Steve Gepp Bracket of the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic to close out 2025, Donovan Catholic has lost four straight games – all to teams that have been ranked in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 at some point this season: Red Bank Catholic, Jackson, Central and Southern Regional. The growing pains are to be expected for a Griffins team that relies on two freshmen (Gerard Gallo and Ethan Sulkowski) for significant offensive production and one senior in the starting lineup (Pat Gallo).

The rest of the month for Donovan Catholic will be difficult before the schedule eases up in February, but a chance to play a Sayreville squad that currently boasts eight wins is a big power-point opportunity for a Griffins squad trying to play their way into the Shore Conference Tournament. The Bombers have lost two times each to East Brunswick (12-1) and South Plainfield (9-4) and also have an early-season Shore Conference win over St. John Vianney.

Marlboro (8-3) vs. Bayonne (10-2), 11:30 a.m.

Two nights after faltering in the fourth quarter of a 37-32 rock fight at Colts Neck, Marlboro bounced back by holding on for a 72-62 road win over Ranney that keeps the Mustangs – No. 9 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 – in the Shore Conference Class B North divisional race. In that game, Marlboro watched a 23-point third-quarter lead shrink to six by the end of the quarter, but the Mustangs got their act together by the fourth and closed out the win – a welcome development for a team that lost close division road games at both Red Bank Catholic and Colts Neck.

In the win over Ranney, Marlboro showcased its balance with all five Mustangs scorers contributing at least 11 points, led by two – senior Ajay Mathews and junior Dylan McEwan – with 16 points. Six-foot-6 center Drew Lubeck put up 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, while junior guard Nolan Gong scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half to go with seven assists. Senior Christian Elmasri also made an impact in Thurday’s win with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Marlboro will now turn its attention to a Bayonne team that not only has Shore Conference connections, but also a connection with Marlboro. The Bees are coached by Ben Gamble, who led Mater Dei Prep to back-to-back Shore Conference Tournament championships in three seasons as the head coach of the Seraphs, including a 2017 championship win over Marlboro. Current Marlboro coach James Reuter, now in his third season at Marlboro, was an assistant for Gamble at Mater Dei and knows what type of game to expect from Bayonne given who its head coach is.

Thus far, Bayonne’s only losses are a one-sided loss to a St. Peter’s Prep squad ranked No. 3 in the state and a two-point loss to perennial Non-Public state title contender Hudson Catholic. Two days after facing Marlboro, Bayonne will face Jackson at a Jersey City Martin Luther King Day showcase.

Rumson-Fair Haven (11-2) vs. Lenape (9-2), 1 p.m.

The marquee game of the day features two serious NJSIAA sectional title contenders, including one that won back-to-back South Jersey Group IV championships in the past two seasons. Lenape enters Saturday having lost back-to-back games to Seneca and Cherry Hill East, the latter of which was a rematch of last year’s South Jersey Group IV championship game, won by Lenape.

On the other side of the court Saturday will be a Rumson team that also played a sectional final rematch on Thursday night, only in the case of the No. 3 Bulldogs, they were the team exacting revenge. Rumson went to Manasquan and handled the six-time defending sectional champion Warriors, 65-47, despite missing two senior starters (Luke Cruz and Drew Cavise) and getting no points from senior guard Luke Lydon.

Lydon has been among the Shore’s breakout players this season, which includes a 38-point outburst in a win over Red Bank Catholic in December. Two other breakout performers carried the Bulldogs at Manasquan, led by senior forward Blake Ahmann with 31 points and 18 rebounds. Ahman has been one of the Shore’s top rebounders through the early part of the season with 11.8 per game to go with an average of 11.2 points.

Freshman guard Clint Martin added 13 points in the win over Rumson to continue his strong play of late, particularly with Cavise out and Lydon playing through an ankle injury he sustained in a loss to Middletown South on Saturday. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, Martin is averaging 13.3 points and just over six rebounds in six games.

Saturday’s game completes one of the most challenging weeks of Rumson’s season, which started with a 79-48 loss to No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy on Monday and continued with Thursday’s trip to Manasquan, where the Bulldogs ended a nine-game losing streak against the Warriors.

Central (7-4) vs. Toms River North (4-8), 2:30 p.m.

Clemente’s team is coming off a tough road loss to Mainland on Wednesday and will look to bounce back against a former division foe and current rival. For most of Clemente’s decade-long tenure at Central, Toms River North has been Ocean County’s dominant team but over the last three seasons, Central has usurped the throne from the Mariners.

Clemente had not beaten Toms River North heading into the 2021-22 season, but since then, Central is 4-2 against the Mariners, including three straight wins dating back to 2023-24. This year, the Golden Eagles are still coming together as a unit after graduating four senior starters from last year’s 24-win team, but the early results have been encouraging. Central currently sits in first place in the Class A South standings and other than the loss to Mainland, all the Golden Eagles’ losses are to teams currently ranked in the SSI Top 10 (No. 4 Red Bank Catholic, No. 7 Point Pleasant Beach and No. 8 Freehold Township).

Junior Derek Roth (16.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game) is the lone returning starter and he has taken over as the team’s go-to scorer, as well as remaining a lock-down defender. Six-foot-7 senior and FBS football recruit Elijah Reeder has moved into the starting lineup and been a force in the paint, while junior Cijier Yates and sophomore Jaxen Carter are pulling their weight as first-year starters.

Toms River North, meanwhile, has more starting experience than Central had coming into the season, but is still a relatively young team. Sophomore Jake Greenberg (14.4 points per game) is the team’s top scoring option, with juniors Jackson Sias and Logan Brill playing key roles along with seniors Jayden Thomas and Bryce Kazanowsky.

Jackson (8-3) vs. Ewing (9-3), 4 p.m.

The last time Ewing faced a Shore Conference team, the Blue Devils were handed a defeat by Colts Neck in the 2025 NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III final – a game Ewing ‘s players would most certainly like to have back given how poorly the team shot, particularly from the free-throw line.

Beating another Shore Conference team would not undo that loss, but it would continue a solid start to this season for Ewing, which has wins over St. Thomas Aquinas and Nottingham, with the Blue Devils’ only losses coming to Thrive Charter (9-1), Trenton (9-3) and Paul VI (8-3).

Jackson owns a record résumé similar to what Ewing boasts and is trying to find its rhythm after a 5-0 start has turned into a roller-coaster, 3-3 stretch. That string of games includes three lopsided losses to Freehold Township, Southern and Colonia and even the three wins had their moments of uncertainty. One was a 35-32 win over Manasquan in which the Jaguars were outscored, 20-0, in the second quarter before rallying to win. Another was a 51-50 win over Donovan Catholic at home. The most recent was a 41-34 win over a Barnegat team that has no returning varsity production from last season and still held Jackson to 15 first-half points before the Jaguars ultimately won, 41-34.

Saturday is a chance for Jackson to get back on track against a quality opponent and the Jaguars will look to follow senior guard George Boley, who averaged 17.8 points per game during the 5-0 start and is at 11.5 over the last six. Senior Jimmy Pappalardo is an x-factor shooting the ball, while sophomore Mi’Aire Anderson returned Thursday vs. Barnegat after missing the games vs. Donovan Catholic and Colonia due to injury.

Rutgers Prep (8-5) vs. Holy Cross Prep (8-2), 5:30 p.m.

The penultimate game of the showcase features an established Non-Public B power vs. an emerging one. Rutgers Prep has been close to breaking through as a state champion under coach Matt Bloom, whose team lost a sectional quarterfinal game to Ranney in Bloom’s first season and has since made it to at least the sectional semifinal round in six straight NJSIAA Tournaments. The Argonauts have one sectional title, which came in South Non-Public A in 2022 and preceded a loss to Bergen Catholic in the state final.

Last year, with a young roster around senior Myles Parker, Rutgers Prep ran into St. Rose in the South Non-Public B final and lost, 86-55, to the Purple Roses. This year’s team looks different due to several top players transferring out, but the Argonauts still have a pair of standout scorers in sophomore William Brunson (24 points per game) and junior Rocco Loomis (18.1 points).

Holy Cross is looking to rise into the next tier of contenders in Non-Public B as a team that can challenge Rutgers Prep for the South Jersey championship. The Crusaders have already played close losses against Rumson-Fair Haven and Thrive Charter and still have games remaining vs. Camden Catholic, Paul VI, Lenape and one more vs. Thrive.

St. Rose (1-10) vs. Cherry Hill East (11-0), 7 p.m.

During the early part of the season, Cherry Hill East has made its case as the best public-school team in New Jersey outside of reigning Group IV champion Plainfield and the Cougars likely aren’t conceding that debate, despite Plainfield currently ranking No. 1 in the state and rostering arguably the state’s best junior in Micah Gordon. Fresh off a 59-50 win over Lenape Thursday in a rematch of the 2025 South Jersey Group IV championship game, Cherry Hill East is looking for a dozen straight wins to open the season and a second win over a Shore Conference team. The Cougars’ most lopsided win of the year so far is a 91-38 win over Toms River North on Dec. 20.

Cherry Hill East has a well-rounded team whose offense is led by sophomore Jamieson Young, who enters Saturday averaging 22.7 points per game, with junior Chris Abreu second at 16.1.

In each of the last two years, St. Rose headlined the Jimmy V Classic along with one of the state’s best public-school teams. Two years ago, the Purple Roses beat eventual Group III champion Ramapo in a come-from-behind win and last year, St. Rose earned a hard-fought victory over 2025 Group IV runner-up Montgomery.

A lot has changed since the end of last season. Coach Brian Lynch left to coach his alma mater, CBA, all-state guard and Northwestern commit Jayden Hodge transferred to national power Montverde Academy and three key contributors followed Lynch to CBA. Seniors Tyler Cameron and O’Rien Campbell remain and Cameron (17.8 points per game) has stepped up as a steady scorer after starting a year ago and contributing key minutes as a sophomore and freshman.

Although the senior returnees have been solid and both junior Marco Leonardis and sophomore Ajay Catania have been positive additions as transfers, a tough schedule has gotten the better of St. Rose thus far.

The 1-10 start has not been ideal for new coach Chris Alesi, but it includes competitive losses to Wall (9-0) and Marlboro (8-3), plus a first-half headache for CBA in which the Colts led by just four at halftime before blowing the game open in the second.