Boys Basketball NJSIAA Tournament Preview: The Shore in Group 2

Since 2022, a team from Monmouth County has appeared in at least one state final in five of the six NJSIAA groups, with Non-Public A the lone exception and College Achieve the representative in Group I. To find an actual Group I team from the Shore Conference, you would need to go back to Point Pleasant Beach in 2013, which was two years before Christian Brothers Academy made it to the Non-Public A final.

All that is to say, the Shore Conference has experienced a wide range of success in boys basketball during recent seasons, and in no group has that been more pronounced than in Group II. Manasquan has won two Group II championships in the past three years and might have won three in a row had the Warriors not been burned by especially poor officiating at the end of the 2024 Group II semifinals vs. Camden.

While Manasquan has been the Shore’s preeminent Group II team, Rumson-Fair Haven also has three sectional titles since 2018, Holmdel has played in a sectional final and three Shore Conference Tournament semifinals since 2020, and Wall won Central Jersey Group III championships in both 2019 and 2020. Throw in capable teams from Ocean, Monmouth and Point Pleasant Boro and the Shore will be holding the cards in Central Jersey Group II again.

 

Central Jersey Group II

Shore Teams in the Field: No. 1 Wall, No. 3 Ocean, No. 5 Manasquan, No. 7 Rumson-Fair Haven, No. 8 Holmdel, No. 10 Point Pleasant Boro, No. 11 Monmouth
Top Seed: Wall
Defending Champion: Manasquan
Favorite: Wall. Although a loss to Red Bank Catholic in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals was a disappointing exit for a team hoping to make its first conference championship game since 1974, the Crimson Knights had an encouraging quarterfinal performance, which netted a win a second win over Manasquan this season. Winning the program’s third sectional title since Bob Klatt took over as head coach in 2018-19 will likely require Wall to beat Manasquan for a third time and while that would not be an easy assignment, it should help that Wall would play the Warriors at Wall High School after the first two wins came on neutral courts. Wall has earned the No. 1 seed and should be considered a contender for the Group II championship, but to get there, the Crimson Knights could very well have to win consecutive games vs. Holmdel, Manasquan, Rumson-Fair Haven, Camden and Malcolm X Shabazz.

There are three Shore Conference teams in this section ranked ahead of Rumson-Fair Haven in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10, but the Bulldogs could make a convincing case as the favorite to win the section. With Wall, Manasquan, Holmdel and No. 9 Robbinsville all on the other side of the bracket, Rumson will avoid three of those four contenders while playing on the same side of the bracket as No. 2 Metuchen, Ocean, No. 6 Arthur L. Johnson, Point Boro and Monmouth. Ocean has two losses to a Matawan team that Rumson dominated with senior standout Luke Cruz unable to play, while Metuchen has played a soft schedule compared to Rumson. With Cruz back after another brief stint on the bench due to injury, Rumson is going to have a talent advantage over every team on its side of the bracket – perhaps over every team in the section.

Dark Horse: Holmdel. With wins over both Manasquan and Rumson during the regular season, the Hornets have proven they are good enough to win the section, which would mark their first sectional championship since 1999. The hang-up with Holmdel is its draw, which is brutal. Robbinsville is a dangerous No. 9 seed and if Holmdel can survive that game, the next stop would likely be Wall. If Holmdel can beat those two unfamiliar opponents, it would likely face two very familiar ones, with Manasquan and Rumson the likeliest teams to oppose Holmdel in the semifinals and finals, respectively, should the Hornets make the run.

On the other side of the bracket, Point Boro will have to land a pretty substantial haymaker in the first round, but if the Panthers can upset Rumson on the road, they immediately become the favorite to reach the final. The Panthers have two good scorers with size in senior Jovin Steinmetz and junior Hunter Hynes, a senior back court and some frontcourt depth – all elements that could help them give Rumson a hard game.

Monmouth nearly beat Point Boro in the first round of the SCT and has a better draw, so the Falcons have to be considered as a team that could make it to the semifinals as a double-digit seed. Senior Ahmir Wiggins is a difficult matchup for most teams and although Monmouth went 0-2 vs. potential semifinal opponent Ocean, the Falcons were competitive in both games, meaning the “It’s hard to beat a team three times” cliché applies.

A No. 3 seed isn’t usually qualified for the underdog label, but Ocean fits the description to some degree. The Spartans were top 10 in the Shore Conference in power points at the time of the Shore Conference Tournament seeding, but were given the No. 15 seed – a sign that the Shore’s coaches (and media) and still waiting to see the Spartans prove themselves. A win over Overbrook on the day of the state tournament cutoff suggests perhaps the Spartans are capable of a run to the final, with Ocean potentially spoiling Rumson’s road to another championship appearance.

Bracket Breakdown: The Central Jersey Group II bracket has been a Shore Conference playground over the last decade, with a Shore Conference team winning this section 10 of the last 11 NJSIAA Tournaments. That has mostly been Manasquan and Rumson-Fair Haven, but Holmdel has been close to the mountaintop during that stretch and Wall has two Central Jersey Group III championships during that same time period. Even with only two of the top four seeds, it is very likely that four Shore Conference teams are left standing in the semifinals.

Prediction: Rumson over Manasquan. If this projection is correct, this would mark three straight years that the Central Jersey Group II championship was decided at Manasquan with Rumson playing the role of visitor. In the last two, Manasquan beat the Bulldogs, but that was with a much different roster than the one the Warriors will take into these state playoffs.

Manasquan has won a sectional championship in each of the last six NJSIAA Tournaments and capturing a seventh in a row would be its most improbable title run yet. The Warriors would likely have to go on the road for round two at No. 4 Delaware Valley and a third meeting with either Wall or Holmdel would likely be in the cards for the sectional semifinals. Mansquan is 0-2 vs. Wall and 1-1 vs. Holmdel with a loss in the more recent game, but there is a silver lining to each matchup. Manasquan lost by only two to Wall in the SCT quarterfinals after losing by 20 in December and with respect to Holmdel, Manasquan beat the Hornets in Manasquan, which is where a potential semifinal game between the two Class A North rivals would be.

Just as was the case in the Shore Conference Tournament, the x-factor for Manasquan is the status of junior guard Rey Weinseimer. The 2025 First Team All-Shore guard has not played this season while recovering from knee surgery, but has been a full participant in practice for most of the month of February. Manasquan is capable of winning the section without him and a full-strength version of Weinseimer would make the Warriors the favorite, but integrating a new player into a fully-developed team – no matter how good the player – is not always seamless.

With so many dangerous teams on the opposite side of the bracket, Rumson has the stars aligned to get back to the top of Central Jersey Group II. The Bulldogs have their own All-Shore players who has dealt with injuries this season, but Cruz is back in action in time for the NJSIAA Tournament. Rumson has every reason to expect to make it back to the sectional final for the third straight year and fourth time in five years and they also own wins over Holmdel and Manasquan this season – including a win at Manasquan.

With all that being said, if Wall can get over a bout of the flu that hit several players on the team last week and the Crimson Knights can find their groove, they are the team to beat in this section. With the draw Wall has, there is no time to ease into the tournament. The Crimson Knights should coast through the first round, but starting with Holmdel or Robbinsville in the quarterfinals, every game will be a battle.

Round-by-Round Picks

First Round
(1) Wall over (16) Bordentown
(8) Holmdel over (9) Robbinsville
(5) Manasquan over (12) Roselle
(4) Delaware Valley over (13) Spotswood
(3) Ocean over (14) Governor Livingston
(11) Monmouth over (6) A.L. Johnson
(7) Rumson-Fair Haven over (10) Point Boro
(2) Metuchen over (15) Delran

Quarterfinals
(8) Holmdel over (1) Wall
(5) Manasquan over (4) Delaware Valley
(3) Ocean over (11) Monmouth
(7) Rumson-Fair Haven over (2) Metuchen

Semifinals
(5) Manasquan over (8) Holmdel
(7) Rumson-Fair Haven over (3) Ocean

Championship
(7) Rumson-Fair Haven over (5) Manasquan

 

South Jersey Group II

Shore Teams in the Field: No. 13 Barnegat
Top Seed: Haddonfield
Defending Champion: No. 2 Camden
Favorite: Camden. Haddonfield, Camden and No. 4 Middle Township are the only programs to win this section since Camden moved from Group III to Group II in 2013-14 and those three are the primary contenders to win it again this year. Camden is not the juggernaut it was from 2020 to 2024 and is not even the team it was a year ago, when the Panthers lost to Manasquan in the Group II semifinals. Still, when Camden is in the dance, Camden is the favorite.

Dark Horse: No. 6 Overbrook. Normally, the dark horse label is reserved for a seed worse than No. 6, but South Jersey Group II in an exception. Since Camden, Haddonfield and Middle have made this section so tough in which to break through as a champion, a team like Overbrook making it to the final would be eye-opening and the Rams have a real shot. Outside of a recent loss to Kingsway in the Tri-County Conference semifinals, all over Overbrook’s losses were to teams seeded No. 3 or better in an NJSIAA section. The Rams also beat one of those teams – South Jersey Group III No. 1 seed Deptford – in the conference tournament quarterfinals.

No. 11 Pleasantville is Overbrook’s first-round opponent and  has improved over the course of the season – enough that the Greyhounds will be a dangerous matchup for the Rams in the first round and, potentially, No. 3 Lower Cape May in the quarterfinals.

Barnegat is the lone Shore Conference representative in Group II and the Bengals once again were dealt a rough hand. With a team short on tournament experience, Barnegat will head to Middle Township for the first round.

Bracket Breakdown: Middle Township should roll to the semifinal, while Haddonfield will benefit from playing at home all the way through, although a quarterfinal date with No. 8 Cedar Creek could be a battle. Camden, meanwhile, is not a shoo-in this year, with Overbrook and Lower Cape May both having strong seasons and eager to prove themselves against one of the state’s best programs.

Prediction: Middle Township over Camden. While Camden is beatable compared to most years, the Panthers have not been nearly as beatable at home, where their only loss this season has come against Paul VI – the No. 1 seed in South Jersey Non-Public A. Middle, however, has been through some intense NJSIAA Tournament battles in recent years and has played a schedule that has the Panthers ready to go to Haddonfield, Camden or anywhere else to get a win.

 

Round-by-Round Picks

First Round
(1) Haddonfield over (16) West Deptford
(8) Cedar Creek over (9) Haddon Heights
(12) Sterling over (5) Gloucester
(4) Middle Twp. over (13) Barnegat
(3) Lower Cape May over (14) Pennsauken Tech
(6) Overbrook over (11) Pleasantville
(7) Camden Eastside over (10) Mastery Camden
(2) Camden over (15) Cinnaminson

Quarterfinals
(1) Haddonfield over (8) Cedar Creek
(4) Middle Twp. over (12) Sterling
(6) Overbrook over (3) Lower Cape May
(2) Camden over (7) Camden Eastside

Semifinals
(4) Middle Twp. over (1) Haddonfield
(2) Camden over (6) Overbrook

Championship
(4) Middle Twp. over (2) Camden