Boys Basketball Shore Conference Tournament Championship Preview

Shore Conference Tournament Championship

Friday, Feb. 20, 2026

At OceanFirst Bank Arena, Monmouth University

8 p.m.

No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy vs. No. 3 Red Bank Catholic

Teams at a Glance

CBA (22-3, 10-0 in Shore Conference Class A North)

Head Coach: Brian Lynch
SCT Titles: 16 (2010, 2009, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1993-96, 1990, 1988, 1987, 1985, 1984)
SCT Final Appearances: 26 (2025, 2014-16, 2010, 2009, 2005-07, 1999-2003, 1992-97, 1990, 1988, 1987, 1983-85)
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 17 Point Boro, 78-39; No. 8 Holmdel, 78-46; No. 5 Marlboro, 72-42.

 

Lineup

No.	Starters	Year	Height	Position
0	Izayah Cooper	So.	6'0"	Guard
1	Oymere Rene	So.	6'2"	Guard
20	Charlie Messano	Sr.	6'1"	Guard
15	Avery Lynch	Jr.	6'6"	Forward
32	Connor Andree	Sr.	6'5"	Forward
No.	Off the Bench	Year	Height	Position
24	David Buley	Jr.	6'8"	Center
2	Charlie Marcoullier	Sr.	6'0"	Guard
30	Matt Veisz	Sr.	6'1"	Guard
23	Aidan Dotzler	So.	6'4"	Forward
5	Mike Barrett	Jr.	6'2"	Guard

Red Bank Catholic (19-6, 8-2 in Shore Conference Class B North)

Head Coach: Tyler Schmelz
SCT Titles: 0
SCT Final Appearances: 0
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 14 Point Beach, 60-44; No. 11 Ranney, 60-55; No. 2 Wall, 44-31.

 

Lineup

No.	Starters	Year	Height	Position
13	Ryder Ciorciari	Jr.	5'10"	Guard
3	Gavin Biasi	Jr.	5'11"	Guard
10	James Hankowski	Sr.	6'1"	Guard
1	Ryan Saxton	Sr.	6'2"	Guard
23	Tyler Hager	Jr.	6'7"	Forward
No.	Off the Bench	Year	Height	Position
34	Asher Cummins	So.	6'2"	Forward
44	Ryan Bailey	So.	6'3"	Forward/Guard
31	Matias Candella	So.	5'10"	Guard

 

The Purple Connection

Until the final horn sounds at OceanFirst Bank Arena Friday night, the reigning Shore Conference Tournament champion in boys basketball is St. Rose – a team that is currently 5-20 and did not make this year’s Shore Conference Tournament. Despite that, there are more than just traces of the St. Rose program that dominated the last two Shore Conference Tournaments scattered around the rosters of the two teams playing for the 2026 SCT championship on Friday night.

In last year’s championship win over CBA at Monmouth, nine St. Rose players saw the floor at Monmouth. Only two of those nine graduated, but only two returned to St. Rose. Five of those nine players transferred and of those five transfers, four of them will be in the starting lineup for one of the teams on Friday night at Monmouth University. The only player to transfer out of St. Rose who will not be on the floor Friday night is Northwestern commit Jayden Hodge, who left New Jersey to play at Montverde Academy in Florida.

The direct connection to last year’s St. Rose championship team exists because last year’s St. Rose team had a direct connection to CBA in the form of its head coach. Brian Lynch graduated from CBA during the golden age of Colts basketball, with Lynch’s time at the academy spanning 1992-96. During that time, CBA won four straight SCT championships and also won made its only trip to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions as the Non-Public A champion. After an accomplished career playing and coaching in Europe, Lynch returned to New Jersey to take the head boys basketball job at St. Rose, where in four seasons, he led the Purple Roses to three straight NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public B championships, consecutive Shore Conference Tournament championships in 2024 and 2025, and the No. 1 ranking in New Jersey in 2024 after winning the program’s first ever state championship in Non-Public B.

Last May, Lynch left St. Rose to take over the CBA program, replacing former CBA teammate Geoff Billet after St. Rose defeated CBA in the 2025 final. Along with him, he brough the majority of his coaching staff, plus his nephew, junior wing Avery Lynch. In two varsity seasons at St. Rose, Avery Lynch became a key cog for the Purple Roses, elevating to a starting spot as a sophomore.

With Brian and Avery Lynch heading to CBA, two more 2024-25 guards from St. Rose followed them to Lincroft. Sophomores Izayah Cooper and Oymere Rene came off the St. Rose bench as freshman and are both starters at CBA.

While CBA has three players who won a championship with St. Rose, it also has four key players who played in last year’s SCT final wearing the CBA uniform. Senior Connor Andree is the lone 2024-25 CBA starter to retain his starting job for the entirety of the current season, while classmates Charlie Marcoullier and Charlie Messano have both started and come off the bench this season as well as last. Junior David Buley has also both started and come off the bench in both seasons.

Red Bank Catholic also has a link to last year’s St. Rose championship team and the Caseys’ connection might be the most important one of any figure in Friday’s game other than Brian Lynch. Junior Tyler Hager saw key minutes for the Purple Roses as a sophomore in 2024-25 due to his height (6-foot-7) and athleticism, the former of which St. Rose did not have in abundance. Now at Red Bank Catholic, where he will also star on the baseball field for the Caseys, Hager has been a gamechanger for an RBC team that has a deep collection of tough, skilled guards that complement a long, rangy forward like Hager who is content to find open teammates on offense, protect the rim on defense and clean up the glass on both ends of the floor.

For a St. Rose loyalist, watching Friday’s final will be bittersweet: many of the pieces that could have helped the Purple Roses make a run at a third straight championship will be helping their new teams try to break through for a title, while still serving as a reminder of how special the last two seasons were at St. Rose.

The Rematch

Friday’s game is a rematch of what could go down as the game of the year in the Shore Conference. On Jan. 17, the two rivals clashed in the Founders Cup at CBA and on that afternoon, RBC became the first and only Shore Conference team this season to lead CBA in the fourth quarter. The Caseys built up a 13-point lead with 1:30 left in the third quarter, but CBA rallied to tie the game in the final minute to force overtime before eventually winning, 69-65.

Hager was the driving force for RBC, scoring a game-high 17 points while grabbing six rebounds and handing out five steals. His 17 points were more than CBA’s frontcourt duo of Andree (four points) and Buley (eight) scored together and his aggression on offense played a part in Andree fouling out near the end of the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for RBC, Hager also fouled out on an offensive foul in the first minute of overtime. Seniors Ryan Saxton and James Hankowski did their best to keep the hopes of an upset alive but the Colts escaped thanks to 16 points and five assists from Cooper, a double-double by Lynch and three three-pointers and 13 points from Marcoullier.

With Wednesday’s win over Wall, RBC has now beaten three of the teams that have beaten the Caseys, with CBA, Rumson-Fair Haven and East Brunswick now the only remaining teams to beat RBC without the Caseys reciprocating.

From the CBA perspective, that remains CBA’s only overtime game, as well as the largest deficit the Colts have overcome to win a game this season.

Depth vs. Balance

CBA is the deeper of the two championship finalists, as evidenced by the Colts deriving more than half of their scoring over the last two games from their bench. Part of that is because Brian Lynch has opted to start his more defensive-minded starting five with Rene and Messano as part of the back court with Cooper, while Lynch plays on the wing and Andree the forward. Bringing a shooter like Marcoullier off the bench is a true luxury and featuring a well-rounded 6-foot-8 center in Buley pushes the limits of excess. Throw in another quality shooter in senior Matt Veisz and well-rounded sophomore Aidan Dotzler and CBA has more answers in uniform that RBC will.

With that being said, within a group of five on the floor, RBC is as balanced as CBA, or any other team in the conference. Each of the five Caseys starters – Hager, Hankowski, Saxton, junior Gavin Biasi and junior Ryder Ciorciari – has led the team in scoring in a given game, as has sophomore Ryan Bailey.

Hankowski leads the Caseys at 13.3 points per game while Biasi is right behind him at 13.1 and closing fast after scoring 17 points in each of RBC’s last two SCT games – wins over Ranney and Wall. Hager is the third Casey averaging better than 10 points per game to go with 8.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.4 blocks. Ciorciari comes in at 9.4 points and 4.1 assists while Saxton is the fifth-leading scorer at 7.4 points per game.

That balance is awfully similar to that of CBA, which also boasts three players averaging double-figures in scoring: Cooper (12.7 points), Lynch (11.5) and Andree (10.5). Buley (8.1) and Marcoullier (7.7) also give CBA five players averaging between seven and 13 points, with Messano (6.5) coming up just shy of making it six.

The X-Factor

For CBA, the x-factor has been offense beyond Cooper and Andree. The Colts have been a fairly consistent defensive team and Cooper and Andree have been reliable sources of scoring, particularly over the last month. Lynch has cooled off since a hot start, but is still a threat to put up 20 points if he can find his outside stroke. Buley led the Colts with 18 points on Wednesday night, while Marcoullier led them in the quarterfinals vs. Holmdel. Messano is also capable of catching fire as a scorer. It is not that CBA needs a third scorer to step up alongside Cooper and Andree; it’s more that, in absence of a third double-figure scorer, they get contributions from at least three of those four supporting players.

On the RBC side, it’s Hager. Biasi has been RBC’s MVP during the SCT run and Hankowski might be the best three-point shooter in the conference, so big games from those two could change the complexion of the game. Ciorciari will also play a crucial role in the game going head-to-head against Cooper. Ultimately, however, Hager is the player that can change the game for RBC, just as he did back on Jan. 17. He played on the same team as three of CBA’s starters and for Lynch, so he is not intimidated by them. That fearlessness rubs off on the rest of his team, which gives RBC a psychological advantage – or, at the very least, denies CBA a psychological advantage.

The Verdict

For one program, it feels like forever since it has one a Shore Conference Tournament title. For the other, it has actually been forever. Since winning its first SCT title in 1984, CBA has never had to wait this long to win a championship – not even close. The Colts are 0-4 in the SCT final in the 16 years since winning the 2010 championship and while two of those games were losses to clear-cut favorites (Point Pleasant Beach in 2014 and St. Rose last year), there has been heartbreak as well: the 2015 rout at the hands of No. 11 seed Rumson-Fair Haven, followed by a 2016 loss to Mater Dei Prep in which CBA blew an 18-point lead in the final 10 minutes.

On the other side, RBC has hardly had the chance to have its collective heart broken. Wednesday marked just the third ever trip to the semifinals for the Caseys and Friday will be their first appearance in the championship game. Their first was a 1994 loss to a CBA team that included both Lynch and Billet in the lineup and went on to win the Shore championship. The other was a loss to Manasquan in 2022 as the No. 1 seed.

This time around, RBC is embracing the role of underdog while CBA is still getting used to the pressure of expectation. By now, though, the Colts have taken plenty right hooks from other teams in the Shore Conference and while there have been some close calls, no team has been able to knock them out. RBC came the closest and now, the Caseys will try to do it on the biggest stage. Hager gives them an edge, but CBA has more answers than any team in the conference by a comfortable margin. It took them nearly three full quarters to find those answers back on Jan. 17 and at some point on Friday, expect the Colts to find them again.

The Pick: CBA, 55-47