Breaking Down the Field: 2026 Boys Basketball Shore Conference Tournament Preview

Breaking Down the 2026 Boys Basketball Shore Conference Tournament Field

On Tuesday, 16 of the 24 Shore Conference Tournament qualifiers will take the court and the remaining eight will join them Thursday in the round of 16 as the two dozen championship hopefuls all set out to make what each hopes to be a deep run toward the championship at Monmouth University.

Whether it is the No. 1 seed or the last team to qualify, every team wants to have a memorable moment sometime between Tuesday’s opening round and the championship game on Feb. 20. With only the top 24 teams by power points making it this year and the top eight teams in the field earning byes, every team enters the tournament with a chance to win at least one game.

How many teams, though, can win it all? Reach the semifinals at Brookdale? Make it to the quarterfinals Saturday at Middletown South?

Below is a list of every team in the tournament, broken down into 10 tiers. As you move down the list, the teams become more and more likely as contenders to make it to Middletown South, then to Brookdale and, eventually, to Monmouth. That, of course, does not mean there won’t be a team that makes this list look dumb – in fact, count on it. With a field of teams that was very even from No. 3 seed through the mid-teens, this year’s SCT is fertile ground for upsets.

If, somehow, it winds up being predictable, here are some general predictions to keep in mind over the next 11 days, starting with the bottom of the field and working all the way to the tournament favorite.

 

Tier 10: Happy to be here

24. Matawan

The Huskies showed last week they are not to be taken lightly and Rumson surely will not when the two teams meet in round one. That is why Matawan will have one of the tougher assignments of the first round: Rumson is an athletic, talented team with, arguably, the best player in the conference in Luke Cruz, so drawing No. 24 gives Matawan a challenge unlike any it has faced since winter break. Whatever happens, the four-game winning streak to qualify for the tournament was a major confidence boost for the Huskies.

 

Tier 9: Stars to Fear

23. Henry Hudson

Now preparing for its third straight Shore Conference Tournament appearance, Henry Hudson is no longer a team content to just make the tournament and accept a first-round loss against a more talented opponent. Beating No. 10 Freehold Township will be a very tough ask of the Admirals, but Freehold Township will not have it easy either. Junior JoJo Newell is the Shore’s leading scorer at 25.7 points per game and he combines with fellow junior Masio Tucker to form a pair of forwards at least 6-foot-4 in height to battle a Freehold Township team that will counter with 6-4 forwards John O’Neill and Jake Schultzel. If Henry Hudson were to pull off the stunner, Manasquan would be the next opponent, so this really is a rough draw for an Admirals team trying to break through with an SCT run.

21. Toms River South

This draw is a tad more favorable than Henry Hudson’s, but it is still a bear. The difference when assessing Toms River South’s chances is the Indians have beaten the likes of Point Pleasant Beach and Brick Memorial, so there are examples that the Indians can beat a team the calibler No. 12 Central and perhaps even challenge No. 5 Marlboro should they reach round two. As for the roster, Toms River South is loaded with senior talent, led by Shane Gambarony – a well-rounded scorer who is capable of catching fired and taking over a game.

 

Tier 8: 50-50 in Round 1; Long odds in Round 2

17. Point Pleasant Boro

The 15-vs-18 and 16-vs.-17 games are both rematches from the regular season, with both of Tuesday’s road teams looking to get their payback by winning when the stakes are much higher. Point Boro dropped a decision to Monmouth back in December at a first-round game in the Cole Young Memorial Classic on Point Boro’s home floor and that was without Ahmir Wiggins playing for Monmouth. Point Boro has since played its best basketball, become a more well-rounded team around established guards Jovin Steinmetz and Hunter Hynes, and have a 400-plus win head coach in Kevin Hynes getting them ready for the rematch.

16. Monmouth

The absence of Wiggins – who played his first two years of high-school basketball at Monmouth and transferred back for his senior year after spending his junior year in North Carolina – makes that December win over Point Boro all the more impressive for Monmouth. A loss to Matawan gave the appearance the Falcons were headed in the wrong direction, but beating Colts Neck on Saturday sends them into Tuesday on a high note and they will certainly have a home-court advantage as an SCT host team for the first time in 16 years.

15. Ocean

The Spartans will be the home team vs. No. 18 Colts Neck, have more offensive weapons than their opponent and have already beaten the Cougars on a neutral floor this season. Only two of those things matter on Tuesday, and that is assuming playing at home is indeed an advantage early in the tournament. The offensive talent advantage, however, is real, so for Ocean to beat Colts Neck for a second time, it will have to keep Colts Neck’s top two players from going off, prevent a third scorer from making an impact and do the little things it takes to beat a program that still has championship DNA left over from a 2025 state-title run.

18. Colts Neck

Colts Neck dropped a Saturday game to Ocean at an Autism Awareness showcase and will try to solve Aidan Saint Louis and the Spartans with a trip to Wall on the line. With Dillon Younger and Nate Sloane boasting championship experience from last year’s NJSIAA Group III title run, the Cougars are not a comfortable match-up for Wall should they find their way into round two.

 

Tier 7: Reason to Believe

22. Shore

The Blue Devils rolled through their Class C North division schedule 8-0 and did not test itself against a team as good as first-round opponent Ranney, but that does not mean Shore is not ready to five the 11th-seeded Panthers problems. Shore played in the Coaches Cup a year ago, but in each of the prior two seasons, coach Erik Mazur’s team pulled off first-round upsets in the SCT – one at Brick Memorial in 2023 and at Colts Neck in 2024. Ranney’s depth and balance on offense will challenge Shore, but the Blue Devils will counter with their own version of a similar offense, led by twins Andrew and Ryan Barham. A round-of-16 game at Jackson would make for a difficult match-up, but it is not quite as daunting as what the teams in tier 8 are up against.

20. Brick Memorial

The Mustangs have struggled to find consistency this season, but at their best, they have been good enough to handle their SCT draw. In fact, they have already beaten their first-round opponent and handily. Brick Memorial beat No. 13 Middletown South, 62-42, on Jan. 17 in Middletown, so the Mustangs will return to the scene of the crime and look to escape with another win after a lackluster performance Monday in an 18-point loss to Toms River South. If Brick Memorial again proves to be a nightmare matchup for Middletown South, the Mustangs would play a No. 4 Howell team that lost to Middletown South by 31 just last week.

 

Tier 6: Good Draws

14. Point Pleasant Beach

While the three teams in this tier got draws they should all like, none of them are easy. Point Beach has to deal with a very dangerous No. 19 seed in Southern in round one and a win would mean a third match-up vs. No. 3 Red Bank Catholic, which has already beaten Point Beach twice. In both those losses to RBC, however, Point Beach was missing 6-foot-4 junior Danny Cavanaugh and both games were fairly competitive. In losses to RBC, Jackson and Manasquan – which could be the actual road for Point Beach to the semifinal after round one – the Garnet Gulls have shown they can compete with SCT hopefuls and just need to figure out how to get over the top this week.

12. Central

Point Beach’s draw is tough than that of Central, which lost to Point Beach on Jan. 3 and has not measured up quite as well against the best teams on their schedule. That does not mean Central hasn’t had some encouraging moments, including two games against Jackson that were – save for a disastrous fourth quarter in the first meeting – very competitive. With junior Derek Roth presenting a major challenge for Central’s opponents and Elijah Reeder giving the Golden Eagles some serious size, a potential three-game run Toms River South, No. 5 Marlboro and No. 4 Howell is not that hard to picture.

13. Middletown South

On its best day, Middletown South has the talent and the path through the bracket to be playing at Brookdale on Feb. 18 in the SCT semifinals. Middletown South played its best game of the year last week in an 84-53 win over Howell, the team the Eagles would play in the round of 16 if they can get past Brick Memorial, a team that beat Middletown South by 20 in mid-January. If the Eagles can get rolling with freshmen Ryan Gannon and Even Wells, they could be an entertaining double-digit seed that has already proven to be a tough match-up for Howell and potential quarterfinal opponent Marlboro.

 

Tier 5: Tough Teams with a Tough Road

8. Holmdel

At 8-2 over its last 10 games with just a loss to No. 1 CBA and another to Sayreville at the buzzer, Holmdel is peaking at the right time. While the timing is right for Holmdel, the draw is now. The Hornets are likely to welcome in Rumson-Fair Haven in for the round of 16 after splitting with the Bulldogs during the Class A North regular season and if they can survive that slugfest, they will have to face a CBA team that has handled them each time the two have met. Manasquan and Rumson have each played CBA close at least once, but Holmdel was not able to keep it close heading into the fourth quarter, so the prospect of the Hornets storming into the quarterfinals and shocking CBA is hard to picture, although not entirely impossible.

10. Freehold Township

The Patriots have a similarly-difficult road to the semifinals, which will also require them to get by a first-round game against No. 23 Henry Hudson. Assuming Freehold Township can do that, it will next have to travel to play No. 7 Manasquan, which beat Thrive Charter, Rumson and nearly knocked off CBA in a six-day stretch that began on Jan. 31. Manasquan also beat Freehold Township, 54-41, on Jan. 10 by holding both Schultzel and O’Neill scoreless. If Freehold Township can pay back Manasquan in the round of 16, next up would likely be No. 2 Wall, which has already beaten the Patriots three times this season. Freehold Township’s talented group of juniors could very well have a run in them, but to make it, those juniors will have some major demons to exorcise.

9. Rumson-Fair Haven

Since Cruz sustained an eye injury in a win over Holmdel on Jan. 8, Rumson is 4-7 and four of those losses have come since Cruz returned to the lineup. In Rumson’s defense, that 11-game stretch has included some heavy competition and the Bulldogs have performed well during parts of the stretch, including a win over Union Catholic and a six-point loss at CBA. Speaking of CBA, Rumson will have to go through the No. 1 seed to get to the SCT semifinals, and that is only if they can solve Holmdel in the round of 16 first. With Cruz back and playing at a high level and a chance to reset for the postseason, Rumson is too talented to write off, even with a potential one-two punch of Holmdel and CBA on deck for the end of the week.

 

Tier 4: Legitimate Sleepers

19. Southern

After opening the year as the No. 5 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10, Southern has gone on to play a rather non-descript season. The Rams have had some close losses to quality teams in Trenton, Lawrence and Atlantic City, as well as some frustrating ones to Central (twice), Colts Neck and Jackson. They have also beaten Jackson and boast one of the better guard combos in the tournament in Noah Perna and Jake Sliwinski, plus have some shooting around them and a promising junior big in 6-foot-7 Gavin Gerckens. It is only unrealized potential until it is realized and with the postseason now here, we will find out if Southern can reach that next gear or if the struggles will remain a theme. If they can get it together, the Rams are capable of beating any of the teams potentially standing between them and the semifinals at Brookdale: Point Beach, Red Bank Catholic, Jackson and Ranney.

11. Ranney

With wins over Red Bank Catholic, Marlboro and Middletown South on their résumé, Ranney has proven it can play with and beat teams that have real chances to reach the semifinals. The Panthers have also faced Wall, so with the exception of CBA, they have seen the best the tournament has to offer, for the most part. Jackson is another team Ranney has not yet played, but the Panthers would like to on Thursday. The last time Ranney reached the SCT championship game, it was as a No. 11 seed with a win at Jackson (Memorial) in the round of 16 in 2023. That Ranney team also beat a No. 2 seed that had not lost to a Shore Conference team prior to the tournament (St. Rose) so if the Panthers can make it all the way to the semifinals, that parallel could come into play as well.

 

Tier 3: Semifinal Cinderellas

4. Howell

The road to the semifinals is laid out relatively nicely for both teams in tier 3, although not without some danger. For Howell, the Rebels could face a rematch with Middletown South, which just beat Howell by 31 last week, in the round of 16, followed by a third meeting with Marlboro if the Mustangs can pass their round-of-16 test. There is also the possibility of a couple of curveballs from Ocean County in Brick Memorial and Central, but anyway it falls, Howell will be facing either two teams with which the Rebels split during the season (Middletown South and Marlboro) or two teams that would be dangerous underdogs going up against the No. 4 seed. It’s not a given, but Howell will have a great chance to reach the semifinals for the first time in program history as the Rebels continue to author what they hope goes down as the greatest season in program history.

5. Marlboro

Like Howell, Marlboro has 2025-26 experience against two of its potential opponents (Howell and Middletown South) for the remainder of this week and none vs. the three teams from Ocean County (Central, Toms River South and Brick Memorial). Unlike Howell, Marlboro is guaranteed to face unfamiliar opponent in its first game, which will be against either Central or Toms River South on Thursday. Central, in particular could be a problem for Marlboro given the tournament experience, albeit limited, still on hand on Central’s roster from a year ago. If it comes down to Howell and Marlboro for the right to face CBA in the semifinals, the two teams were about as closely-matched as two opponents can be in their two December meetings.

 

Tier 2: Championship Challengers

7. Manasquan

Manasquan’s road to the championship could be a familiar one, with Freehold Township, Wall and Jackson all in its lane. The Warriors beat Freehold Township on the road in one of the games that turned their season around, but are a combined 0-3 vs. Wall and Jackson with two losses to Jackson and a 20-point loss to Wall. Those losses, however, were all in December and lately, Manasquan has taken down Rumson and Thrive Charter, plus went to the wire at CBA. Junior guard Rey Weinseimer is also close to returning, according to coach Andrew Bilodeau, and if he is anything close to the All-Shore version of himself that led last year’s Group II champions in scoring, Manasquan immediately becomes a threat to run through Wall, Red Bank Catholic, Jackson or whomever else stands between them. At the same time, Freehold Township would be a hard game in the round of 16 – hard enough that Manasquan’s streak of 14 straight quarterfinal appearances will be hanging in the balance Thursday night.

6. Jackson

Jackson awaits the winner of Ranney vs. Shore and if it is indeed Ranney, the Jaguars can take comfort in the fact that, as Jackson Memorial, they went on the road and beat Ranney in last year’s SCT first round before bowing out vs. No. 1 St. Rose the following round. This year, Jackson has set itself up with a much better in the bracket while also showing throughout the season that it is a dangerous fourth-quarter team. In its four losses, Jackson’s opponents have buried the Jaguars by the third quarter and with CBA and Wall nowhere near the Jaguars until the semifinals, there should not be a team that overwhelms Jackson as long as Jackson – especially standout guard George Boley – is on their game that given night.

3. Red Bank Catholic

Of RBC’s six losses, three have come in overtime (CBA, Marlboro and Ranney) and two have been by double-figures, but only by 10 points each (Wall and East Brunswick). The Caseys come to play on defense every night, they are dangerous from beyond the three-point arc, and their big man – 6-foot-7 junior Tyler Hager – does much more than just rebound and score in the paint. Of all the teams in the field that got a shot at CBA, RBC came the closest to beating the Colts, but could not seal the deal after leading by 13 late in the fourth quarter and taking the No. 1 seed to overtime back on Jan. 17. That losses has fueled RBC in the three weeks since and the Caseys enter Thursday’s game against either Point Beach or Southern motivated to reach their first ever SCT final and the SCT semifinals for the first time since 2022. That could require RBC to face Wall in the semifinals – the lone Shore Conference team that beat the Caseys by a double-figure margin.

2. Wall

The Crimson Knights could have taken a week off after ending their scheduled Shore Conference regular season Thursday with a win over St. John Vianney that improved their record to 17-0. Instead of protecting their perfect start, Wall put it on the line against a reigning sectional champion in Colonia and lost a hard-fought game to the Patriots. Although its scant hopes of a perfect season are dashed, Wall will enter the SCT a motivated, battle-tested sharper team for playing that game, which will be crucial given its draw. On Thursday, the Crimson Knights will either play an Ocean team that played them tough in December or a Colts Neck team that knocked them out in the round of 16 last year. If Wall survives its first game, its opponent will be either a better version of Manasquan than the one Wall beat, 40-20, in December or a Freehold Township team the Crimson Knights already beat three times. RBC is also on Wall’s side of the bracket as a potential semifinal opponent, so that is four teams Wall has already handled, but will are all motivated to earn another shot against the Crimson Knights. If Wall can fight its way through that group, which could also include Jackson, Ranney, Point Beach or Southern, it will play in the Shore Conference final for the first time in program history.

 

Tier 1: The Favorite

1. Christian Brothers Academy

There are some seasons – like each of the last two years – in which the top tier of the tournament features a team that could be deemed the “heavy” favorite. On CBA’s best day, no team in this tournament is likely to come close to the Colts. With some off-shooting nights in its recent past, however, CBA has left the door open for three Shore Conference opponents and although the Colts have slammed said door on all three in either the fourth quarter or overtime, they are three games that give hope to not only those particular teams – Manasquan, Rumson and Red Bank Catholic – but to a large portion of the field at-large. Ultimately, though, this tournament is CBA’s to lose, even if the Colts won’t have it easy. The quarterfinals could be a rematch with Rumson, which was within three points of CBA inside of three minutes to go the last time they played. With a healthy, deep roster that has played five Top 20 teams in the state and hungry for the program’s first SCT championship in 16 years while also buoyed by a head coach and trio of transfers – Avery Lynch, Izayah Cooper and Oymere Rene – who were part of St. Rose’s 2025 championship. On its face, it certainly looks like a championship formula.

 

Opening Round Predictions

(9) Rumson-Fair Haven over (24) Matawan

(10) Freehold Twp. over (23) Henry Hudson

(11) Ranney over (22) Shore

(12) Central over (21) Toms River South

(13) Middletown South over (20) Brick Memorial

(19) Southern over (14) Point Beach

(18) Colts Neck over (15) Ocean

(16) Monmouth over (17) Point Boro