Red Bank junior Justin Valentino. (Photo: Patrick Olivero)

Buc to Business: Red Bank Shakes off SCT Shortfall, Wins Coaches Cup

Matt Manley|February 21, 2026|Last Updated February 21, 2026

LITTLE SILVER — In the final game before the Shore Conference Tournament cutoff, the Red Bank Regional boys basketball team had a chance to qualify for the tournament if it could beat Manalapan on the road.

The Bucs failed to upend the Braves on Feb. 6 and because of that loss, Red Bank had to make the most of an opportunity in the Shore Conference Coaches Cup.

For the last two weeks, Red Bank has done just that and on Saturday, the Bucs had a chance to complete a championship run by beating the team that knocked them into the Coaches Cup in the first place.

Three Red Bank players — juniors Justin Valentino and Will Galligan and sophomore Wyatt Hegner — finished with a double-double Saturday at Red Bank Regional High School, there the Bucs paid back Manalapan with a 64-59 win that makes Red Bank the third Coaches Cup champion since the tournament debuted in March of 2024.

Junior Justin Valentino led Red Bank with 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Hegner added 16 points and 11 boards while Galligan chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds. Hegner scored nine of Red Bank’s 21 points in the first quarter and Valentino caught fire in the second quarter, during which he scored 10 points. During the third quarter, Red Bank pushed its lead as high as 17 and Manalapan never got closer than the five-point margin in the final score.

Saturday’s win was a measure of revenge for a 65-63 Manalapan win over Red Bank on Feb. 6 — a game that would have secured Red Bank the No. 24 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament had the Bucs won it. That game actually started on Dec. 20, but a wet playing surface at Manalapan High School prompted officials to suspend the game with Manalapan leading, 17-7, late in the first quarter. In the resumed game on Feb. 6, Red Bank rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit and tied the game in the final minute, but Manalapan senior Dean Aviles hit a shot in the lane in the final seconds to win it for the Braves.

“There was definitely a chip on our shoulder, especially after coming back against them (in February) and losing to them after going up a few,” Valentino said. “We came into this tournament with our head down and ready to work. We didn’t think about not making the Shore Conference. It was just, ‘Let’s win the next one.'”

The No. 24 seed in the SCT would have earned Red Bank a third game against Rumson-Fair Haven in the first round of the tournament and would have been the rubber match after the two rivals split their regular-season series in Class A North divisional play. Instead, Red Bank drew the No. 3 seed in the Coaches Cup and rolled through Freehold Boro and Middletown North before knocking off No. 2 Toms River East in the semifinals on Thursday in Toms River.

“I was never a big proponent of the Coaches Cup,” Red Bank coach Ben DiBiase said. “I always felt let’s just let all teams that want to be in go in (to the Shore Conference Tournament) and then just have consolation rounds. But looking back at these four games, I think it can propel us into what we really want to compete for, which is in the state tournament. It was a good week-and-a-half.

“One thing that really stood out to me is our bench guys have literally propelled our practices, to the point where they are beating the crap out of the first team and they’re still bought in. I haven’t been a part of that in a long time, so a lot of credit goes to those goes who have been sitting on the bench and are making us work extremely hard in practice.”

Junior Joe Farino matched Valentino on Saturday with a game-high 19 points to lead Manalapan, while freshman Josh Sosinov added 10 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Braves senior Dean Aviles scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter before dealing with foul trouble, which began when he picked up his third foul with 5:23 left in the second quarter. Manalapan cut its 17-point deficit in the third to seven with under two minutes to go, but did not get closer until a basket by senior Patrick Hearn at the buzzer accounted for the final score.

“Face-guard Joe Farino,” Valentino said when asked about Red Bank’s defensive focus on Saturday. “Coach put in a good plan to make sure we help in on Joe and Will (Galligan) did a great job on him.”

“We didn’t really do that during the regular season at all because we didn’t play a lot of teams that we felt like had one guy that was way more dangerous than everybody else,” DiBiase said. “We did it against Freehold Boro to start working on it, we did it against East a little bit as well and then we get this matchup and it was like, well shoot, let’s do it again. It just fits.”

Manalapan entered Saturday on a six-game winning streak and had a lot to gain with a team that starts just one senior (Aviles) and features one other senior off the bench in key minutes (Hearn). The Braves will open up the NJSIAA Group IV Playoffs at defending Central Jersey Group IV champion and No. 3 seed Montgomery on Tuesday, weather permitting.

As for Red Bank, the Bucs will also be on the road on Tuesday for their first-round game, with a trip to play No. 5 seed Hopewell Valley in the Central Jersey Group III Playoffs on tap. Over the previous two seasons, Red Bank played six NJSIAA Tournament games and all six were at home as the No. 1 seed in the section. The Bucs made it to the Central Group III final in 2024 and the Central Group III quarterfinals in 2025.

“We feel like we’re the dark horse in Central Group III,” Valentino said. “I feel like we can make a run for it. (Going on the road) is going to put a chip on our shoulder. The games are going to be in opposing territory, an hour away. We are only going to have our parents and our team behind us and I think that’s what we thrive off of.”

In both 2024 and 2025, Red Bank was eliminated on its home court by Freehold Boro, which was coached by DiBiase. While Red Bank — then coached by current Rumson-Fair Haven boys basketball coach George Sourlis — spent the last two seasons of NJSIAA Tournament games playing at home, DiBiase’s Colonials ran up a record of 5-1 in true road games, plus a 1-1 record in neutral court games during Freehold’s run to the 2024 Group III championship game.

“It’s been a little frustrating not winning as much as we did my first two years here,” said Valentino, who came off the bench as a freshman for a 21-5 team in 2023-24 and started as a sophomore on last year’s 22-5 team. “But I like being the underdog, personally. I want us to go into the tournament being the underdog and not the highly-sought-after Red Bank Regional.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that they think like that, especially Justin,” DiBiase said. “He is one of the most fearless players I have ever coached. There is no shot that he is afraid to take or challenge that he is afraid to step up to. That’s a blessing and a curse for him at times, but I think we’ll be ready.”

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