Guess who’s back: CBA reaches its first SCT basketball final in 9 years
TOMS RIVER – The Christian Brothers Academy basketball team is back in the Shore Conference Tournament final for the first time in nine years – and anything less would’ve been a disappointment for head coach Geoff Billet.
Even with powers like St. Rose and Manasquan lurking, Billet believed his team had the potential to end the program’s longest drought of SCT final appearances to earn its 25th berth in the championship game.
“After the first couple games this year, I said to them and our coaches, ‘If we’re not in the finals at the end, then we messed up, because I think we are pretty good,’” Billet said.
The second-seeded Colts seized their opportunity and took advantage of fortuitous seeding in the first year of a new SCT system to punch their ticket by grinding out a 46-34 win over sixth-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven at RWJBarnabas Health Arena on Wednesday night.
CBA guard Charlie Marcoullier tied for the team high with 10 points to help the Colts reach their first SCT final in nine years. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
Junior guard Charlie Marcoullier and senior guard Kevin Pikiell each had 10 points to lead CBA (19-3) to its 14th straight win, while the defense held the Bulldogs (17-6) to their lowest point total since scoring 30 in a loss to Manasquan in last season’s state playoffs.
Junior guard Gavin Marlin added nine points, senior forward Justin Fuerbacher finished with 6 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore center David Buley chipped in nine points off the bench. Junior forward Luke Cruz led Rumson with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“We’ve been dreaming about this moment every night, and to make it a reality is an unbelievable feeling,” Marlin said.
The Colts will now take on defending champion St. Rose, which has a 30-game winning streak against Shore Conference competition after dispatching rival Manasquan in the other semifinal on Wednesday night. CBA, which has 16 SCT titles in its history, will be gunning for its first one since 2010 when it faces the Purple Roses at 8 p.m. on Friday at Monmouth University.
A slow start for both teams
CBA led 17-12 after a sluggish first half in which its defense offset a 7-for-28 (25%) shooting performance from the field by forcing nine Rumson turnovers to get nine more shot attempts than the Bulldogs. CBA’s defense produced 17 turnovers in a game where possessions were at a premium.
The Colts also held Rumson to 1-for-17 shooting from 3-point range.
“We take a lot of our pride in our defense,” Marlin said. “We try to turn defense into offense as much as we can when our shots aren’t falling.”
CBA had to ride its defense as it struggled to muster any consistent offense of its own.
“That’s one of our worst offensive games,” Billet said. “Rumson’s a very tough team to play against. I think the arena, I think nerves. I’m hoping we settle in a little better on Friday because we’re going to need a better offensive performance.”
The Colts never trailed in the entire game. Every time Rumson threatened to tie or take the lead, CBA would come up with a stop, a turnover or a clutch 3-pointer on the other end.
“We’re reminded that our defense travels,” Fuerbacher said. “That’s the one thing you can control going place to place.”
Colts close it out
Rumson-Fair Haven got the lead down to 20-18 after a 3-pointer by Luke Lydon with 5:10 left in the third quarter, but Pikiell answered with a driving layup to give the Colts some breathing room.
That kickstarted an 11-1 run spanning the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth that included a dunk by Fuerbacher off a feed from Marlin following a Rumson turnover. Marlin also hit a backbreaking 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter for a 29-19 lead.
CBA guard Gavin Marlin buried a trio of 3-pointers to help power the Colts past Rumson. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
“Huge threes,” Billet said about Marlin, who hit three triples in the win. “They were kind of gimmicking him a little bit, leaving him open. He’s a good shooter, and we needed every point.”
“I think that’s what they do to a lot of players,” Marlin said about Rumson. “If they miss their first two, they just assume that they’re off, but I guess they chose the wrong guy tonight.”
Gavin Marlin hits a huge three to close out the 3rd and CBA leads Rumson 29-19 heading to the 4th. Marlin has hit 3 3’s. pic.twitter.com/GxYFY3F0LD
— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) February 19, 2025
Rumson trimmed the lead to 33-28 after a pair of free throws by Cruz with 2:29 left in the game, but CBA answered with a game-clinching, 8-0 burst by getting easy buckets against Rumson’s full-court pressure.
Solving St. Rose
CBA now has to find a way to do what no Shore Conference team has done in nearly two full seasons – beat St. Rose. The Purple Roses routed the Colts in last year’s SCT semifinals on the way to their first SCT title.
CBA didn’t have to tangle with St. Rose or Manasquan until the final because of a new SCT seeding system based on NJSIAA power points. It resulted in St. Rose, the clear No. 1 team in the Shore, getting the No. 4 seed, and Manasquan, which beat CBA 34-31 in the regular season, getting the No. 1 seed.
That meant the two powers met in the semifinals instead of being seeded No. 1 and No. 2 like they would have been under the previous system of using a seeding committee. It also meant CBA wouldn’t have to see either one of them until the championship game as the No. 2 seed.
Justin Fuerbacher and his teammates are hoping to join the legendary CBA teams of the past as SCT champions. (Photo by Tom Smith/tspsportsimages.com)
“We’ve hit some roadblocks in the semifinals over the last few years,” Billet said. “We lost to a Ranney team that was terrific, we lost to a Manasquan team that was terrific, we lost to a Marlboro team that ended up winning it that was terrific, we lost to St. Rose last year, who was terrific. We just couldn’t seem to get over the hump.
“I said to my assistant it was nice to go into this game as the chalk and be the favorite for a change because we hadn’t been the favorite in this game in a while.”
CBA took advantage to reach the final, where the Colts will try to stop a team led by four-star junior prospect Jayden Hodge, one of New Jersey’s top players. A win would put CBA back in its customary spot on top of the Shore after being one of the area’s dominant programs for decades.
“I’ve had a bunch of the old guys reach out to me in the group chats and say, ‘Hey, do what we couldn’t,’” Fuerbacher said. “It’s special to be a part of that legacy and be associated with those names, but we want to be associated with an even smaller group (at CBA) who’s won (the SCT title). We want to make a name for ourselves, too.”
Scott Stump is a reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Contact him at [email protected]
