#image_title

Forward March: RBC Rebounds from Loss to CBA With Key Division Win

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

COLTS NECK — Junior Tyler Hager admitted his team was still feeling the disappointment that follows coming within seconds and a mere point from pulling off one of the great wins in the history of the Red Bank Catholic boys basketball program.

That disappointment was not, however, an excuse to leave the door open for an opponent to upset the Caseys, who sit comfortably at No. 4 in the latest Shore Sports Insider Top 10 following its overtime loss to No. 1 Christian Brothers Academy on Saturday. Facing a Colts Neck team on a four-game winning streak in the Cougars’ home gym, Red Bank Catholic overcame a stellar performance by Colts Neck’s duo of standouts and beat the Cougars with team-wide effort on both ends of the court.

Sophomore Ryan Bailey led all RBC scorers with 12 points off the bench on four timely three-pointers, while Hager led the contingent of Caseys starters with 10 as Red Bank Catholic executed down the stretch to beat Colts Neck, 48-43, in a bounceback effort following Saturday’s gut-wrenching loss at CBA.

Red Bank Catholic led for the majority of the game thanks to some timely shooting from Bailey, who got the Caseys out of an early shooting funk with a pair of first-half three-pointers. In the third quarter, Colts Neck twice pulled within a point of RBC and Bailey knocked down two more three-pointers within a stretch of three positions — both of which stretched his team’s lead back to four.

“I’m always prepared when the ball is thrown to me,” Bailey said. “If I’m wide open, I’m taking the shot. Everyone doubles Ty in the post, so he always gets it to you when you’re open.”

“It gives the momentum of the game,” Hager said of the lift Bailey gave RBC. “It gets us excited. I makes us want to shoot more. It gets us energized. Having Bailey off the bench is big. He plays a big role for us.”

Hager, meanwhile, led a balanced starting five that had all of its members contribute between six and 10 points, with Hager leading the way. The 6-foot-7 junior also made his mark with 14 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals while protecting the paint on defense and helping to initiate the offense with his ability to handle the ball and pass out of the post.

“When I get the ball in the post or even at the top of the key, I know I’m a threat to score,” Hager said. “The defense collapses and I’m focused on finding an open teammate and if it’s an open shot, they usually make it.

“I always think of myself as more of a passer. I am usually looking for assists. At the same time, if the shot is right there, I’m ready to take it and there is a good chance I’m going to score over smaller defenders.”

A year ago, Hager was a regular sophomore contributor off the bench for St. Rose during its run to a second straight Shore Conference Tournament championship and third straight NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public B title. He is one of four players to transfer out of the St. Rose program after coach Brian Lynch left the Purple Roses program for Christian Brothers Academy in May, only Hager’s move was in the works before Lynch’s was because basketball is not Hager’s first sport.

A standout on the baseball field, Hager is committed to play at Fairleigh Dickinson University and spends his summers on the diamond rather than the hardwood. The relative inexperience on the court compared to many of his peers has made this season and adjustment, as Hager has gone from playing only scattered minutes on a loaded St. Rose team to being a featured player for RBC who hardly ever leaves the court as long as he is not in foul trouble.

While the additional minutes have been new to Hager, the expectation to win has not. He got a championship taste with St. Rose and has brought that to an RBC team that has leveled up defensively in 2025-26 while maintaining a balanced offense — both of which showed up on Tuesday, along with poise in late-game situations.

“I don’t really play (basketball) in the summer because I’m a baseball player,” Hager said. “I actually didn’t think I was even going to play (basketball) this year because of baseball. It’s been challenging (playing more minutes) but the stamina I’ve built up helps with baseball too. And the big thing is I just trust the guys on my team. Our pace, how coach (Tyler Schmelz) subs us in and out and just controlling the ball so we’re not overworked. It’s been really good so far.”

On Tuesday, Bailey hit a three-pointer in the last minute of the first quarter and on the first possession of the second quarter to flip an early 8-6 deficit into a 12-8 RBC lead that grew to 20-12 thanks to a 16-4 run that included five points from junior Gavin Biasi and three-pointers from Biasi and junior Ryder Ciorciari to go with the pair of triples by Bailey.

Eight points was RBC’s largest lead of the game as Colts Neck chipped its deficit down to 26-25 near the midway mark of the third quarter, at which point Bailey hit the first of his two third-quarter three-pointers to push the lead back to 29-25. Colts Neck sophomore Nate Sloane responded with a three to pull the Cougars within one again, which Bailey answered with another contested three that put the Caseys back in front, 32-28.

Colts Neck held close enough to make another run in the fourth quarter and when senior Dillon Younger hit a short jumper to pull Cougars within 37-36, both Sloane and Younger had combined for all of Colts Neck’s points. That finally changed two possessions later, when senior Liam Collura buried a three-pointer to tie the game, 39-39, with 3:17 remaining — the only points in the game scored by a Colts Neck player other than Sloane or Younger.

With 2:12 left, Sloane earned a trip to the free throw line and hit the first of two attempts to give Colts Neck its only lead of the second half, 40-39. On the following RBC possession, the Caseys inbounded the ball from underneath the Colts Neck basket and Hankowski came off a screen by Hager. Senior Ryan Saxton found him in the left corner and Hankowski buried the go-ahead three-pointer for a 42-40 lead and his second three-pointer of the game — both in the second half.

Sloane again hit one out of two free throws on the other end to pull Colts Neck within 42-41 with 1:07 left and Ciorciari followed with a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to extend the RBC lead to 45-41 with 45 seconds left. Ciorciari then corralled a defensive rebound and flung the ball ahead to Biasi, who laid it in with 24 seconds to go for a 47-41 lead.

Younger hit a short jumper to cut the deficit to 47-43 and Colts Neck forced a five-second violation with 14.6 seconds left to breathe life into the comeback effort. Sloane then missed a shot inside and Biasi was fouled with just five seconds remaining, leading to one more free throw that accounted for the final score.

Biasi finished with eight points, six rebounds and four assists and two steals while each of RBC’s three other starting guards — Ciorciari, Saxton and Hankowski — finished with six points. Ciorciari also handed out three assists.

Sloan and Younger wound up with 40 of Colts Neck’s 43 points, with Sloane leading the way with 26 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Younger posted 14 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

After halting Colts Neck’s four-game winning streak, RBC has swept its first turn through the Shore Conference Class B North schedule and owns a two-game lead in the division standings, with Colts Neck and Marlboro both at 3-2 in divisional play to RBC’s 5-0. The Caseys’ have lost only three games this year and all three are to the three teams ranked ahead of them in the SSI Top 10: No. 3 Rumson-Fair Haven, No. 2 Wall and No. 1 CBA.

The last of those losses was still lingering on Tuesday. RBC led CBA, 47-34, with under two minutes to go in the third quarter and by four with just under a minute to go in the game before the Colts scrambled to send the game to overtime and won it, 69-65. CBA entered that game with a 4-0 record and an average margin of victory of 34.5 vs. Shore Conference teams.

“We’re still all banged up and we’re all hurt kind of,” Hager said. “That was a tough loss. We should have won that game, definitely, but we will see them again. This game is all about wins and losses and you’ve got to learn from all of them. Yes, it was a tough loss, but we had to move on.”

Hager scored 17 points in the loss vs. CBA before fouling out in the first minute of overtime.

“I feel like we’re definitely one of the most underrated teams in the Shore,” Hager said. “I feel like people overlook us because we lost some good seniors last year and coming from St. Rose as a transfer, being on the big stage with them, I knew at the first practice that we were prepared. We were ready for everything.”

Related Articles