Knight to Remember: Wall Wins Kevin Williams Classic Ruhnke Title

TOMS RIVER — One year ago to the day Tuesday, the Wall boys basketball team won the Gepp Bracket championship at the WOBM Christmas Classic, now renamed the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic. The Crimson Knights used it as a springboard to a 21-win season and a Shore Conference Class B Central division championship.

A year later, Wall moved up to the Ruhnke Bracket with the rest of the top teams in this year’s tournament, and for the second straight year, closed out their year with a championship celebration.

Senior Jake DeBrito jump-started Wall with 10 of his game-high 12 points in the first half, and the bench gave the Crimson Knights a spark in the second as they beat Freehold Township, 48-41, to capture a championship at the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic for a second straight season.

“We have been playing together since Mid-Monmouth in eighth grade, so we have been through it all together,” DeBrito said. “We’ve had bad games, good games, all the ups and downs. Winning it last year and having the year we did set us up to be great this year, and it’s just so much fun, which I think is the best part about this team right now.”

After winning the tournament’s lower bracket a season ago, Wall’s seniors have a chance to celebrate a title in the upper bracket, as well as a 5-0 start to the season prior to the calendar turning to 2026. Ahead of last winter’s tournament, Wall had never even reached a championship game of any kind at the WOBM Christmas Classic, let alone won one.

DeBrito got Wall started by scoring its first five points, but Freehold Township was the team in control through one quarter, as reflected in a 14-7 lead over the Crimson Knights heading into the second quarter.

“Since I started playing varsity as a sophomore, that’s just what I try to do,” DeBrito said. “I’m the energy. I may not always be the scorer, but I just bring energy, play my role, and I get my guys going.”

Brian McKenna and Liam Killea hit 3s and Jake Debrito hits a jumper to give Wall a 17-16 lead with 5:02 left in the half. 10-2 run for the Knights. pic.twitter.com/spFfpTQxzb

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) December 31, 2025

Senior guard and tournament MVP Brian McKenna hit a three-pointer and finished a smooth, left-handed scoop shot to get Wall’s second quarter off on the right foot before fellow senior and all-tournament selection Liam Killea hit a three-pointer to cut Freehold Township’s lead to 16-15. DeBrito  got back into the action with a pull-up jumper that put the Crimson Knights ahead and followed with a three-pointer that stretched that lead to 20-16.

DeBrito’s hot start laid the foundation for Wall’s win, but it was far from enough to put the game out of reach. Freehold Township went on a 10-0 run that spanned nearly six minutes of the second and third quarters, which gave the Patriots a 26-20 lead.

Wall then responded with nine unanswered points to grab the lead back, 29-26, with McKenna setting up fellow senior Dan Hennessy for a three-point play that gave the Crimson Knights a 27-26 lead. McKenna then delivered a pass to junior center Donovan Buist for a layup and a 29-26 lead.

“We were playing too much one-on-one and that’s not our philosophy here,” DeBrito said. “It’s always been ball movement and relying on each other. Once we honed in on that, we knew we were going to win it together. I wasn’t about one guy stepping up. It was all of us.”

Freehold Township swung back with an 8-2 burst for a 34-31 lead before Buist hit cutting junior Marius Rossi for a finish that cut Freehold Township’s lead to 34-33 heading to the fourth quarter.

Rossi and Buist were two contributors off the bench for Wall, as was junior guard Nevin Tu. Buist led the bench unit with seven points and seven rebounds, with all seven of his points and six of his rebounds coming after halftime.

“My role isn’t always to score,” Buist said. “I just gotta help the team do the dirty work: get rebounds, get some assists, play defense and just do anything I can do to help us win. We have great seniors, and I just want to do whatever I can to help the win and have a great season because they deserve it.”

“The juniors coming off the bench did a great job,” Wall coach Bob Klatt said. “The seniors got us going, then they were struggling a little bit. Navin, Marius, Donovan all played huge minutes in that fourth quarter and that was the difference in the ball game. Then, we went offense-defense with about three-and-a-half minutes left in the ball game and then around two minutes, I was going to ride with my seniors. They have been in the wars with me, and they know what’s coming.”

Killea hit a driving shot in the paint to give Wall the lead back, 35-34, and the Crimson Knights would not give it back. Four possessions later, McKenna hit a pair of free throws to cap another 10-0 Wall run and extend the lead to 41-34.

McKenna’s two free throws started a run of six straight Wall possessions that ended in free throws to close out the win. The Crimson Knights shot 9-for-12 from the line during that stretch.

Rebounding also fell in favor of Wall, despite not starting a player taller than McKenna at 6-foot-3, while Freehold Township starts two players taller than him. Klatt inserting the 6-foot-5 Buist into the game changed that dynamic, but even when he was not on the floor, Hennessy (six rebounds), DeBrito, Killea and McKenna (four each) and senior Joey Dambrozy more than held their own against Freehold Township’s lineup.

“They have two bigger players in the post, and we’re a guard-sized team,” DeBrito said. “We just focused on taking them away and getting the boards and doing it together. I really think it’s heart and it’s how we go at each other in practice. We’re all best friends, but we battle each other in practice and then we come out here and battle together.”

“They are very scrappy, very tough,” Buist said of facing his smaller teammates in practice. “Our guys battle every day, they go after every ball and that’s what it takes to get rebounds.”

In winning tournament MVP, McKenna averaged 12 points, six rebounds and two assists in the three games — Wall wins over Red Bank Catholic, Manasquan and Freehold Township. Heading into the Christmas Classic, all three teams were ranked no worse than No. 7 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 while Wall was ranked No. 9.

McKenna had his lowest-scoring game of the tournament Tuesday, when he finished with eight points and four assists, but his defense on Freehold Township’s Jake Schultzel proved disruptive to the Patriots offense. Schultzel entered the game having averaged 20 points over the first two rounds and finished the championship game with nine points, which included a three-pointer in the final minute when the game was all but out of reach for Freehold Township.

“Brian didn’t have his best offensive game and he was mad at himself over that, but he is the MVP,” Klatt said. “Defensively, offensively, he led us throughout the tournament and especially on defense tonight. And then Liam (Killea) is our coach on the floor.”

Killea also scored eight points while dishing out three assists for Wall. On the other end, junior Cole Gerigk led Freehold Township with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Tuesday was the first of at least three meetings between Wall and Freehold Township, which will play one another on Jan. 16 in Freehold for the first of two Shore Conference Class A Central division showdowns. The two teams figure to be in the mix for the division championship, as does Howell, which won the Albert E. Martin Buc Holiday Classic championship at Red Bank Regional on Tuesday.

“We have veteran coaches in our division,” Klatt said. “We played one way tonight. In 17 days, I might see something different from (Freehold Township coach) Todd (Smith). I play (Dave) Emery and Howell on Monday and I know the next game we play them is not going to be the same thing that we see on Monday. That’s what we do and that’s why I respect all the coaches and that’s what’s going to make this division so tough.”