NJSIAA Group 3 Final Preview: Colts Neck Reaches Finish Line vs. Ramapo Dynasty

NJSIAA Group III Championship

Saturday, March 15, 2025

At Jersey Mike’s Arena, Rutgers University

Colts Neck vs. Ramapo, 6 p.m.

Teams at a Glance

Colts Neck (19-9; No. 4 seed in Central Jersey)

Head Coach: Steve Jannarone
Group Championships: None
Group Final Appearances: None
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 13 Pemberton, 72-49; No. 5 Hopewell Valley, 40-38; No. 9 Freehold Boro, 59-47; No. 6 Ewing, 52-43; Ocean City, 47-45.

Projected Starters

Lukas Sloane, Sr., 6-2 (16.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.1 steals, 0.9 blocks)

Bryce Belcher, Sr., 6-3 (9.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.7 blocks)

Dillon Younger, Jr., 6-1 (7.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals)

Dan Buoncore, Sr., 5-10 (7.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.6 steals)

Jack Freid, Sr., 6-1 (5.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.2 blocks)

Off the Bench

Nate Sloane, Fr., 6-2 (4.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 blocks)

Nolan Duddy, Sr., 5-11 (2.2 points, 1.1 rebounds)

Miles Schneider, Sr., 5-9

Colts Neck’s charmed run through the NJSIAA Tournament will end Saturday at Rutgers, either with the program’s first ever overall group championship or a loss to a team looking to establish itself as a bona fide dynasty. Whatever happens Saturday evening at Jersey Mike’s Arena, this season has already been a historic one for Colts Neck, which will be playing in the group finals for the first time ever when the ball goes up on Saturday.

Coming off the second of two tournament wins in which junior Dillon Younger hit a game-winning shot in the final seconds. Three rounds after sending Colts Neck to the Central Jersey Group III semifinals with a putback at the buzzer to beat Hopewell Valley, Younger delivered again Tuesday night in Deptford with a go-ahead shot off the glass with 20 seconds left that beat Ocean City.

In that win over Ocean City, the Red Raiders lost top scorer, point guard and lone senior Ben McGonigle to an ankle injury in the first minute of the game and took advantage of a short-handed South Jersey Group III champion. Colts Neck also overcame adversity of its own, rallying from a 10-point deficit with 10 minutes to go and also surviving the final 2:34 with top scorer Lukas Sloane fouled out of the game.

Just as they did vs. Ocean City, the Cougars have run into some good fortune during this run and have taken full advantage. Colts Neck did not have to leave its home floor during the sectional playoffs as the No. 4 seed thanks to No. 9 Freehold Boro’s upset of top-seed Red Bank in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Ewing’s road win over No. 2 Burlington Township in the sectional semifinals. Ewing also helped Colts Neck out by shooting 5-for-21 from the free-throw line in the Cougars’ 52-43 win over the Blue Devils in the Central Group III final.

The run of good luck, of course, has complemented Colts Neck’s best basketball of the season, which has been the product of a healthy roster. Sloane was compromised during the Shore Conference Tournament by a pair of injuries, but has rounded into form in time to lead this all-time postseason run for Colts Neck. During the state tournament, Sloane is averaging 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.0 assists and 0.8 blocked shots in five games.

With Sloane leading the offense and Younger coming up clutch, the rest of Colts Neck’s regulars have made their mark during this run. Senior Bryce Belcher is the best athlete on the team and will guards any of the five positions on the floor. Senior Dan Buoncore threw his body around like a stunt man in the third quarter of the win over Ocean City, recoding four steals in the third alone and delivering a go-ahead steal and score in the fourth quarter. Senior Jack Freid has been a two-way threat, freshman Nate Sloane has provided energy and scoring off the bench and senior Nolan Duddy was the x-factor in the sectional final vs. Ewing with his four three-pointers off the bench.

To finish the job on Saturday, Colts Neck will have to stick to the team-first approach that has carried the Cougars to the cusp of a 20-win season and, more importantly, the first state title in program history.

Ramapo (19-10; No. 7 in North Jersey, Section 1)

Head Coach: Nick Vier
Group Championships: 2 (2023, 2024)
Group Final Appearances: 4 (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024)
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 10 Morris Knolls, 76-73 (2 OT); No. 2 Tenafly, 50-43; No. 3 Teaneck, 59-40; No. 1 Demarest, 41-37; Colonia, 52-46.

Projected Starters

Finn Marrah, So., 5-11 (4.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists)

Charlie Wingfield, Sr., 6-5 (8.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.8 blocks)

Hudson Beauchamp, Sr., 6-3 (5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists)

Ryan Goldman, Sr., 6-3 (12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists)

A.J. Greig, Fr., 6-4 (13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.9 blocks)

Off the Bench

Peter Keith, Sr., 6-3 (7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists)

Jack Sposa, Sr., 6-1 (5.1 points)

Of the last four contested NJSIAA Group III championship games, Ramapo has been present for all of them, including championship victories in each of the last two Group III finals. The Raiders did lose in the sectional semifinal round of the 2020 tournament, but there was no Group III championship game that season after the tournament was canceled during the group semifinal due to the onset of the COVID pandemic.

Ramapo picked back up in 2022 by reaching the final and losing its second straight trip, but its fortunes changed the following year. Behind a 2024 class led by Peyton Seals, Ramapo won its first state title in 2022-23 with a 30-3 record and ending it with a win over Nottingham. Last year, the Raiders ramped up their regular-season schedule and lost eight games, but it paid off in another championship run that culminated with a 94-47 rout of Freehold Boro in the Group III final.

Ramapo will look to conquer another Shore Conference team – and Freehold Regional District School, for that matter – in the championship game while going for its third straight group title. While the last two championships could be seen coming down the pike for Ramapo, a third straight title would be a surprise of sorts, even for a team that has established itself as the new standard in Group III.

The Raiders graduated its top three scorers from last year: Seals, Chris Cervino and Wyatt Eglinton Manner. That left a group of role players from the 2023-24 team to step into greater responsibility, which players like Ryan Goldman, Charlie Wingfield, Peter Keith and Hudson Beauchamp have done.

The biggest addition to the program, however, has been standout freshman A.J. Greig. The 6-foot-4 rookie has scored 24 or more points in three of Ramapo’s five state tournament games, including 24 in Tuesday’s win over a Colonia team that has been ranked in the state top 20 throughout the year and boasts one of the state’s best juniors in Aiden Derkack. During the state tournament, Greig is averaging 18.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game.

Ramapo entered the state tournament as the No. 7 seed in North Jersey, Section 2 Group III and barely escaped the first round vs. No. 10 Morris Knolls, 76-73. The Raiders then went on the road for consecutive wins over No. 2 Tenafly, No. 3 Teaneck and No. 1 Demarest to each a fourth straight sectional title and fifth in the last seven years.

While the sectional title was a noteworthy accomplishment for a retooled roster, beating Colonia was confirmation that the dynasty is alive and well. Ramapo held the Patriots to two points in the third quarter to seize control of the game and finished off the team widely believed to be the favorite to win the Group III championship heading into the postseason.

Now one win away, the Raiders will try to cool off a Colts Neck that is sufficiently battle-tested to challenge Ramapo’s seat on the Group III throne.

The Match-Up

In yet another round of the NJSIAA Tournament, Colts Neck will be giving away an advantage in size and while it has mattered at times during the games the Cougars have played, it obviously has not cost them any games. In the last round vs. Ocean City, giving up the offensive glass to the Red Raiders was a major problem for Colts Neck in the first half, but the Cougars cleaned up their rebounding in the second half and finished strong against a bigger, longer Ocean City team.

Ramapo is another team with more size than Colts Neck has and the Raiders know how to use it, although they also possess plenty of skill for a team with four starters 6-3 or taller. That is taller than Colts Neck goes across its lineup, but Ramapo’s players won’t exactly be towering over the Cougars. Whatever happens on the glass and in the paint will be a product of execution more than physical attributes and both teams stand out when it comes to execution – both the fundamentals and the game plan.

For Colts Neck to pull off one more upset, it will need to keep Lukas Sloane out of foul trouble, which has been an issue for the senior guard in each of the last two games. To beat a well-coached, battle-hardened Ramapo team, Cougars coach Steve Jannarone will have to have all of his weapons available for as much of the game as possible.

As much as Sloane’s scoring will be crucial for Colts Neck, Belcher, Buoncore and Freid will hold the key for Colts Neck on the defensive end. All three have been lockdown defenders this tournament and the ability to cycle their defenders into different assignments – both in man-to-man and zone defense – has been key for Jannarone’s team.

Saturday will be a great test for Greig in facing a confident, cagey defense, while Colts Neck’s veteran group of committed defenders will be put to the test by a team that moves the ball with pace and has multiple scoring threats on the floor. Colts Neck has felt like the team of destiny throughout the last two weeks, but Ramapo is looking more like the team of the decade in Group III – perhaps among all of N.J. public-school programs.

The Pick: Ramapo, 46-41