Playing Favorites: Wall Returns to Form in Quarterfinal Win over Holmdel

WALL TWP. — Wall senior Brian McKenna admitted there was some uncertainty among the ranks in the Crimson Knights boys basketball team regarding how the team would play Sunday in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II quarterfinals and whether or not it would be enough to beat accomplished No. 8 seed Holmdel.

With the help of an unlikely scoring source during a slow start and a commitment to the defensive side of the floor that carried the team throughout its red-hot start to the season, Wall rediscovered its powers Sunday against another top 10 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10.

Senior Joey Ambrozy scored all 10 of Wall’s first-quarter points to curb an early flurry from Holmdel, then McKenna led Wall’s mid-game takeover with 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals during a 52-36 Crimson Knights win over the Hornets that sends Wall back to the sectional semifinals for the second straight year.

“We knew Holmdel was a really good team,” McKenna said. “They have been in it against some really good teams and they beat a few of them. We knew we were going to have to play our best game to beat a team like that and I think we showed up.”

Wall will host the sectional semifinals Tuesday against No. 5 seed and six-time defending sectional champion Manasquan — a team Wall has already defeated twice this year in a tournament setting.

A 61-44 first-round win over 16th-seeded Bordentown on Thursday was Wall’s only game between a 44-31 loss to Red Bank Catholic in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals and Sunday’s game against a Holmdel squad that also reached the SCT quarterfinals and who suffered three of their seven losses this season to SCT champion Christian Brothers Academy.

“We haven’t been used to losing this year, so that RBC loss was a tough loss,” McKenna said. “Our team started going at it with each other and we just weren’t really together enough in that RBC game. Ever since then, we have been working and working and now, I think we’re finally back, all playing together, all competing for one another.”

After starting the season 17-0, Wall went 2-2 over its next four games with losses to Colonia and RBC and wins over Ocean and Manasquan in the SCT. The Crimson Knights overcame fourth-quarter struggles to notch the two wins, while the fourth quarter cost them against both Colonia and RBC.

“I had a meeting with the seniors on Friday and we discussed the meeting we had with them before the year, when they gave me the list of things they wanted to accomplish this year,” Wall coach Bob Klatt said. “They realized we had to get back to playing defense, back to getting on the boards. That’s what we did today and we haven’t done that the last five games. We’ve been sick, in a funk, dealing with the snow, whatever you want to call it, but this time of year, none of that stuff matters.”

On Sunday, the first quarter was Wall’s troubled stretch, which followed the same script from Thursday’s win over Bordentown. After outscoring Bordentown 10-5, in the first quarter on Thursday, Wall fell behind, 13-10, through eight minutes on Sunday, with Ambrozy’s early burst saving Wall from a significant first-quarter deficit. Ambrozy entered the game as the teams’ sixth leading scorer, but he was the Crimson Knights’ only scorer through the first eight minutes and he did so on 5-for-6 shooting from the field.

“It was great to see that from him,” McKenna said of Ambrozy. “I have been waiting to see that from him all year. We all know the type of player Joey is, so we knew it was just a matter of time before he had a big moment for us. That type of thing has happened to us multiple times, just with a different person. We all can go off at any given time.”

Brian McKenna and Liam Killea hit from downtown and Wall leads Holmdel 20-15 with 5:25 left in the half. pic.twitter.com/hOxvF88wyS

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 1, 2026

McKenna got the rest of the offense going by hitting shots on Wall’s first two possessions of the second quarter and went on to post six points in the quarter to push Wall toward a 25-18 halftime lead. Over the final 6:30 of the second quarter, Holmdel’s only points came on a three-pointer by senior Jack Vallillo, with Wall finishing the half on a 10-3 run.

“I was a little nervous the last couple days and I watched two hours of film (Saturday) and after watching those two hours of film, I started to feel pretty good,” Klatt said. “I told the guys, ‘If we can get back to playing the way we played early in the season, with that defensive intensity, we’re winning this game. We were confident that if we did what we normally do — play defense and rebound — we should win.”

End of 3: Wall 38, Holmdel 27. Brian McKenna with a key stretch to help Wall finish the quarter with 7 straight points. pic.twitter.com/rLMt2hj7KZ

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 1, 2026

The Crimson Knights also finished the third with a surge as well, scoring the final seven points to go up 38-27 heading to the fourth. Holmdel twice cut its deficit to four in the quarter, but McKenna led the quarter-closing flurry with a five-possession stretch in which the senior guard hit two free throws, came up with a steal and scored on a layup, grabbed a defensive rebound and found junior teammate Navin Tu for an open layup that gave the Crimson Knights a 37-27 lead.

In the fourth, senior Dan Hennessy put the game out of reach with two three-point plays — both of which extended Wall’s lead back to 12 after Holmdel had cut it to 12. Hennessy matched Ambrozy with 12 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Senior Liam Killea contributed eight points and three assists for Wall as well.

After Brian McKenna gets an offensive rebound, Dan Hennessy caps a 50-second Wall possession with a 3-point play to put Wall up 12. It’s now 45-36 with 3:13 left. pic.twitter.com/UDhat0B7rt

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 1, 2026

Wall’s bench only contributed six points — two each for Tu and fellow juniors Donovan Buist and Marius Rossi — but the junior trio once again gave Klatt quality minutes when needed. The three juniors played on the floor for part of the third quarter, during which Wall extended its margin to double-figures behind McKenna’s hot streak and suffocating defense.

“We just had to keep getting stops,” McKenna said. “We kept scoring points off our defense, getting stops and getting out in transition. That got our offense going and that’s always been where our success starts.”

“Navin took on (Serini), their second-leading scorer, Donovan did a great job getting rebounds and Marius plays at a hundred miles-and-hour,” Klatt said. “He brought that energy and it just got everybody going. We got deflections, rebounds and they were huge today. I have been saying it all year: it’s a whole team.”

The Crimson Knights defense held Wall to 14 points over the middle two quarters after giving up 13 in the first. Holmdel opened the game with a layup on a backdoor cut by sophomore Anthony Serini and a feed from senior Jack Cannon, but Wall steadily shut down Holmdel’s free lanes to the basket over the remainder of the game.

“We started sagging off either Joey or Donovan to clog up the paint,” Klatt said. “We knew (Dylan Zammit) was just going to set screens and look to pass, so we just wanted to prevent them from beating us with those backdoor cuts. That was the adjustment we made and of course, first play of the game, they go backdoor.”

Serini and senior Connor Paul each scored 12 points and Vallillo threw in 10 to lead Holmdel. Paul also pitched in six rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots in the loss.

“I think we just made a couple mental mistakes early on an I just think we locked in mentally from that point on,” McKenna said. “Our focus today was really on playing good team defense: help each other out, dive on the ground for loose balls and don’t try to cheat for steals. Then we just had to finish out the possession by getting the rebound.”

Sunday’s performance sets up Wall with a sectional semifinal rematch against Manasquan, which ended Wall’s 2024-25 season in the same round of last year’s Central Group II Playoffs by a score of 53-38 at Manasquan. The Warriors went on to win a sectional championship for the sixth straight season while Wall got to work preparing for revenge in 2026.

The Crimson Knights actually got their first bit of revenge on Manasquan before the end of 2025, crushing the Warriors, 40-20, in the semifinal round of the Kevin Williams Christmas Classic. In that game, Wall held Manasquan scoreless for the first 13:48 of the game and led, 23-4, at halftime. The two nearby rivals met again in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals, with Wall winning, 41-39, despite going scoreless over the last five minutes of the game. Wall overcame its quieted offense by holding Manasquan scoreless for the last three minutes of the game.

If Wall can end Manasquan’s streak of NJSIAA sectional titles in six straight seasons — five of which came in Central Jersey Group II — the Crimson Knights would host the Central Group II championship on Friday against the winner of the other semifinal between No. 7 Rumson-Fair Haven and No. 3 Ocean.

“It’s awesome,” McKenna said. “I think it’s going to be packed and I think it’s going to be a really fun night. Playing Manasquan three times in a season is rare and beating them three times in a season is even more rare.”