Ram Resilience: Sliwinski, Southern Handle Toms River North

TOMS RIVER — Thanks to the return of one of the Shore Conference’s best duos from last season, the Southern Regional boys basketball team has designs of taking their 2025-26 season to places the program has not reached in more than two decades.

To reach their goals, however, senior Jake Sliwinski and junior Noah Perna know that they won’t be able to carry the team on their collective backs every night and on Wednesday at RWJBarnabas Health Arena against Toms River North, the Rams showed they can perform without the help of one of their stars.

Perna was one half of a double-ejection late in the third quarter, at which point Sliwinski took the reins and steered Southern — ranked No. 5 in the Shore Sports Insider Preseason Top 10 —  to a 68-56 win over Toms River North with a final line of 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.

“I was upset about what happened, but I just knew I had to take care of what I needed to take care of and get a win,” Sliwinski said. “I knew we were going to be fine.”

“Any time Southern and Toms River North play, it’s a war,” Southern coach John Pampalone said. “We were old (Class) A South opponents for a lot of years and it was exactly what I thought it would be coming up here. They are a tough team. They are very prideful, very athletic. They gave us a lot of trouble throughout, but I’m proud of the way our guys responded by grinding out a win on the road.

“Knowing if we have one of our guards get in foul trouble or is out for any reason, we can still maintain and get a win on the road despite that.”

Perna and Toms River North junior Wes Tanner were both ejected from the game for aggressive shoves during a heated exchange with just over 2:30 left in the third quarter and Southern leading, 41-33. Sliwinski then scored seven points over Southern’s next three possessions and the Rams scored on their last five of the third quarter to take 53-38 lead to the fourth.

Sliwinski scored 15 of his points in the second half and four of his assists came in the fourth quarter to help the Rams put away the victory.

“I knew had to rely on my teammates and I just locked in,” Sliwinski said. “I knew we would be fine, I just had to make the right decisions.”

Perna still managed to make his mark on the game, finishing with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, capping his evening with a sequence in which he hit a three-pointer and found senior Reality White for an open layup on consecutive possessions to give Southern a 41-31 lead after Toms River North had cut its deficit to five.

On the following Toms River North possession, Sliwinski and Tanner each grabbed the rebound simultaneously and as the officials called a jump ball with both players refusing to let go of the ball, Tanner shoved Sliwinski to the ground. Perna retaliated and the two teams needed to be sent to their respective benches to break up the skirmish. When the officials were finished discussing the penalties, they ejected both Perna and Tanner. Tanner finished with nine points and four rebounds before his disqualification in the third.

“After I got shoved, I was right there, I saw (Perna) shove (Tanner) and I was like, ‘Oh, no,'” Sliwinski said. “Once they made the decision about the ejections, it was like, ‘Okay, we need to settle down and just play.”

With Perna out of the game, Sliwinski took over the final 10 minutes of action, but he had help. Junior Anthony Buczynski drained two of his four three-pointers off feeds from Sliwinski after the ejection, including one in the final seconds of the third quarter. Sliwinski also found 6-foot-7 junior and Barnegat transfer Gavin Gerckens for a layup for a 60-47 lead in the fourth, then scored Southern’s final eight points to close out the win.

Anthony Buczynski hits a three to put Southern up 53-38 heading to the 4th. Things got heated with a shoving match with around 2:30 to go in the 3rd and Wesley Tanner (TRN) and Noah Perna (Southern) were both ejected. pic.twitter.com/QqL9t8JhbY

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) December 18, 2025

Jake Sliwinski finds Gavin Gerckens and Southern leads Toms River North 60-50 with 2:45 left. pic.twitter.com/HMix3DtRix

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) December 18, 2025

“Jake took control of the game,” Pampalone said. “He pretty much did everything for us: he handled the ball, he was able to scored, he got the ball to open people. He was tremendous and Anthony Buczynski making some big shots there in the second half, really stepped up and helped us when we lost Noah.”

Buczynski finished with 15 points on 4-for-9 shooting from three-point range, plus three free throws that came after he was fouled on a three-point attempt. White and Gerckens, meanwhile, helped fortify the paint after Toms River North came out strong on the glass on the way to a 12-11 lead through one quarter. Gerckens blocked three shots to go with his six points, while White posted eight points, six rebounds and three assists.

“I thought all of our guys played very well down a guy,” Pampalone said. “Chris Raub gave us very important minutes off the bench at the guard spot without Noah. We have a lot of work to do. It’s still early in the season. We’re not a finished product yet. We need to get more out of our inside game, but I’m glad we got a win on the road.”

Sophomore Jake Greenberg scored 18 points and dished out four assists to lead Toms River North, which was even with Southern, 14-14, early in the second quarter before a 9-0 run gave the visitors the lead for good. Junior Jackson Sias added 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, which included a three-pointer in the final seconds of the second quarter to pull the Mariners within 23-17 at halftime.

Both Southern and Toms River North were coming off come-from-behind victories in their respective season-openers on Monday. Toms River North closed their game vs. Matawan with a 12-0 run over the final 5:20 to win, 48-40.

Southern, meanwhile, trailed after one quarter for the second straight game before winning the game in the second and third quarters. In Monday’s win over Cedar Creek, the Rams fell behind, 16-12, through one quarter, then outscored the Pirates, 31-13, over the next two quarters. On Wednesday, Southern outscored Toms River North, 42-26, during the middle two quarters, including a 30-point third quarter.

Per NJSIAA rules, both Perna and Tanner will be ineligible to play for each of their team’s next two games, which leaves Southern without an All-Shore guard from 2024-25 in games vs. Overbrook and in the first round of its Score at the Shore Holiday Tournament at Southern Regional High School against the winner of the first-round game between Pleasantville and Pemberton. Perna averaged 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals as a sophomore and scored a team-high 22 points Monday vs. Cedar Creek to go with seven rebounds and three assists.

“Noah just has to control his emotions better,” Pampalone said. “He wants to be a college player, he’s on path to be a college player, so he’s just got to control his emotions better so he’s not putting the team in jeopardy. I’m sure he’ll learn a very valuable lesson from it.”

After TRN cuts the Southern lead to 5, Noah Perna drains a 3 and finds Reality White on the break to push Southern’s lead to 41-32 with 3:09 left in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/46hlQZ8ywJ

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) December 18, 2025

Once Southern moves pasts its two-game stretch without Perna, the Rams will continue their trek toward what they hope to a be a milestone season for the program. Over the last two decades, Southern has boasted standout individual talent, but has fallen short of both the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals and the NJSIAA sectional final round. The lone exception was when Southern was selected as one of the eight teams to play in the Shore Conference Playoffs during the COVID-shortened 2021 season.

With Sliwinski and Perna leading the way and a budding supporting cast that will eventually include junior Spencer Walsh — currently out due to injury — Southern is hoping to win their way to the Shore quarterfinals and beyond come February. First, they will take on the Score at the Shore field as the No. 2 seed, then turn their attention to their Shore Conference Class A South division opener Jan. 6 vs. No. 4 Jackson.

“Being a senior has made me have to be more of a leader and try to get everyone to work hard,” Sliwinski said. “To be a great team, everyone needs to be good — all five kids. Teams are out there looking at me and Noah and there is more opportunity for everybody else. We need everybody to just keep getting better every day.”