Ridge Road Revenge: Red Bank Shocks Rumson On Last-Second Shot

LITTLE SILVER — During his brief-but-impactful three-year stint as the head boys basketball coach at Red Bank Regional, George Sourlis helped give his Bucs players the know-how and confidence to beat his alma mater, Rumson-Fair Haven — a rival in name only prior to Sourlis’s arrival considering how seldom Red Bank beat their neighbors from four miles east on Ridge Road.

In his first game back in the Red Bank Regional field house as the first-year boys basketball coach at Rumson-Fair Haven, Sourlis watched the monster he helped create haunt his new team.

Red Bank erased two different 10-point deficits and senior Josiah Johnson hit the game-winning floater with one second left to deliver Red Bank a 51-49 win over Rumson-Fair Haven in which the new-look Bucs exhibited all the qualities that made them a 20-win team in back-to-back seasons under Sourlis before he opted to take the job as head coach of their rivals.

“It’s electric,” said Johnson, who finished with eight points, three assists and four steals. “The No. 3 team in the Shore against us and no one thought we were going to come in and win, but that’s embracing what a rivalry really means. We came out here and played hard, they didn’t expect it, and so it feels great. It’s electric, man, to come out and deliver that.”

“Not surprised at all,” Sourlis said of Red Bank’s fight to get back in the game. “That’s what made us so good there the past couple of years. Kids that just wouldn’t quit, gamers, battlers, compete level through the roof. I never felt comfortable even though we had a 10-point lead a couple times.”

Josiah Johnson hits an off-balance floater with 1 second left for the game-winner and Red Bank stuns No. 3 Rumson 51-49. Rumson was granted a timeout and the court was cleared of the fans, who stormed it again after RBR got the stop. pic.twitter.com/ebjXObgV77

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) January 23, 2026

The lone returning starter from last year’s Red Bank team played what first-year Red Bank coach Ben DiBiase called the best game he has played this season. Junior Justin Valentino led the Bucs with 18 points and seven assists, doing all of his scoring damage in the second and third quarters, during which Red Bank made up the two separate 10-point deficits.

“It just means more,” said Valentino, who made his non-binding verbal commitment Wednesday to play lacrosse at Iona University. “It means more to this team, it means more to this coaching staff. It means more to this whole school. This is the biggest win in school history that I can think of.”

“I thought Justin played his best game of the season today by far, not only scoring but distributing the basketball and being a leader out there,” DiBiase said. “I attribute that to yesterday and having a good practice, but also had a lot on his mind because of his lacrosse future. He finally made his decision last night and now, he can just relax and play some basketball, and that’s all he did today.”

Sophomore Wyatt Hegner added 11 points and seven rebounds and also delivered two critical plays down the stretch — one on either end of the floor. Hegner made a game-tying layup with under 2:30 left that was the final basket before Johnson’s game-winner, and he also blocked Rumson’s final shot of the game as time expired.

After playing from behind for most of the night, Red Bank pulled even, 38-38, by the end of the third quarter, and the game remained tight throughout the final eight minutes. Red Bank unleashed a 12-0 run that spanned the end of the third quarter and the first possession of the fourth to turn a nine-point deficit into a 41-38 lead — their first of the night. Junior Will Galligan drained a three-pointer to break the tie, cap the run and put Red Bank in front for the first time.

From there, neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way. Rumson senior Luke Lydon tied the game, 43-43, with a three-pointer, and Bulldogs senior Luke Cruz hit a mid-range jumper for a 46-44 Rumson lead.

Senior Jack Monahan catapulted Red Bank back in front with a corner three-pointer to make it 47-46 before Cruz answered with a traditional three-point play that put Rumson back ahead, 49-47. With 2:18 to go, Johnson found Hegner in the post for a game-tying score that set the stage for a tight finish.

“I’m happy for Jack Monahan,” Sourlis said of his former player. “The kid has been through a lot. He shoulder got busted up, he got back in the game and made the shot of the game from the corner. Another great kid.”

Neither team got off a clean shot over the ensuing two minutes, which included three Rumson turnovers and a blocked shot by Cruz on the other end. Red Bank worked the clock down and Rumson gave a foul with seven seconds left, which was just its second foul of the quarter. Johnson then got the ball at the top of the key, drove into the lane and hit a fading floater to win the game.

“Our coach called out a great play,” Johnson said. “He said to just run the clock down. He noticed that they weren’t fouling so I was just listening to him, being coachable. He led us to a great shot and my teammates just trusted me. Delivering that last layup, it felt great.”

Rumson was granted a timeout with one second left and the Red Bank administration, coaches and the game officials had to clear the court after the students from Red Bank’s “Buc Deck” cheering section stormed the court with no time showing on the clock. One second was applied to the scoreboard clock, and Rumson got the ball to Cruz near the three-point line, but his shot was blocked by Hegner.

At several points Thursday night, it appeared Rumson would coast to a second win of the season against Red Bank, with the first coming at Rumson on Jan. 5 by a score of 68-57. The Bulldogs raced out to a 17-7 lead, and after Red Bank began the second quarter with a 10-0 run to tie the game, Rumson countered with its own 10-0 run to go back up by double digits, 27-17.

“It’s the first time we showed that,” DiBiase said of his team’s comeback. “When I talk to the team, one of the messages will be that if we continue to move forward and show that kind of ability to bounce back and make it a game of runs, we’re going to be a good basketball team.”

Red Bank did not let its deficit climb higher than 10. A corner three-pointer by freshman Clint Martin in the closing seconds of the second quarter sent the Bulldogs to halftime with a 31-22 lead, and Red Bank came out of the locker room ready to defend. Valentino scored on a drive and a three-pointer to pull Red Bank within 31-27 before Rumson worked its lead up to 38-29.

Martin led Rumson with 13 points in the first half, but the Bucs shut him out in the second half. Making his first appearance since sustaining an eye injury vs. Holmdel on Jan. 8, Cruz led Rumson with 21 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“We had our best practice of the year yesterday,” DiBiase said. “We had some midseason leaders talk about setting some goals, where we want to be, and the kids really responded to it and came out and practiced hard.

“I thought we had a good game plan, mixing some man-to-man and zone together. We started doubling Cruz from the backside a little bit in the second half, and he turned it over a couple times. We shut down (Martin) in the second half by forcing him to his off hand a little bit more.”

Between the 2015-16 season and the 2023-24 season, Red Bank beat Rumson only once in 12 tries, so a win at Rumson-Fair Haven in January of 2025 was a landmark win for Sourlis’s Bucs. Red Bank completed a sweep of the season series later that regular season, but Rumson left Red Bank’s returning players with a dose of motivation when the Bulldogs knocked off the Bucs in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

“I didn’t create this. Those kids created it,” Sourlis said of Red Bank turning the Ridge Road rivalry into an actual rivalry again. “They worked their butts off for me and for us. That’s what made that team so special. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to coach at Red Bank and those kids were a big part of the reason why.”

Red Bank’s players were gifted even more motivation when Sourlis accepted an offer to become the head coach at Rumson-Fair Haven last spring after 16-year coach Chris Champeau left to coach the Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Fla. Sourlis won more than 600 games as Rumson’s girls basketball coach before stepping down in 2016, and Red Bank Regional was his opportunity to return to coaching in 2022-23.

“I’m just speaking for myself – I don’t know about the rest of the team – but it’s hard love,” Valentino said. “He coached my butt off two years in a row. It was kind of unexpected, but he has to do what he wants to do for his family and that’s totally fine with us.”

“For me, it’s a heavy chip on my shoulder,” Johnson said. “All love to coach (Sourlis). He did what he had to do. For the fans, it’s a rivalry. It’s even more than that, because he was our old coach and leaving us to go to our rivals, for the fans it might have been some tough love, but for me, there’s no hard feelings. New team, new coaches, new everything.”

With Sourlis gone, Red Bank hired the head coach whose team eliminated Red Bank from the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III playoffs in both 2024 and 2025. DiBiase led Freehold Boro to the 2024 Central Group III championship by winning the sectional final at Red Bank, then brought the Colonials back to Little Silver in 2025 and led them to a win over the Bucs in the sectional quarterfinals.

DiBiase inherited a team that graduated five seniors with starting experience. Only Valentino returned with starting experience, with Galligan and senior Bennett Lopez playing key roles off the bench. Red Bank entered Thursday with a 6-9 record, but its losses have come almost exclusively against teams that have been ranked in the SSI Top 10 at one point or another this season. The lone exception is East Brunswick, which is 14-3.

“I’m new to the rivalry, but it’s there and it’s intense,” DiBiase said. “I’m happy that they put a game plan together, they executed it, and we beat a team that we weren’t supposed to beat for the first time. That’s what we were looking for: that one win against a team that, on paper, we shouldn’t beat, but we execute and get it done. It just happened to be against Rumson.”

“He (DiBiase) hasn’t given up on us,” Valentino said. “None of the coaches have. They keep telling us every day, they preach: just keep going. States is what matters. Shore Conference is what matters. That’s what we’re working towards.”