Shore Sports Insider Week 4 Boys Basketball Top 10

Shore Sports Insider Boys Basketball Top 10 — Week 4

Sponsored by Atlantic Physical Therapy Center

Through the first half of the January, there were no signs that a team in the Shore Conference could stop Christian Brothers Academy from barreling through the regular season and Shore Conference Tournament on the way to its first SCT championship in 16 years. This past Saturday, Red Bank Catholic fell short of an upset bit, but gave a handful of the Shore’s top teams hope that maybe the Colts are not a total shoo-in to win the title.

In reality, teams rarely make it through a Shore Conference season without at least having to win a competitive game. The 2018-19 Ranney team won all its games by double-figure margins, but did have to sweat it out vs. Manasquan in the SCT championship game in a 70-60 victory. Last year’s St. Rose squad trailed at Manasquan by 12 with under six minutes to go before rallying to steal the victory, then went on to finish unbeaten vs. the Shore by beating CBA, 45-36, in the SCT final. The only recent example of a team going unbeaten vs. the Shore without a close win was the 2023-24 St. Rose squad and while this year’s CBA has roster depth that compares favorably to that Purple Roses team, it does not have a dominant senior like 2024 Player of the Year Matt Hodge or a four-star sophomore like Northwestern commit Jayden Hodge.

CBA remains the heavy favorite to hoist its first SCT trophy in 16 years, but the teams chasing the Colts enter the third week of 2026 with a jolt of optimism thanks to what RBC did on Saturday in taking the Shore’s No. 1 team to overtime. As for the rest of the Top 10, the change is almost as minimal as can be.

 

1. Christian Brothers Academy (12-2, 4-0) Last Week: 1

A loss to Red Bank Catholic would have created a fascinating seeding scenario at the top of the Shore Conference Tournament, because the Colts would have had a loss to the only Shore Conference team that only appears once on their regular-season schedule and RBC has already lost to Wall and Rumson-Fair Haven. Should CBA lose a single game to any other Shore team on its schedule, the Colts would still have another win against said team. In the end, CBA survived its scare vs. RBC and remains the No. 1 team, even though the Colts are not the power-points leader in the conference and have given the rest of the field some hope that the SCT will not be a coronation.

 

2. Wall (10-0, 4-0) Last Week: 2

The Shore Conference’s last remaining undefeated team is also the conference leader in power points, which gives the Crimson Knights a reasonable argument to be the No. 1 team in the Shore Conference Tournament, if not the rankings. Last week, Wall faced its toughest test when it was tied with Freehold Township in the final two minutes before pulling out a 65-58 victory on the road. Wall wraps up its first turn through the division with a game vs. Manalapan and will then face Howell on the road in a rematch of an early-January rout for the Crimson Knights.

 

3. Rumson-Fair Haven (11-3, 3-1) Last Week: 3

A win over RBC is keeping Rumson-Fair Haven in the No. 3 spot at the moment, but the Bulldogs are coming off a week in which they suffered two losses by margins of 30 points or greater. Injuries have absolutely been part of the story for the Bulldogs over the last week-plus, but the way the three losses – to Middletown South by 14, CBA by 31 and Lenape by 30 – looked is of some concern. The good news for Rumson is senior Luke Cruz is getting close to returning from an eye injury and coach George Sourlis said Thursday at Red Bank is the target date for his return to the lineup.

4. Red Bank Catholic (10-3, 4-0) Last Week: 4

RBC was one bounce, shot, call or break away from pulling off one of the Shore’s biggest regular-season upsets of the last decade, but the Caseys wound up tasting bitter defeat Saturday in an overtime loss at CBA. Still, RBC thrust itself into a conversation for the No. 2 seed and while there is still some distance to make up between them and a Wall team that beat them in late December on a neutral court, the Caseys have been playing better than Rumson-Fair Haven of late and can make a reasonable argument that they are actually the better all-around team on paper. For now, however, RBC remains behind the only three teams to beat the Caseys this season.

 

5. Howell (9-2, 3-1) Last Week: 5

Like Rumson, Howell’s blemish is not which teams it has lost to but the margin by which it lost and in Howell’s case, it is just one game. The Rebels own a split with Marlboro and were run out of the gym by Wall, but have otherwise been up to the task. Howell closed strong in a road win over Middletown South Friday that keeps the Rebels in the Class A Central race, which they could potentially lead by the end of the week if they can win a rematch with Wall at home, which comes after a game against a fast-improving St. John Vianney team.

 

6. Manasquan (7-5, 2-2) Last Week: 6

Manasquan’s resurgence hit a wall Thursday with a 65-47 home loss to Rumson, which snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Warriors against their Central Jersey Group II rival. Prior to that loss, Manasquan had won five straight, including a hard-fought win over Holmdel earlier in the week in which the Warriors closed with a dominant fourth-quarter. Manasquan will try its hand vs. CBA at home on Tuesday before starting its next turn through the Class A North division with a second match-up vs. St. Rose.

 

7. Point Pleasant Beach (12-2, 4-0) Last Week: 7

The Garnet Gulls head into the new week on an eight-game winning streak, which is the second-longest streak in the conference behind Wall. Point Beach, however, does not climb due to the head-to-head loss to Manasquan, plus a surprisingly tight game with New Egypt this week that ended with Point Beach beating the Warriors, 50-44. Point Beach has a key two-week stretch coming up, not only because of important division games vs. Toms River North, Brick Memorial, Point Boro and Toms River East, but also with out-of-division games vs. New Providence and Red Bank Catholic. Point Beach lost to the Caseys, 60-55, in a Kevin Williams Classic consolation game in December.

 

8. Marlboro (9-3, 2-2) Last Week: 9

The lone team to move up this week, Marlboro improved its standing last week despite losing a game to an unranked team. The Mustangs dropped a road battle at Colts Neck, which is starting to look like a top 10 threat, but responded by knocking off Ranney on the road and beating a Bayonne squad that entered Saturday 10-2. Factor in a win over No. 5 Howell and the Mustangs have been a tick better than Freehold Township thus far and will start the new week one spot ahead of the Patriots after looking up at them a week ago.

 

9. Freehold Township (7-5, 2-2) Last Week: 8

Facing perhaps the toughest part of an already tough schedule and doing so with junior point guard Cole Gerigk sidelined due to a broken nose, Freehold Township has lost three of its last four and are lucky that is not a four-game losing streak. John O’Neill’s buzzer-beater saved the Patriots in a 55-54 win over St. John Vianney and they followed that up with an inspired performance vs. Wall that ultimately came up short. The results have not been ideal for Freehold Township, but if the Patriots can get through this week vs. Middletown South, Manalapan and Freehold Boro, they should be closer to whole heading into the last week of January.

 

10. Central (8-4, 3-0) Last Week: 10

The Golden Eagles had to scratch and claw to survive Toms River North on Saturday, which came after a road loss to Mainland, but they maintain their top-10 spot for one more week. Saturday’s win over Toms River North came with 6-foot-7 center Elijah Reeder on an official football recruiting  visit to Penn State and Central still found a way to win thanks to a big showing by junior Derek Roth. Several teams are breathing down Central’s neck for this spot and to keep it, beating Jackson to open the week is pretty much imperative.

 

The Next 10

Colts Neck (8-3, 3-1) – An ugly loss to Red Bank and additional losses to Toms River East and Ranney are holding up the Cougars, but they also own wins over Southern and No. 8 Marlboro as part of an active five-game winning streak.

Southern (7-5, 3-1) – The Rams have won three straight since dropping below .500 and are still very much alive in the Class A South division race.

Jackson (8-3, 2-1) – Injuries slowed the Jaguars down for last week and they are hoping to look closer to 100 percent during a big week that starts with a road back-to-back vs. Bayonne and Central.

Holmdel (5-4, 1-3) – A rough fourth quarter cost Holmdel at Manasquan this week, but the Hornets scored their first division win by beating St. Rose later in the week.

Ranney (6-6, 3-2) – The Panthers only have one loss to a Shore Conference team that is not ranked (Holmdel) and the combined record of the other five teams to beat them is 54-11.

Point Pleasant Boro (7-5, 3-1) – Point Boro’s four-game losing streak ended with a close loss to Hudson Catholic, which should be a moral victory for a Panthers team that still holds a legitimate chance to win a division championship in Class B South.

Brick Memorial (8-6, 1-3) – Senior Nyzier Matthews missed time early in the season and that absence could be the difference between Brick Memorial contending for a division title and finishing in the middle of the Class B South pack, but the results with a full rotation are starting to look good.

Middletown South (8-5, 2-2) – Since handing Rumson-Fair Haven its first loss, Middletown South has lost three straight, including twice to top-five teams (Wall and Howell) followed by a 20-point loss to Brick Memorial.

Red Bank (6-8, 1-3) – The Bucs continue to take their punishment against ranked teams, which make up all but one of their losses, with 14-1 East Brunswick the lone exception.

Ocean (8-7, 4-1) – The Spartans to tackling some quality competition and gaining valuable experience, which should make them hard to beat in a Class B Central race that is back up for grabs after Monmouth handed Matawan its first in-division loss.