St. Rose Routs Rutgers Prep for Third Straight South Non-Public B Title

JACKSON TWP. — During the first six minutes and 50 seconds of the second half of Monday’s NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public B championship game, the St. Rose boys basketball team held one of the most explosive offensive teams in the state without a point.

And yet, that shutdown defensive effort to open the second half was an afterthought thanks to a scoring outburst by one of St. Rose’s three third-year year starters looking to win their third straight sectional championship.

Senior Evan Romano erupted for 17 points in St. Rose’s overpowering third-quarter performance on the way to a game-high 27 and the Purple Roses — the No. 1 seed in the section — routed No. 3 Rutgers Prep, 86-55, to capture their third consecutive South Non-Public B championship.

Romano shot 5-for-8 from three-point range, including 3-for-5 during the third-quarter hot streak, and also added nine rebounds and three assists during one of the best performances of his four-year varsity career.

“It’s a great feeling,” Romano said of his performance. “When you get hot like that, the rim sort of widens out a little bit and everything’s falling. A few of those shots, I was like ‘That’s not going in,’ and then it drops in. It’s a great feeling. Just one of those nights.”

Romano averaged 12.8 points as a freshman for a 16-win Holmdel team led by him and three sophomores, but left a good situation with the Hornets for a potentially great one by transferring to St. Rose ahead of his sophomore year. Once eligible in 2022-23, Romano a part-time starter, but integral player on a St. Rose team that had talent, but had not fully developed its chemistry with three in-state transfers, three international transfers and a second-year head coach in Brian Lynch.

Two years later, Romano and fellow third-year starters Jayden Hodge and Bryan Ebeling are celebrating a third straight sectional title and preparing for a shot at a second consecutive overall state title Friday against Roselle Catholic in the Non-Public B final at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the campus of Rutgers University.

“When I came here, I knew we were going to be good,” Romano said. “You never know how good. Leaving Holmdel was a risk because I had my solidified spot there, but I’m glad I came. I get better every day in practice and now we’ve got a third sectional championship, going for a second state title. That’s the goal.”

St. Rose took a 39-29 lead into the halftime locker room and junior Jayden Hodge said that was not good enough for him and his teammates. Hodge picked up his second foul of the first half with just under three minutes to go in the second quarter and sophomore starter Avery Lynch was whistled for his third with under two to play in the second.

“We had a lot of fouls, so we were in big foul trouble,” Hodge said. “We got beat way too many times one-on-one. We had to make that up in the second half. We had to stop fouling and play better defense.”

After scoring the final basket of the first half on a lay-in by Hodge off a feed from Romano, the Purple Roses scored 23 unanswered points to open the second half, led by Romano’s scoring explosion — which reached its zenith on a 26-foot pull-up three-pointer, followed by a second-chance three-pointer that capped the 23-0 run for a 62-29 St. Rose lead.

“That kid works hard every single day,” Hodge said of Romano. “It was great seeing him do his thing. He had some ups and downs this year and it’s just great that he is doing his thing right now. Seeing my teammates doing a great job is awesome. It’s a great feeling.”

“It really comes from my guys getting stops on defense,” Romano said. “They found me in my spots. I have been working the whole week on my jump shot — before practice, after practice. I knew if I got them, I was going to put them up.”

Somewhat lost in Romano’s shooting was the zero points St. Rose allowed for 6:53 of game clock in the third quarter, which was as much Rutgers Prep’s undoing as Romano’s scoring exhibition was. St. Rose mixed in a 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone into its defensive game-plan, but its man-to-man defense, led by Hodge against Argonauts leading scorer Jacob Canton, was the foundation of the win. Hodge held the Rutgers Prep sophomore to nine points — 6.5 below his season average.

Hodge also did his part on the offensive end in another well-rounded performance by the 6-foot-5 junior. He finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots on top of the airtight defensive performance against Canton. Hodge capped his day with a baseline drive for a dunk that turned the chants of “This is boring” from the St. Rose student section into raucous applause with under three minutes to go until the championship celebration.

“We could feel they were getting a little tired, so we just told each other, ‘We are going to pick it up right now and grow that lead,’ and that’s what we did,” Hodge said. “We came out really aggressive in that third quarter, just getting stop after stop. That’s how we got easier baskets on offense.”

Romano, Hodge and Lynch carried the scoring for the Purple Roses, with Lynch chipping in 13 points and eight rebounds. The trio combined for 62 points and 26 rebounds, including 58 of St. Rose’s 66 points through three quarters before the supporting cast got a piece of the action in a fourth quarter that was a formality.

St. Rose faced a short-handed Rutgers Prep team that became even more short-handed during the first quarter of the game. Sophomore Andrew Kretkowski — a versatile 6-foot-8 wing and one of three players on Rutgers Prep averaging 15 points per game on the season — sat out for the second straight game due to injury. Six-foot-4 freshman William Brunson was his replacement in the starting lineup for the second straight game and during the first four minutes of the first quarter, Brunson — who put up 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots in a semifinal win at Holy Cross Prep on Thursday — landed awkwardly, limped off the court, and did not return.

Not all was lost for Rutgers Prep with the loss of Brunson thanks to the performance of freshman Julian Ceberio off the bench. The 6-3 freshman replaced Brunson and hit his first three three-point attempts, plus a long two to give him 11 of his 13 points in the game during the first half. Sophomore Rocco Loomis, meanwhile, led Rutgers Prep with 19 points, while 6-7 senior Myles Parker — the other Argonauts starter averaging 15 points per game — finished with seven.

St. Rose won their three South Jersey Non-Public B Playoff games by an average margin of 32 points and its final victory came over a Rutgers Prep team ranked No. 11 in the state, according to NJ Advance Media. Last year’s 29-2 team that finished No. 1 in the state won its three games in the South Jersey section by an average of 26.3 points before routing Immaculate Conception of Montclair, 73-29, for St. Rose’s first overall Non-Public B championship since 1977.

“It definitely means a lot,” Hodge said of winning his third sectional title in three years since moving to New Jersey from Belgium to play for his godfather, coach Brian Lynch, at St. Rose. “I just feel pumped and ready for Friday.”

This year’s Non-Public B championship game figures to be more competitive, as the Purple Roses will take on Roselle Catholic — the No. 5 ranked team in N.J. and the team that beat St. Rose in the 2023 Non-Public B championship game behind current St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher and Indiana wing Mackenzie Mgbako. St. Rose has a chance to join Roselle Catholic, St. Anthony and St. Patrick as one of only four teams since 1980 to repeat as overall Non-Public B champion in boys basketball.

“I guess there is some revenge there,” Romano said. “They are a great team, so we know we’ve got to be focused this week in practice. Anything can happen and we have confidence in ourselves, so we’ll see what happens.”