Still Searching: Ramsey Ends Drought, Denies Rumson First State Title

PISCATAWAY — In its first ever NJSIAA state championship game appearance, the Rumson-Fair Haven boys basketball team scratched, clawed and barreled its way to a solid first quarter and a hard-fought comeback effort in the second half.

The fine-tuned execution of Ramsey during the first half of the Rams’ first state final appearance in 76 years turned out to be the recipe for a long-awaited championship Saturday at Rutgers University.

A dominant second quarter by Ramsey on the floor of Jersey Mike’s Arena was too much for Rumson to overcome, as the Rams rolled through the Bulldogs, 68-57, to claim their first NJSIAA Group II championship since 1950.

“They played better,” Sourlis said of Ramsey. “They got to loose balls that we didn’t. They made shots that we didn’t.”

“The unfortunate part is I wish we played a little better. I wish we shot the ball the way we are capable of shooting it. I wish we had our A-game. I don’t think we did and Ramsey’s got to be a big part of that equation.”

Ramsey has marched to a long-awaited appearance at Rutgers behind a balanced group of scorers that average between 14.1 and 7.5 points across the starting five. That balance was on display Saturday, with senior Owen Farley and junior Charlie Taylor each scoring 18 points and junior sixth man James Cunningham stealing the show in the final minute of the first half, when the Rams opened up an 18-point lead heading to the locker room.

Through one quarter, it was Rumson that was the well-rounded offense in playing to a 12-12 deadlock. Senior Luke Cruz, senior Blake Ahmann and freshman Clint Martin each scored four points and four of Rumson’s five field goals came on putbacks off of offensive rebounds.

Then, the Rams took over. Taylor and Cunningham each scored seven points during a 26-8 blitz by Ramsey for the duration of the second quarter, which ended with Ramsey on a 12-2 run. Cunningham scored the final five points of the run, picking off a pass that he threw down for a fastbreak dunk, then nailing a three-pointer in the final 10 seconds the propel his team into the second half with a 38-20.

Sixth man James Cunningham with the steal and dunk, then a three to close out a dazzling first half for Ramsey, who leads Rumson 38-20. Ugly half for RFH: 33% shooting, 0-7 on 3s, 11 turnovers, 0 assists. Rebounding has been the only bright spot for the Bulldogs. pic.twitter.com/4y5ZLCaaQP

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 14, 2026

“We had a couple shots that we have been making all season,” Sourlis said. “It’s just one of those things. We missed, they didn’t and it started to steamroll. If it stayed at twelve — the last minute-and-a-half in the second quarter, I called timeout and said, ‘Let’s keep it here’ — and then it got to 18. That’s a big hole.”

Although Rumson put up 20 points, the Bulldogs shot 33 percent (9-for-27) from the field, 0-for-7 from three-point range, committed 11 of their 19 turnovers in the game and did not record an assist on any of their nine first-half field goals.

“Our ball-handling today was disgraceful,” Sourlis said. “We warned them about this team jumping passing lanes and we had drilled them the last few days about coming to the basketball, bringing the ball to our spots so the passes wouldn’t be too far and too long. I don’t know if it was the big court, but we tried to make passes that were twenty feet away as opposed to ten feet away and that’s how they were able to get them and capitalize on a couple of easy baskets for themselves. We didn’t get as many of those and it seemed like when we did, we missed our chances on what should have been easy baskets. Story of the day.”

Farley scored the first basket of the third quarter to cap the run at 14-2 and 28-8, giving Ramsey its largest lead of the game, 40-20. Farley also dished out six assists and pulled four steals, while Taylor handed out five assists. Junior Owen Crowley cracked double-figures with 10 points and six rebounds, Ramsey point guard Julien Quinerly chipped in seven points and senior Owen Morycz netted five points while disrupting Rumson’s offense with his five steals.

“This is the most unselfish team I have ever coached,” said Ramsey coach Mark Christiansen, who has won four sectional championships in five seasons as head coach for a program that has won sectional championships in seven of the last 10 contested NJSIAA Tournaments. “They are willing to find the hot hand every single night: make the right pass, make the right read. To have all of them on one team, I am very, very blessed.”

Despite the insurmountable deficit, Rumson kept battling and fought its way to a single-digit deficit before the midway point of the fourth quarter. Cruz scored 14 of his game-high 22 points after halftime while also contributing 11 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in his final game as a Bulldog. The double-double was Cruz’s 17th of the season in 19 games played.

Rumson got the deficit down to 11, with Cruz throwing down a couple dunks. Now 48-34 Ramsey with a minute left in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/9KaerYFzx8

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 14, 2026

“We played Wayne Valley early on this year and they have a six-ten kid (Zach Derstine),” Christiansen said. “We really watched to see what they did against us to help us prepare as best we could. Our biggest kid is six-three, so you can’t prepare to go against a kid like (Cruz).”

Cruz finishes his Rumson career with 1,159 points and in his final season, he averaged 21.6 points, 13.4 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots while being named the Shore Conference Player of the Year by the conference’s coaches. The 6-foot-9 senior missed the first four games of the season, then sustained an eye injury in January that kept him out of action for five games and forced him to wear eyewear in games for the remainder of the year. Cruz then missed Rumson’s two Shore Conference Tournament games and yet, despite three different injury stints, left an indelible mark on the program as the top statistical performer on Rumson’s first ever state finalist.

“One of the best players in the history of the school,” Sourlis said of Cruz. “He tried to put us on his back again and he did for a while. He got us back in the game. He hit a big three across from our bench. I don’t think I took him out until the last minute. He is a gamer and he has got a great career ahead of him at the college level. We will look back at him as one of the greatest players in the history of this school.”

With a three-pointer and a post-up basket on consecutive possessions, Cruz pulled Rumson to within 54-46 with 4:40 left in the game and another basket inside the paint trimmed the Ramsey lead to 58-49 with 2:30 left. On the ensuing inbound, Rumson trapped the ball in the corner but just before Ahmann jumped in front of a pass for a would-be steal, Ramsey was granted a timeout called from the bench while the ball was still possessed in the corner.

“When you get into such a deep hole to try to overcome, kids are trying to do everything they can, playing with a sense of urgency and the energy to try to make it all up,” Sourlis said. “I’m proud of our effort. We played hard. These kids have a lot to be proud of. I’m proud of them.”

Luke Cruz with a 3 and a post up to pull Rumson within 54-46 with 4:40 left. pic.twitter.com/KEH4ytufps

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 14, 2026

“They did a great job in the second half,” Christiansen said of Rumson’s comeback effort. “You’ve got to give them credit. They were turning us over, getting layups, getting shots and really speeding us up, which we usually like. They did a hell of a job causing chaos, so my message was just, ‘Guys, we’ve got to take care of the ball.’ We have three really good guards, two forwards who take care of the ball and we just needed to slow down, take care of the ball, make the right read, make the right pass and if you have a lane, go for the layup.”

Ramsey regrouped in the timeout huddle and responded with a 10-2 run that put the game out of reach for the Bulldogs.

In the final minutes of the season, Sourlis was slapped with a technical foul, which the coach said was his first technical in 18 years. Rumson was whistled for 21 fouls to 10 on Ramsey, with the margin at 17-10 before the technical and deliberate fouls to send Ramsey to the free-throw line.

“It’s my job to discuss things with the officials and not the players,” Sourlis said. “Our kids have done a great job with that, for the most part, all year. Those three (officials) were working their butt off, doing the best they can. We just got beat.”

Ahmann put up eight points, eight rebounds and four steals in his last game in Rumson purple while Martin closed out his freshman season with nine points and five rebounds on the state championship stage.

“The growth with Clint was just incredible,” Sourlis said. “He became one of our primary ball-handlers. You’re putting a lot of pressure on the kid to handle the ball, execute, get the ball to the people you want him to get it to. He has become such a tough assignment for people because he’s a great athlete, he’s a great offensive rebounder and the future is extremely bright for him.”

Cruz, Ahmann, guard Luke Lydon, Zach Halpern and Drew Cavise are the senior regulars that finished their careers Saturday at Rutgers. Despite the loss, they will graduate after taking Rumson deeper in the NJSIAA Tournament than any group has and doing so by avenging back-to-back sectional championship losses to Manasquan in the 2024 and 2025 Central Jersey Group II finals.

“These kids have done something nobody in the history of the school has done on the boys side,” said Sourlis, who coached the Rumson girls to five overall state championships during his 30-year tenure that ended in 2015-16. “I think it’s amazing. People had written us off so many times. Our health was such a big issue to overcome. The fact that our kids found it, loved each other the way they do is the reason why they (got to) a state championship. I just told them, ‘In a certain amount of time — whether it’s a week, two weeks, three weeks — you’re going to look back and realize you had a great year. You did something nobody has ever done here in boys basketball.”

“This team was written off and the way they rallied and came together as a group was just fun to watch. I couldn’t wait to come to practice and it’s because of them. They made it fun for me too.”