That Time of Year: Manasquan, Rumson Clash in Central Group 2 Final Again

NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II Championship

Friday, March 6, 2026

At Manasquan High School, 7 p.m.

 

No. 7 Rumson-Fair Haven at No. 5 Manasquan

 

Teams at a Glance

Rumson-Fair Haven (19-8)

Head Coach: George Sourlis
Last Sectional Championship: 2022
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2025

Road to the Final

First Round: Rumson was cruising with a 35-14 lead early in the third quarter of its state-tournament opener vs. Point Boro when Bulldogs got hit with a bolt of lightning. Point Boro shot 12-for-15 from three-point range after scoring just 10 points in the first half, they put up 64 over the final 20 minutes. That still was not enough to knock out Rumson, which got game-tying three-point play from Luke Cruz with 13 seconds left in regulation. A crucial three-pointer from Luke Lydon and a tie-breaking floater by freshman Clint Martin in overtime finished off a 75-74 win. Cruz led the way for Rumson with 34 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Quarterfinals: There would be no drama for Rumson in the second round. The Bulldogs man-handled No. 2 Metuchen, 59-27, with a 21-3 third-quarter run serving as the final nail. Cruz was once starred for Rumson, finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.

Semifinals: Defending the three-point line has been Rumson’s Achilles Heel during the tournament and it once again nearly the Bulldogs downfall in the sectional semifinals vs. No. 3 Ocean. The Spartans hit 16 three-pointers and built an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter, but Cruz and Rumson came alive to close out the third quarter with a 14-5 run and dominated the fourth to pull out a 67-58 win. Cruz scored 22 of his 33 points in the second half while also grabbing 11 rebounds, giving him an average of 28.3 points and 13.3 rebounds heading into Friday’s final. Senior Blake Ahmann contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, senior Zach Halpern supplied 12 points off the bench and junior point guard Casey Moore dished out nine assists while also grabbing eight rebounds.

Projected Lineup

Casey Moore, Jr., 6-0, Guard

Luke Lydon, Sr., 5-11, Guard

Clint Martin, Fr., 6-1, Guard

Blake Ahmann, Sr., 6-3, Forward

Luke Cruz, Sr., 6-9, Forward

Off the Bench

Zach Halpern, Sr., 6-1, Guard/Forward

Drew Cavise, Sr., 6-3, Guard/Forward

 

 

Manasquan (16-9)

Head Coach: Andrew Bilodeau
Last Sectional Championship: 2025
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2025

Road to the Final

First Round: Manasquan opened its quest for a seventh straight NJSIAA sectional championship with a 60-40 win over No. 12 Roselle, led by 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots from senior Jack O’Reilly, plus a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) by junior Logan Cleveland. Sophomore Sean Bilodeau also threw in 15 points for the Warriors, who extended their state-tournament home winning streak to 20 games.

Quarterfinals: Playing their first road NJSIAA Tournament game since the 2023 Central Group II final, Manasquan lit up No. 4 Delaware Valley, 54-34, behind a second straight double-double from Cleveland. The junior posted 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Bilodeau added 13 in the victory, which was already decided when Manasquan took a 47-21 lead into the fourth quarter.

Semifinals: Wall defeated Manasquan in two different tournaments during the 2025-26 season and a third tournament win would mean the Crimson Knights’ first trip to a sectional final since 2020. Instead, Manasquan got the last laugh, taking down the top-seeded Crimson Knights, 42-37, to reach the sectional final round for the seventh straight season. O’Reilly dominated the glass with 22 rebounds, Cleveland led a balanced offensive attack with 11 points and six rebounds, and sophomores Luke Winn (10 points) and Kennedy Larned (nine) each had key scoring spurts to help push Manasquan over the top.

 

Projected Lineup

Sean Bilodeau, So., 5-11, Guard

Jack Lattimer, Sr., 6-0, Guard

Kennedy Larned, So., 6-0, Guard

Logan Cleveland, Jr., 6-7, Forward

Jack O’Reilly, Sr., 6-5, Forward

Off the Bench

Luke Winn, So., 6-2, Guard

Noah Matuch, So., 6-2, Forward

For the third straight year, Rumson-Fair Haven travels to Manasquan for the Central Jersey Group II championship and the Bulldogs will be hoping the third time is the charm. Two seasons ago, Manasquan mounted an epic comeback in the final four minutes to stun Rumson, 36-30, and a year ago, the Warriors asserted themselves for the full 32 minutes in a 48-36 win on the way to winning the overall Group II championship.

While the uniforms and the setting for Friday’s championship will look nearly identical to the last two Central Group II championship game, this year’s meeting between the Shore’s most decorated Group II teams of the last decade will look different. For one thing, Manasquan has only two starters back from last year’s Group II championship team and two of the three missing pieces – 2025 graduate Griffin Linstra and injured senior Rey Weinseimer – were First Team All-Shore players in 2024-25. Senior Jack O’Reilly and junior Logan Cleveland have given Manasquan stability and size in its lineup, with both forwards dominating the glass during the state tournament and Cleveland leading Manasquan with an average of 12.3 points per game. O’Reilly is averaging 14.7 rebounds per game after his 22-rebound effort on Tuesday at Wall.

The sidelines will also look different for both teams and for different reasons. Over the past 16 seasons, Andrew Bilodeau and Chris Champeau have had some intense battles while coaching their teams against one another, with Bilodeau owning a decided 18-5 advantage that included eight straight wins over Rumson from the 2018-19 season up until Champeau’s final game at Rumson in the 2025 Central Group II final. Champeau stepped down as head coach at Rumson last spring and was replaced by longtime Rumson girls basketball coach George Sourlis, who led the Bulldogs to a 65-47 win at Manasquan in January to exorcise at least some of those Big Blue demons while also ending an eight-game losing streak against the Warriors.

On the Manasquan side, Bilodeau is still the Manasquan head coach by title, but will not be in the gym Friday night after he suffered a heart attack on the court at Wall High School right after the final buzzer of Manasquan’s win over the Crimson Knights. This will be the second time in Bilodeau’s career at Manasquan that he will miss at least one game due to a health issue and just as he did during Bilodeau’s absence in the final three games of the 2021 season, assistant Ryan Ritchey will be the acting head coach for Friday’s championship game.

One constant between last year and this year is Luke Cruz, who has been dominant during this state tournament for Rumson. The 6-foot-9 senior already has two 30-point games to his credit during the state playoffs and is determined to do his part in getting the Bulldogs past the Warriors after two difficult losses in each of the past two seasons. In the past two championship games at Manasquan, Cruz averaged 6.5 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. He was unable to play on Jan. 15, when Rumson handled Manasquan and was Rumson’s only consistent source of offense when he scored 17 points in the 43-32 loss to the Warriors at Rumson on Feb. 3.

In the first game between the teams, Blake Ahmann had one of the best games by any Shore Conference player this season when he posted 35 points and 18 rebounds to lead Rumson to victory. The 18 rebounds are particularly eye-popping considering O’Reilly’s season-long prowess on the glass, which O’Reilly got back to asserting with 9 points and 11 rebounds at Rumson in early February. Cleveland also had 11 rebounds to go with 10 points and Sean Bilodeau scored all 12 of his points in the second half to spark the Warriors after they had only eight points as a team through the first 14:30 of the game.

The Verdict

After his team won at Rumson with Cruz in the lineup, Andrew Bilodeau commented that he liked the match-up for Manasquan when Cruz was on the floor due to the Warriors’ comfort level playing with two true big men in Cleveland and O’Reilly. Now, Cruz will try to counter, although his play in the February loss to Manasquan was not an issue. He finished with a game-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds and four blocked shots, but Manasquan did not let the rest of the Bulldogs players beat them.

Up until halftime of the second game, Rumson appeared to have Manasquan figured out. After the dominant performance in January, the Bulldogs held a 15-8 lead on the Warriors with under two minutes to go in the second half in Rumson. Rumson has had struggles defending the three-point line this tournament – Point Boro and Ocean hit a combined 29 – but Manasquan is not as reliant on the three-ball and the Bulldogs will undoubtedly be paying attention to the arc.

If Sourlis and his team can tap into the performance of the first 48 minutes between the teams this season, Rumson will be holding the trophy on Friday night. As for an imperative, the Bulldogs will likely have to win the three-point line, both in hitting some threes as well as keeping Manasquan from getting hot.

If Manasquan found a lasting formula in that second half at Rumson, the Bulldogs could be in for another slog at Manasquan, with the Warriors lifting a seventh consecutive sectional championship trophy. For the Warriors, winning the rebounding margin is a must because Rumson grabbing offensive rebounds means second chances for Cruz, who will be, by far, the best offensive player on the floor.

The unknown Friday night will be Manasquan’s collective headspace without Andrew Bilodeau on the sideline. In 2021, the team rallied to win the Shore Conference Playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2021 season, completing a 12-0 season. That precedent is encouraging, but that was a veteran Manasquan team with players who had already played big minutes on a team that went 30-1 the season prior.

Manasquan has the kind of team and program that is absolutely capable to doing the same thing this year by reaching up to an even higher level for their ailing head coach. It is also possible that there are simply more important things than basketball and that will make beating a determined Rumson team even harder.

The other possibility is that motivation is not a variable at Manasquan and the game will be decided on the court between two focused teams that know one another as well as two teams can.

The Pick: Rumson, 44-38