Isaac Hester scored a career-high and Elijah Perkins drove at will as No. 2 Ranney turned in an impressive performance at Neptune just ahead of a showdown with No. 1 Manasquan.
Luke Braaten is healthy and thriving to start his junior season and it is making all the difference for Brick Memorial. The Mustangs are off to a 2-0 start after beating Jackson Memorial again Thursday night.
With a near-completely new lineup, Toms River North showed it is still a team to beat in Ocean County by storming past Southern to open the 2021 season.
For the second straight year, a historic season for Wall boys basketball ended at Brick Memorial in the Group III semifinal, this time to Timber Creek in overtime.
Manasquan withstood an early storm from Holmdel and rolled the rest of the way to beat the Hornets for a fourth time and win a second straight Central Group II title.
Wall erased a five-point deficit in the final 40 seconds of regulation and pulled out a 56-51 win over rival Neptune to win its second straight Central Group III championship.
Holmdel finished strong Saturday to pull out a tough win over Lincoln, return to the Central II final for the first time in eight years, and get one more crack at Manasquan.
Behind a scorching start and a career night from sophomore Ben Roy, Manasquan dominated Toms River North and won its first Shore Conference Tournament title since 1957.
Alex Galvan returned to the lineup and Manasquan rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to upend Holmdel and reach the SCT Final for the second straight year.
Najae Hallenbeck went off in the second half and Toms River North took down Red Bank Catholic to reach the Shore Conference Tournament final for the first time in 24 years.
Red Bank Catholic withstood a second-half surge by Mater Dei Prep and advanced to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1994.