Basketball – Shore Conference Tournament Championship Tickets On Sale Saturday Afternoon

Approximately 1,600 tickets have been sold for Saturday's Boys and Girls Basketball Shore Conference Tournament double-header at OceanFirst Bank Center on the campus of Monmouth University and there 2,000-plus tickets still up for grabs on the day of the game. All tickets for the double-header are $10.

The OceanFirst Bank Center box office will open at 3 p.m. on Saturday to begin the same-day sale of tickets and the arena doors will open at 4 p.m. - one hour before the scheduled tip-off of the girls championship game.

Here are the details on Saturday's championship double-header.

Shore Conference Tournament Championship Games

Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020

At OceanFirst Bank Arena, Monmouth University

Girls Championship

No. 1 St. John Vianney (24-1) vs. No. 2 Manchester (23-3), 5 p.m.

The girls championship is a rematch of last year's historic, 58-42 Manchester win over St. John Vianney, which clinched the Hawks' first ever SCT championship. Both teams have some new looks within their rosters while also returning some key figures from last year's run.

Manchester returns highly-regarded junior Destiny Adams, as well as seniors Kemari Reynolds and Serenity Anderson - the former of whom is a University of Pennsylvania commit.

St. John Vianney boasts a shockingly young roster - which does not have a senior - for a team that has had as much success as the Lancers have this season. Sophomore Madison St. Rose is one of New Jersey's breakout stars of 2020 while junior Katie Hill has also been one of the Shore's best while playing on a Lancers team trying to avenge last year's championship loss.

Boys Championship

No. 1 Manasquan (26-1) vs. No. 3 Toms River North (24-3), 7 p.m.

Both boys finalists will take the floor Saturday in hopes of ending a long, long wait for a Shore Conference Tournament championship.

Manasquan is one year removed from reaching the SCT championship game at Monmouth, but last year's 70-60 loss to Ranney extended the program's drought without a Shore Conference Tournament. The Warriors last won a conference tournament title in 1957 and as a 26-1 No. 1 seed, Saturday is likely the best chance they have had to win one since.

Senior Alex Galvan, senior Kieran Flanagan and sophomore Ben Roy are returning starters from last year's runner-up, while starters Casey Mulligan and Tim McEneny also played big minutes last year.

Toms River North, meanwhile, has never won an SCT championship and Saturday will mark just the second time the Mariners have been in the final, with the last appearance coming in 1996.

The Mariners are led by a senior-heavy roster, headlined by Jakari Spence and Najae Hallenbeck - both of whom are averaging better than 21 points per game this season. Spence also leads the Shore Conference with 6.6 assists per game while Hallenbeck is rebounding at a 12.4 per-game clip.

Saturday's boys finalists also met in the championship game of the WOBM Christmas Classic this past December, with Manasquan defeating Toms River North, 78-63.

Check back Saturday morning for a full preview of the game.