Boys Basketball – Jersey Mike’s Week 9 Team of the Week: Ranney

As the defending Shore Conference Tournament champions and the No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey, the Ranney boys basketball team was the heavy favorite to win a second straight Shore Conference Tournament championship.

Then, Manasquan jumped on the defending champs by scoring the first six points of the SCT championship game and for the first time in the last two years, Ranney was looking at a 32-minute battle to win a Shore Conference Tournament game.

Ultimately, Ranney withstood Manasquan's early flurry, took over the lead for good n the second half and pulled out a 70-60 win over the Warriors to capture its second straight Shore Conference Tournament title and earn Week 9 Jersey Mike's Team of the Week honors.

Not only did Manasquan score the first six points of the game but the Warriors also answered a 7-0 Ranney response with nine straight points to take an eye-opening 15-7 lead on the state's top team.

Ranney then closed the first quarter with a 12-2 run to take the lead. Manasquan took one more lead on a Brad McCabe three-pointer to make the score 20-19 before Ranney took over the lead for good on a Scottie Lewis basket.

Scottie Lewis baskets were common in Saturday's championship game as the 6-foot-5 senior and Florida commit led the Panthers with 27 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and four blocks to earn game MVP honors.

Ranney built up a 43-30 lead in the third quarter before Manasquan closed the deficit to 48-44 early in the fourth. The Panthers had one more push in them and built the lead up to 62-50 on the way to a 10-point win.

Senior Ahmadu Sarnor led the second-half effort with 16 of his 18 points coming after halftime. Senior Bryan Antoine added 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor for the Panthers.

Ranney made it to the SCT final by beating Freehold Township, 78-50, in Thursday's semifinal in Toms River. Antoine led Ranney with 20 points, Sarnor scored 13, junior Phillip Wheeler and freshman Elijah Perkins scored 11 each and Lewis put up 10 points.

Over the past two seasons, Ranney outscored its SCT opponents by an average margin of 26.1 per game in winning the first two Shore Conference titles in school history.

2019 Team of the Week Winners

Week 1: Matawan

Week 2: Wall

Week 3: Red Bank Catholic

Week 4: Toms River North

Week 5: Middletown South

Week 6: Ocean

Week 7: Red Bank

Week 8: Freehold Township