Len Sepanak Tournament Champs 2011 

(Photo Credit of Terry Boudreau of Basking Ridge Patch) 

 

North 2 Group IV Semifinalists: 2009, 2010, 2011

Somerset County Finalists: 2008, 2009, 2010

Skyland West Champs: 2008, 2009, 2010

Somerset County Champs: 2010

 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellance, therefore,

is not an act but a habit. -Aristotle

 

 

Red Devil Basketball - Cause Before Self

 

 

RIDGE (8-6) (4-5) vs #17 Bridgewater (13-2) (9-1)

TUESDAY JAN. 31st at HOME 7pm

 

MSG Varsity in the House Sponsoring a

Halftime Shootout for Free IPAD!!

 

RIDGE BOOSTER CLUB Will Give FREE PIZZA to ALL

Sophomores and Juniors attending the GAME

 

 Plus Wear Your Feath T-Shirt and get admitted FREE

 

Enter to Win Lots of Free Prizes Courtesy of MSG Varsity!

 

BIG, BIG NIGHT....See You All There!!

 

Protect Our HOUSE.... Because You know Bridgewater's

Students will Travel

 

 

 

Somerset County First Round Games Jan. 28

 Franklin 86, Pingry 25

Somerville 62, Somerset Tech 15

Bernards 71, North Plainfield 66 (OT)

Bound Brook 82, Manville 36

 

SCT Girls First Round

#12 RIDGE 65, #13 Bound Brook 37

**Freshman Sam Mahon scored team high 15pts**

 

 

Second Round Games Next Sat. Feb. 4th

#11 Franklin at #6 RIDGE

#10 Somerville at #7 Watchung

#12 Bernards at #5 Hillsboro

#9 BoundBrook at #8 Immaculata

 

 

 

Terry Boudreau's patch report with photos:

http://baskingridge.patch.com/articles/ridge-falls-short-against-watchung

-hills-after-leading-through-first-three-quarters#photo-8981164

 

 

 

 

Ridge Defeated Despite Mahon's

Career High 19pts, 51-46

 

Warren, Nj 1/26/12 - All the razor close wins over the years by the

Red Devils at neighboring Watchung finally caught up with them last

night. Taking a 6pt lead into the final quarter, Ridge could not hold on

falling by 5 in a key Skyland Conference battle. The loss coupled with

 Hunterdon's win at Immaculata drops the Devils into a two-way tie for

5th place. For Watchung, the win marked a season sweep of the home-

and-home series.

 

But it didn't look that way early on. Ridge making the most of their

triple opportunities connected on 6 first half three-pointers from five

different players to take a 25-17 lead at the break. Led by senior capt,

Dillon Mahon's career high 19pts on 4-7 from deep, 3 assists and

5 deflections the visitors looked like they were in charge.

 

But the Warriors leading scorer (Weidlich, 10pts) heated up in the

4th draining 2 big threes to help his team catch and then take the lead

from their crosstown rivals. It was enough to put this one away.

 

from the book....

 

-Ridge shot better from 3-point range (9-19, 47%) than from the

free-throw line (5-12, 41%)...go figure.

 

-Jack Kerwin had a season high 4 steals, Dylan had 2 and Gerrity 1.

 

-In the face of Watchung's agressive man-to-man defense Ridge turned

  the ball over 11 times - not horrible, especially when you couple it

with 13 assists and 7 steals for take-aways. 

 

-Rebounding was light (17 total) w/ only 5 coming on the offensive end

 

-But hard to pin-point just what went wrong statistically other than poor

foul-shooting, Rebs and defensively - giving up 20pts in the final quarter.

 

-Mahon and Moore each had 3 assists, while Dylan & Jack K. had 2 each.

 

-Matt Gerrity had a career high 6 rebs, to go with 9pts, 1 assist & 1 steal

 

-Ridge got offensive production from (6) different Devils which is good

distribution but Mahon was the only one in double figures.

 

-Next Game at HOME Tuesday 7pm vs. Bridgewater - they are the No.2

seed in the upcoming SCT and #17 in the Ledger's state rankings.

 

 -Bridgewater will be the 4th ranked team the Devils face this season...

they are 1-2 so far with a win over No. 8 Roselle Catholic.

 

around the league....

               

-There definately seems to be a 'chink in the armour' of the Panthers. At

13-1 they have had several close calls including last night at home,

when they needed overtime to beat North Hunterdon (4-10) (1-9).

 

-For the first time all season a conference team was within a field goal

of #3 Gill at halftime....Franklin trailed 30-27 before falling 66-51. 

 

-In a preview of a possible 4 vs 5 SCT match-up, the 5 won. Hillsborough

handed Montgomery only their 2nd loss of the season in Hillsborough.

 

-We're sure 'no-one-is-alive-to-remember' the last time it happened...but

Hunterdon has now beaten Immaculata twice in the same season. 

 

-Watchung owns (2) wins over Ridge but are the No. 7 seed in the SCT

behind the Red Devils. With Franklin at 11 and Bridgewater struggling,

it would appear that No. 7 is a better pole position...who knew? 

 

 

Let's Go De-vils!!

 

 

 

 

READ THE HOOPS HAVEN TODAY : SCT "Notes and Analysis":

 

—(Jerry Carino's) Sleeper team: Ridge.

 

"The Red Devils are good enough to make the final if they get hot.' - JC

 

RH: Thanks Jerry, this is going up on our Bulletin-Board (see link above)

 

 

 SCT UPDATE: It's Official - RIDGE Earns a (6) Seed

 

 

 

Writers Carino and Merrill nailed it with just a couple of exceptions; but it would

not be a SCT seeding meeting if there weren't at least some. Here are the ones

that stood out:

 

 

   -Bound Brook out of the Valley Division getting a 9 seed ahead of Somerville

       -Franklin out of the Delaware slipping to an 11 seed (that's one dangerous 11)

 

So it sets up just as we thought, Ridge will be home to the Pingry/Franklin

winner on Saturday Feb 4th and then on to Rutgers Prep if they win for

a quarterfinal game Saturday Feb 11th.

 

The Semifinals (if nec) will be at Montgomery High on Saturday Feb. 18 with

the Finals scheduled for Franklin High (the one with the Bellagio lobby) on

Saturday Feb 25th. Take a look at the official bracket:

http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/default.asp?u=RIDGEHOOPS

&t=c&s=basketball&p=tournament&tournamentID=2754

 

 

 Somerset County Tournament Flash-Back 

 

On the eve of the 2012 SCT, we decided to take a look back at the past 

(5) county tournaments to see where the Red Devils started, where

they finished and which team was the top seed:  

 

    2012:  Ridge No. 6 / ????? / Gill No.1

          

2011:  Ridge No. 8  / lost to No.9 Montgomery in 2nd round / Gill No.1

    2010:  Ridge No. 2  / beat No.4 Gill in Championship / Hillsborough No.1

     2009:  Ridge No. 2 / lost to No.1 Immaculata in the Finals / Immaculata No.1 

2008:  Ridge No. 4 / lost to No.2 Watchung in the Finals / Bridgewater No.1 

     2007:  Ridge No. 9 / lost to No.1 Bridgewater in the quarterfinals / Bridgewtr No.1 

                                                     

                                               

                                       

 

Is Gill the Best Team Ever from Somerset County?

 

Peapack, Nj 1/16/12 -   Never has Somerset County had a basketball team that

boasted three d-1 players and a national USA-Today Top 20 ranking;  that is

until this year's Gill team. Many area hoop fans remember the 1987 Bridgewater-

West Golden Falcon team that beat Malcolm X Shabazz at the RAC in the state finals

as 'the best team ever' from Somerset County.

 

That team featured the irrepressible senior Eric Murdock, who while playing at

Providence College led the Big East in scoring and in steals. He even held- up

until last season -the record for most points ever in a Big East game (48) and

in 1991 was the first round draft pick of the Utah Jazz.  

 

NJ hoop-heads will also remember Murdock's running mates on that team - the Miller 

brothers, junior David and soph Lance - and the BR student-section chant of 'Miller-

Time'. Lance was a 6-5 swingman who behind St Anthony's Bobby Hurley was the 2nd

  best prospect in the class of '89. Both David and Lance would wind up playing at

Villanova, recruited there by the legendary Rollie Massimino while still in the glow

of the Wildcats stunning upset over Georgetown in the NCAA title game.

 

So which team is better?...

 

The Bridgewater West team of Murdock and the Millers or this current Gill team

that features seniors Mitola (19.9ppg) & 6-8  Hoffman (14.6ppg)  and junior

Sina (21.4ppg). Well, there are two advantages that would lead one to give

the nod to Gill and both are not Bridgewater's fault.

 

One advantage is the 3-point shooting of Gill. Back in the day when Bridgewater

was still separated East and West, they did not have 3-pointers. The second

advantage is that Gill's current players are in their prime, right now. Murdock did

not have the senior Lance Miller, he had the sophomore version, which was

still plenty good but not as 'fully seasoned' as this Gill squad with their 'Big 3'

all upperclassman.

 

Now, people will say this Gill team has chemistry and that they've been playing

together since they were in the 5th grade.  But local basketball fans know that 

the Millers and Murdocks were related and grew up together on the outdoor courts

in the Hobbstown section of Bridgewater - you can't get better chemistry than that.  

 

As for coaching, a nod here to Bridgewater-West, simply because Vaughn Stapleton

was a local basketball legend years before this team was on the scene; while Mergin

Sina, as good as he is, has only been the Gill Boys Varsity head coach for two years.

 

Q:  Which team then is the best ever from Somerset County?

 Clue: The operative word here is, 'from' ....

 

You cannot be a fan of basketball and not enjoy watching this Gill team play.

Critics will say they don't get to the rim enough, which is not true; but when you 

can shoot 50%+ from downtown and average over 12 treys per game, why bother

going in the paint.  Mater Dei (CA) from LA was #5 in the USA-Today National poll

and Gill beat  them making 13 three-point shots. Meter Dei made four.

 

You do the math.

 

But when it comes to picking the 'Best Team Ever from Somerset County',

Ridge Hoops is old school, partial to that team which captures the community's

imagination (aka Hoosiers) and fills their resident 'faithful' to the top with 

local pride. The type of local Raritan pride that keeps 'heroes' like John

Basilone alive; yes, for our money the best team ever from Somerset County

 was the one forged on the black top near Prince Rodgers Ave more

than twenty-five years ago; but it sure would be one heck of a match-up.

                                                                                                          

                                                                                                          -Rebound Club

 

Red Devil Hoops on Facebook

                               

___________________________________________

Skyland Delaware Conference & County

 

  Sat. Jan 28th 

Bloomfield 53, #17 Bridgewater 47

#3 Gill 54, St. Peters Prep 34

 Watchung Hills 56, Hopewell Valley 42

Hunterdon Central 65, Howell 35

 

Linden 56, Union 31

St. Benedicts 66, Blair 64

 

 

 

Skyland Delaware Division - 2011-2012
	League	Overall
#3 Gill	9-0	13-2
#17 Bridgewater	9-1	13-2
Hillsborough	5-4	10-4
Watchung Hills	5-5	10-5
RIDGE	4-5	8-6
Hunterdon Central	4-5	9-6
Franklin	3-6	6-8
Immaculata	3-7	7-8
North Hunterdon	1-9	4-10