A St. Rose upset at boys basketball Shore Conference Tournament? What history says
With "St. Rose" all but engraved on the Shore Conference Tournament trophy, the nationally ranked Purple Roses are heavy favorites to win it for the first time when the event gets underway next week. But I’ll give you the greatest example I can find of an SCT upset for the ages.
It was the 1986 semifinals - a Wednesday night at Brick Memorial - and CBA was riding a still-standing Shore Conference record 39-game winning streak, including 23 straight to open the season. The Colts hadn’t lost since falling to New York City’s Cardinal Hayes in the finals of the Eastern States Tournament the previous season, when they went 29-1 and beat Bergen Catholic by 26 points in the Non-Public A final. They hadn’t lost to a Shore Conference league team in nearly three years, a stretch of 54 games.
And CBA had John Crotty, who would spend 11 seasons in the NBA, and a roster stocked with Division 1 talent.
They lost. To Lakewood, 61-60, as future Saint Peter’s Hall of Famer Tony Walker scored 24 points for the Piners in what was the 50th renewal of the SCT.
It might take something similar this year.
Tournament director Nick Pizzulli brought up the 1969 final. That’s when tiny Henry Hudson became the first Class C team ever to wear the SCT crown, as coach Dick Fosko’s underdogs beat Long Branch, 56-53, at Conventional Hall in Asbury Park. Scott Riley scored 17 points and Les Hendricks added 13 to beat a Green Wave squad that would go undefeated a year later.
More: David vs Goliath: St. Rose takes best shot against Montverde, No. 1 in USA Today Super 25
And who can forget No. 11 Rumson-Fair Haven knocking off No. 1 CBA in the 2015 final.
That’s why they play the games. Pizzulli will meet with representatives from all eight Shore Conference divisions to seed this year’s tournament Sunday morning at Red Bank Catholic. The tournament gets underway next Tuesday, with the championship game set for Sun., Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at Monmouth University’s OceanFirst Bank Center.
Because beyond St. Rose, winners of 19 straight heading into this week’s Metro Classic and Saturday night’s showdown with Montverde, the top team in the country, there’s been an awful lot of parity at the Shore this season, with little separating the next 15 teams or so.
“Because of that shift and the way that transfers are now, it changes the tournament a little bit. But it’s still a good, competitive tournament, and people want to get to the semis who haven’t been there, and get to the finals,” said Pizzulli, whose 1982-83 Red Bank team remains the last Shore Conference team to go undefeated, finishing 31-0.
Manasquan No. 2, then ...
The last time a team stormed into the SCT with this much momentum was Ranney in 2018-19, when Scottie Lewis and Bryan Antoine led the Panthers to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title. In the SCT final they came away with a 70-60 victory over Manasquan that was closer than most thought it would be.
MORE INSIGHT ON SCT SEEDING: Shore basketball Top 20 shakeup as teams battle for position. See who's on the move
Manasquan, given its history, the fact that its 19-point loss to St. Rose is the closest any area team has been, and that it’s in line to be the No. 2 seed and wouldn’t have to face St. Rose until the final, looks to be the most likely challenger.
How the rest of it shakes out will be interesting, with all teams with a .500 record or better getting in. St. John Vianney could get in with a losing record if it loses to Williamstown Thursday night as the non-public champion in A Coastal, even though they finished behind overall division champion Holmdel. Each of the division representatives will submit a list of seeds, with the results then tallied up. That’s pretty much it.
More: Check out the top 60 Shore boys basketball players from the Class of 2024
“St. Rose will get all the ones,” Pizzulli said. “Everyone right now is thinking Manasquan might be the one to get No. 2, but then there’s everybody below that.”
Change coming
The Shore Conference’s new scheduling model for basketball this year includes eight divisions formed with an eye on increased competitiveness, while each team plays divisional foes just once, along with one game against opponents from a designated “crossover” division, which was supposed to help the group seeding the tournament see more head-to-head matchups.
More: Check out the top 60 Shore boys basketball players from the Class of 2025, ranked
But the whole system might be one-and-done.
“On Feb. 12 we have a winter sports committee meeting and one of them will be basketball,” said Pizzulli, who also handles scheduling for the league. “They want to play two (divisional) games, we have heard that consistently all year long. I know people aren’t happy with the divisional alignment now. That’s fine. Come up with a metric that we can use, that would work. If not, you fall back on the base. And the base isn’t exactly fair but the base is what the base is. And unfortunately what it is is St. Rose will be in that division and they’ll have to play Keyport twice.”
More: Check out the top Shore boys basketball players from the Class of 2026 and 2027, ranked
The ”base,” would be eight divisions based on school size and geography.
Stay tuned on this one.
SHORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
ALL-TIME CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RESULTS
2023: Manasquan 61, Ranney 46
2022: Marlboro 63, Manasquan 46
2021: Manasquan 58, Marlboro 56 (Pod A final)
2020: Manasquan 75, Toms River North 49
2019: Ranney 70, Manasquan 60
2018: Ranney 52, Mater Dei Prep 28
2017: Mater Dei Prep 54, Marlboro 41
2016: Mater Dei Prep 50, CBA 43
2015: Rumson-Fair Haven 50, CBA 24
2014: Point Beach 49, CBA 41
2013: Lakewood 39, Point Beach 33
2012: Neptune 37, Colts Neck 33
2011: Raritan 43, Rumson-Fair Haven 35
2010: CBA 60 Middletown South 44
2009: CBA 58 Neptune 49
2008: Neptune 67 Monsignor Donovan 52
2007: Freehold Township 55 CBA 49
2006: CBA 65 Monsignor Donovan 56
2005: CBA 57 Manasquan 41
2004: Raritan 60 Neptune 58
2003: CBA 44 Raritan 30
2002: Neptune 57 CBA 47
2001: CBA 56 Neptune 39
2000: CBA 60 Neptune 38
1999: Red Bank 44 CBA 43
1998: Neptune 55 Red Bank 48 (OT)
1997: Long Branch 44 CBA 42
1996: CBA 64 Toms River North 58
1995: CBA 58 Lakewood 57
1994: CBA 51 Long Branch 38
1993: CBA 60 Red Bank 52
1992: Red Bank 60 CBA 54
1991: Lakewood 86 Lacey 67
1990: CBA 42 Neptune 30
1989: Lakewood 79 Neptune 77 (OT)
1988: CBA 57 Lakewood 55
1987: CBA 58 Asbury Park 55
1986: Asbury Park 61 Lakewood 60
1985: CBA 70 Asbury Park 63
1984: CBA 58 Mater Dei 51
1983: Red Bank 61 CBA 58
1982: Toms River South 83 Neptune 80
1981: Neptune 59 Long Branch 28
1980: Neptune 72 Manasquan 45
1979: Middletown South 73 Red Bank 68
1978: Asbury Park 41 Long Branch 37
1977: Long Branch 65 Lakewood 49
1976: Neptune 59 Long Branch 54
1975: Lakewood 55 Neptune 45
1974: Lakewood 65 Wall 60
1973: Ocean 71 Neptune 63
1972: Neptune 80 Manasquan 66
1971: Ocean 65 Henry Hudson 56
1970: Long Branch 88 Neptune 67
1969: Henry Hudson 56 Long Branch 53
1968: Lakewood 61 Ocean 55
1967: Neptune 48 Lakewood 45
1966: Neptune 61 Lakewood 44
1965: Neptune 63 Lakewood 56
1964: Neptune 59 Matawan 53
1963: Neptune 66 Point Pleasant Beach 54
1962: Neptune 82 Keyport 58
1961: Neptune 69 Keyport 60
1960: Matawan 62 Manasquan 59
1959: Red Bank 68 Matawan 47
1958: Lakewood 59 Atlantic Highlands 57
1957: Manasquan 79 Red Bank 56
1956: Red Bank 55 Lakewood 51
1955: (Class A) Manasquan 76 Neptune 65
(Class B) Matawan 70 Point Pleasant Beach 56
1954: (Class A) Neptune 73 Manasquan 52
(Class B) Atlantic Highlands 62 Hoffman 59
1953: (Group II) Red Bank 60 Neptune 55
(Group I) Hoffman 53 Atlantic Highlands 41
1952: (Group II) Neptune 60 Manasquan 39
(Group I) Hoffman 56 Atlantic Highlands 53 (OT)
1951: Neptune 61 Hoffman 52
1950: Red Bank 56 Neptune 52
1949: Neptune 71 Atlantic Highlands 45
1948: Manasquan 58 Freehold 48
1947: Manasquan 57 Point Pleasant Beach 25
1946: Red Bank 34 Manasquan 27
1945: Manasquan 31 Red Bank 26
1944: Lakewood 40 Toms River 36
1943: Neptune 32 Manasquan 25
1942: Neptune 42 Manasquan 40
1941: Manasquan 35 Neptune 32 (OT)
1940: Hoffman 33 Manasquan 31
1939: Neptune 41 Manasquan 38
1938: Atlantic Highlands 28 Neptune 22
1937: Keyport 31 Atlantic Highlands 22
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: St. Rose NJ boys basketball is Shore Conference Tournament favorite
