Purple Roses A Thorn In Rutgers Prep Side

The final big game before Christmas saw a showdown at the McCann Center in Belmar as Saint Rose hosted Rutgers Prep in a potential preview of the Non-Public B South Final. Before the game the 2023-24 Shore Conference and State Championship team was honored and received their Championship rings.

Rutgers Prep came out on fire as Sophomore Andrew Kretkowski hit two three point shots and Rutgers Prep led 8-0, as St Rose Coach Brian Lynch called a timeout just 2 minutes in. St.Rose came right as Bryan Ebeling, Jayden Hodge, Avery Lynch and Evan Romano each

scored to tie the game at 8 . Kretkowski dropped a long three as the game was tied at 11-11. Romano hit a three and Tyler Hager scored inside as the Purple Roses took a 20-13 lead at the end of 1.

The second quarter saw St rose jump out quickly as Lynch hit a long three, Jayden

Hodge had two steals and a slam and Romano added layup as St. Rose jumped out to a commanding 33-16 lead. Just when you thought this game was over, Rutgers Prep came back with a pair of three pointers from Jacob Canton and another from Rocco Loomis to cut the lead to 35-28. Both teams traded baskets the rest of the way as the half ended with St. rose leading Rutgers Prep 39 to 32.

The third quarter started with the teams trading three pointers. St Rose had two by Hodge and Rutgers Prep countered with two by Jacob Canton to make the score 45 to 38 in favor of The Purple Roses. Hodge and Bryan Ebeling both stole the ball and drove the entire floor to stretch the lead back to ten at 50- 40 with 3 minutes to go in the quarter. Myles Parker cut the lead to 8 for Rutgers Prep, but Romano and Freshman Izayah Cooper stretched the lead to 58-47 after three.

The fourth quarter began with St Rose jumoing out quickly trying the put the game away. Hodge and Romano each scored twice as St. Rose pushed the lead to 61-49, Hodge hit 2 layups and Lynch had two offensive rebounds to force Rutgers Prep to take a time out with 5:40 remaining and the hometown Purple Roses with a commanding 67-51 lead. Rutgers Prep

managed to cut it to 71- 60 on a dunk by Kretkowski, but then St Rose worked the ball around

the floor and scored on easy layups as they pulled away for an impressive 80-63 victory.

St Rose was led by Jayden Hodge who had a huge game with 30 points and 11 rebounds

followed by Evan Romano with 20 and Avery Lynch with 11. Rutgers Prep was led by Jacob

Canton with 20 points and Myles Parker, Andrew Kretkowski and Rocco Loomis all had 12

points.