SCT showdown ahead for unbeaten Montgomery

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The quality of the high school basketball played along Route 206 has risen steadily during the past decade.

It will reach a fever pitch on Saturday when border rivals Montgomery and Hillsborough meet in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals.

Second-seeded Montgomery is 20-0 and third-seeded Hillsborough is 16-2. They were supposed to meet in a Skyland Conference crossover last week but it got snowed out. That only adds to the anticipation for the semifinal, which tips at 6 p.m. The other semifinal pits top-seeded Gill St. Bernard’s against fourth-seeded Ridge at 4 p.m. Both games take place at Montgomery (the site was pre-determined).

“That’s a great matchup,” said Rutgers Prep coach Tim Ortelli, whose team lost to Hillsborough and Montgomery this season. “You’ve got two teams that are senior dominated. I like both teams. It’s a push, but Montgomery’s favored because they get the opportunity to play it on their home court.”

Ortelli’s home-court comment was made tongue-in-cheek because people used to complain that his dominant Bridgewater-Raritan teams had an edge when the final was played at Bridgewater’s middle school. Like those Panthers, Montgomery’s knack for winning game after game is turning heads.

“Everybody is getting into this,” Montgomery coach Kris Grundy said. “You go into Wawa, you go into ShopRite, you go anywhere and people are like, ‘Coach, the guys are playing great.’ ”

Balance is the key. Go-to seniors Justin Kovacevich (17.5 ppg) and Greg Tarca (13.9 ppg) are long, versatile and battle-tested. Junior point guard Chase Ta (8.9 ppg) has emerged as a playmaker and on-ball defender. Tim Youreneff (9.4 ppg), Alex Miller (8 ppg) and Darron Wallace (5.4 ppg) fill their roles nicely.

“We definitely knew this was possible, to be where we are,” Tarca said. “It helped us a little bit that nobody else thought it was possible. We’ve been playing with that chip on our shoulder.”

Montgomery’s lone county banner came in the mid-80s, when there was a separate tournament for small schools and the Cougars were Group I. In the current format, they’ve never made the final.

“We realize a lot of what we’ve done so far this season hasn’t been done before in Montgomery,” Tarca said. “It’s another thing that’s motivating us.”

Hillsborough’s never won the SCT, having lost to Bridgewater-Raritan in the 1999 final and Franklin in the 2002 final. The Raiders’ rivalry with Montgomery is friendly, starting at the top.

“Ian (Progin) and I don’t particularly like this game too much because we are such good friends,” said Grundy, referring to Hillsborough’s skipper. “When we’re not playing each other, the first game I look for when I get on the bus or into the coaches’ room is Hillsborough’s. I’m rooting like heck for them. It’s a shame one of us has to go home Saturday disappointed.”

One group that won’t be bummed? Local basketball fans. They should get their money’s worth.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Grundy said. “They have two losses and everybody knows who their two losses are to, Linden and Gill. We’ve been fortunate enough to escape unscathed at this point. It’s a big rivalry. The place is going to be packed.”

He added, “This is the game everybody has been waiting for, so here we go.”