Over the course of winter break, the Manchester Boys and Girls Varsity Basketball programs competed in the 39th annual WOBM Christmas Classic. The boys have not won the tournament since 2013 and the girls have not won since they capped their dominant reign of three consecutive championships in 2019 led by future Rutgers star Destiny Adams. The WOBM Classic, a staple of Shore Conference basketball, has recently taken on a new format. Instead of 1 standard 16 team bracket, the tournament now features 2 brackets, 8 teams aside. On the boys side, the Ruhnke bracket features seeds 1-8, and the Gepp bracket features seeds 8-16. As for the girls, the Cervino bracket features the higher seeds, while the Snyder bracket features the lower seeds. The boys team was the 12th seed in the Gepp bracket and the girls team was the 3rd seed in the Cervino bracket. The tournament would begin for all teams on the boys and girls Tuesday, December 26th.
Boys Recap:
The Hawks kicked off their tournament run versus 16th seeded Brick Township. They would win this game in dominant fashion, topping Brick 66-46 powered by 22 points from senior Jaymire Watts. Juniors Aidan Lunn and Marquis Goins chipped in 17 and 11 respectively as well. Beating Brick earned the boys a trip to the semi-finals versus Donovan Catholic, who they had previously fell to 60-44 earlier in the season. Unfortunately, they would fall to Donovan again, 61-41. Goins led the scoring versus Donovan with 9. Losing to Donovan sent the boys to the 3rd place game and final game of the tournament, another rematch, this time versus 11th seeded Toms River East who they had also fallen to earlier in the season, 57-39. This time, however, the Hawks would avenge their early season loss by breezing by East 65-45. Junior Alex Vasylaity, Goins and Watts all chipped in 12 points in the win, while Lunn added 10 himself along with 12 rebounds and 10 assists to record his first career triple double. The boys finished 3rd place in the Gepp bracket with their win over Toms River East, coming behind Toms River South (champion) and Donovan Catholic (runner up).
Girls Recap:
The Lady Hawks opened their tournament run versus 7th seeded Middletown South. Similar to the boys opening matchup, the girls would win in comfortable fashion, 56-24, captained by senior NC State commit Devyn Quigley’s 31 points. Following their win over Middletown South, the Lady Hawks would move onto the semifinals to play top seeded Red Bank Regional, a familiar opponent for Coach David Beauchmin who faced the Bucs in the 2019 tournament finals. Despite another dominant 27-point performance by Quigley, the girls sadly came up short to the eventual tournament champion Red Bank, 59-31. The Lady Hawks would also play the 3rd place game as their final game of the tournament, matched up with 2nd seeded Rumson-Fair Haven. The girls would fall short, 59-46, in a close game where Rumson eventually pulled away in the end. Quigley posted 25 points and freshman Madeline Nolan chipped in 12 in the loss. While an 1-2 record was not the ideal finish for the Lady Hawks, their 2 losses came at the hands of the top 2 seeds in the tournament and a 4th place finish is nothing to be ashamed of.
