By, Kyle Ferreira
BASKING RIDGE – The Rutgers Prep Argonauts (2-1) survive a big time divisional road contest against the Ridge Red Devils (0-3), winning 62-60.
Rutgers Prep junior guard Rocco Loomis is a scorer at heart. Prior to the start of the 2025-2026 high school basketball season, Loomis eclipsed the 230 points mark twice in his first two years of high school. The bar was set high for the young guard when he registered 256 points in the 2023-2024 season.
Despite only nine points against a strong Linden squad last Saturday, Loomis bounced back with a terrific 33 point performance Tuesday evening vs Phillipsburg. With that performance fresh in the mind of many, the question was how would Loomis repeat that against a usually good Ridge squad on the road?
Look no further than the first 2:21 of the contest when Loomis scored the first 11 points for Rutgers Prep. By the end of the game, Loomis would have a whopping 30 points, leading all scorers on Thursday night. Arguably, his biggest points of the night came at the free-throw line where he drilled two shots with 26.9 seconds remaining.
Following the game, Rutgers Prep head coach Matt Bloom gave praise to his stellar guard.
“Rocco [Loomis] is a cold blooded winner,” Bloom emphatically said Thursday. “With him, I’m always confident, I always feel like we’re going to win and he willed us to the victory today. We needed him to get the ball and he was able to do it and he made the big free throws down the stretch.”
While a majority of the game can be attributed to Loomis’ heroics, one player for Rutgers Prep deserves some credit as well. With less than a minute left in the game, Dylan Brunson hit a massive three pointer to give the Argonauts a 58-55 lead. Brunson up to that point in the contest was a non-factor, but he showed up when it mattered the most for his squad.
On the other side, the Red Devils kept it competitive against the team from Somerset. Led by senior captain Sidd Narayanabhatla’s season-high 16 points, Ridge made it tough for Rutgers Prep. At one point in the fourth quarter, junior guard Dimitri Romer gave the Red Devils a 55-53 advantage and the home crowd jolted with energy.
“Anytime we come to Ridge, it’s always a tough game. We’ve come here nationally ranked, we’ve come here any year it’s a tough game. For us to find a way to win a little bit short handed with three guys fouled out, credit to our togetherness. Unbelievable team win.”
Now riding a two game winning streak, all eyes are set for a tantalizing matchup Saturday when the Argonauts face Don Bosco Prep at Christian Brothers Academy. The Ironmen are coming off an appearance in the North Jersey, Non-Public A Final where they fell to Bergen Catholic last March. The Argonauts appeared in the South Jersey, Non-Public B Final last March, falling to St. Rose in the process.
“They’re [Don Bosco Prep] always good, they’re always well coached. It’s going to be a battle and we hope to have a couple more guys with us.”
Ridge will look to shake off their 0-3 start vs undefeated Delbarton on Sunday.
