SKILLMAN — For as much as the Trenton High boys basketball team went toe-to-toe with Central Jersey goliath Montgomery on Saturday, it wasn’t how the Tornadoes want to play. They don’t want to rely on drawing fouls in the half court. They typically can’t beat good teams without forcing turno vers, and they certainly can’t win without rebounding their opponent’s misses. Sure enough, those issues came back to haunt sixth-seeded Trenton as it fell to third-seeded Montgomery in the Central Jersey Group IV quarterfinals, 70-60. It ends a strong but ultimately unsatisfactory season for the Tornadoes (21-8), who had dreams of returning to a sectional final after rolling to the CVC Tournament championship a week ago. “I just feel so bad for my guys because this team was built to make a run, and to get it cut short in the quarterfinals, it’s tough,” head coach Darryl Young said. “It’s tough on them. I had to do a lot of consoling in there. They had to console me. It’s tough because I didn’t envision this. I felt so calm and relaxed this morning when I woke up.” Trenton’s Juan Sanchez, right, drives to the basket as Montgomery’s Ethan Lin, left, defends during a Central Group IV quarterfinal boys basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Skillman. (Carl Rizzo/ Game One Photography, LLC.) Trenton has traditionally played well against Montgomery, having beaten the Cougars (23-5) five straight times in the state tournament from 2011 to 2019 with Young on staff as either the head man or an assistant. In those meetings, Young felt that his school was able to wear down Montgomery physically. But that wasn’t the case this time against Kris Grundy’s proud program, which features Penn commit Ethan Lin and is gunning for its third straight sectional title. Trenton’s star seniors, Aivaye Ingram and Juan Sanchez, each scored 19 points, with Ingram netting 15 in the first half to join Sanchez in the school’s 1,000-point club. His second-half dry spell, along with Kaleb Smith and Jaydon English-Fulton being in foul trouble, were too much for the Tornadoes to overcome. “I don’t feel we got out and ran like we usually run,” Young said. “I think a lot of times we dribbled the ball up more than we have. We usually pass the ball up. A lot of times Sanchez was on the wing, Ingram was on the wing, and we would dribble instead of kicking it up like we usually do. We didn’t get out with transition baskets like we usually do.” Trenton’s Juan Sanchez, 3, reacts after scoring a basket against Montgomery during a Central Group IV quarterfinal boys basketball on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Skillman. (Carl Rizzo/ Game One Photography, LLC) While most teams succumbed to Trenton’s man pressure this season, Montgomery took good care of the ball, committing only about nine turnovers. Most of those were dead-ball turnovers, meaning Trenton had very few opportunities to get and run. And even though they mostly played solid defense as the Cougars shot about 42 percent from the field, the Tornadoes gave up too many offensive rebounds. Free throws were another big story of the game as Trenton shot 18-for-29 at the foul line while Montgomery shot 25-for-32. “Those foul shots and loose balls were killing us,” Young said. “I tell the kids all the time, ‘Take away the referee stuff, whatever call you think you didn’t get, whatever adversity you faced out there. You have to control the things that you could control.’ Fighting for a loose ball, that’s your control. Making a foul shot, that’s something you control. Playing defense, boxing out for rebounds, that’s what you control. Everything in the game that you can control, you have to control them in games like this. That’s what it comes down to.” It was a back-and-forth bout early on as the teams traded the lead eight times in the second quarter. Trenton trailed only 37-36 at halftime after Sanchez banked a 3 at the buzzer. But with his two primary forwards, English-Fulton and Smith, each having three fouls, Young had a difficult decision. He opted to sit Smith for the entire third quarter to be able to unleash him in the fourth quarter. Trenton only managed to score seven points in that third period without Smith’s rebounding and shot-blocking presence, not to mention the nine points he scored in the first half. English-Fulton also couldn’t play as aggressively at that point. Young lamented the fact his team didn’t draw any charges on Lin, who shot a whopping 15 free throws and converted 14 to tie his career high with 31 points. “In that third quarter, I was trying to get our 1-2-2-4 full-court trap going, and for some reason, we just weren’t getting into it. It was always one guy out of position,” Young said. “If one guy is out of place when you’re going to trap, if they get that ball up ahead of you, now you’re chasing. A lot of times tonight we were chasing. I think our help defense could have been a lot better, too, in the paint.” Trenton’s Kaleb Smith goes up for a shot against Montgomery during a Central Group IV quarterfinal boys basketball on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 in Skillman. (Carl Rizzo/ Game One Photography, LLC) Trenton rallied with a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to trail 55-51 with 4:56 remaining after Sanchez got a steal and a three-point play. Montgomery scored four points in the next 18 seconds to end that threat. Consistency just wasn’t there for the Tornadoes as they often got stagnant when Montgomery went to a 1-3-1 zone in the half court instead of getting into the gaps with strong dribble moves. “I think a lot of times we got out of our system,” Young said. “We weren’t running our plays. It was a close game when we started playing hero ball — one guy thinking he’s got to do something.” Still, Young didn’t want to take anything away from the fact that Montgomery is a strong program. These might have been the two best teams in the bracket, but it just so happened that they had to face off in the quarterfinals because of power points. That meant an earlier end to the season than expected. These Tornadoes became the fourth in Young’s 11 seasons as head coach to surpass 20 wins. “This year I really feel we had the talent to make that run,” Young said. “So much athleticism, and I think we had good length. It’s going to be tough. I think that’s why this will hurt bad for me and my coaches and the kids, because we felt we were built to make that run this year. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that we would get Central Jersey this year and go fight for a title.” TRENTON (60) Smith 5-2-12, English-Fulton 2-4-8, Sanchez 6-4-19, Ingram 5-8-19, Graffie 1-0-2. Totals — 19-18-60. MONTGOMERY (70) Benedict 2-1-7, Kamara 5-3-13, Lin 8-14-31, Mallavarapu 1-1-3, Simborski 5-5-15, Harrigan 0-1-1. Totals — 21-25-70. Trenton (21-8) 20 16 7 17 — 60 Montgomery (23-5) 21 16 14 19 — 70 3-point goals: Sanchez 3, Ingram (T), Benedict 2, Lin (M). ...read more read less