Cougars Excel Across Sports: Boys Basketball Rolls at Hillsborough, Wrestlers Edge South Brunswick, Swimmers Battle Ridge

Nicholas Mistretta

MHS ’79 Cougar Sports Correspondent

Montgomery’s winter teams turned in a full slate of noteworthy performances this week, highlighted by a decisive road win for the boys basketball team at Hillsborough and a tight wrestling victory over South Brunswick, while both Cougar swim squads posted strong individual efforts in a girls’ nail-biter and a boys’ loss to Ridge.

Boys Basketball: Simborski Drops 26 in Road Win at Hillsborough

Montgomery’s boys varsity basketball team continued its strong start with a 53–37 road victory over Hillsborough, improving to 10–3 on the season.

The Cougars led wire-to-wire, edging ahead 14–12 after the first quarter and extending the margin to 24–18 at halftime. A steady third period pushed the lead to 34–26 before Montgomery closed the game with a 19–11 fourth-quarter surge to seal the 16-point win.

Mike Simborski powered the offense with a game-high 26 points, doing damage from all levels of the floor. He knocked down two three-pointers and was perfect from the free-throw line, going 6-for-6.

Montgomery also received balanced scoring from the rest of the lineup.

• James Kamara finished with 10 points.
• Shriyans Mallavarapu added 7.
• Connor Benedict hit two three-pointers for 6 points.
• Ethan Lin and Mohamed Ndiaye chipped in 2 points apiece.

Hillsborough (7–4) was led by Aaron Feath with 15 points and Derek Feath with 9, but the Raiders were unable to match Montgomery’s consistency across four quarters as the Cougars tightened defensively and controlled the tempo down the stretch.

Wrestling: Montgomery Outlasts South Brunswick, 40–33

On the mat, Montgomery earned a hard-fought 40–33 dual meet victory over South Brunswick, using a series of pins and a technical fall to offset several falls allowed.

The Cougars picked up six points at 113 pounds when Suchey Karna recorded a pin over Kaylan Patel, and they quickly built momentum with back-to-back pins from Rishi Bagchi (120) and Gavin Fong (126).

South Brunswick answered with falls at 132 and 138, and a decision at 144, but Montgomery regained control in the upper weights.

At 150, Aidan Diggan secured a pin, followed by a dominant 15–0 technical fall by Anjin Tsuchihashi at 157. Aiden Shakirov added another Cougar pin at 165 to widen the margin.

After South Brunswick responded with a pin at 175, Cayden Drumbor delivered a crucial fall at 190 pounds, giving Montgomery enough cushion to withstand a late push that included a South Brunswick pin at 215 and a 4–1 decision at heavyweight.

The victory lifts Montgomery to 6–5, while South Brunswick falls to 2–7.

Girls Swimming: Cougars Fall Just Short in 86–84 Thriller vs. Ridge

In one of the tightest meets of the season, the Montgomery girls swim team dropped a narrow 86–84 decision to Ridge, slipping to 3–4 despite multiple event wins and standout performances across the lineup.

Montgomery opened strong by winning the 200-yard medley relay. The A relay of Eden Ristuccia, Nina Tadych, Zoe Bitterman and Angela Liu touched first in 2:01.71, setting an early tone.

Individually, the Cougars’ top swimmers repeatedly finished at or near the front of the field:

• Zoe Bitterman placed second in both the 200 freestyle (2:07.86) and 100 butterfly (1:01.61), and later helped power the 400 free relay.
• Nina Tadych took second in the 200 individual medley (2:24.81) and won the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.66.
• Juliet Boulos won the 50 freestyle in 26.68 seconds and finished second in the 100 free (58.60), while swimming key legs on the Cougars’ freestyle relays.
• Eden Ristuccia posted second-place finishes in the 500 free (5:45.53) and 100 backstroke (1:12.40), and contributed on both medley and 400 free relays.

Montgomery’s 200 free relay A squad of Boulos, Zoey Alessandro, Yarin Zarzhitsky and Liu earned a crucial win in 1:54.34, while strong depth performances from swimmers such as Leah Zong, Averie Wu, Vedika Gupta, Catherine Morris, Jessica Wang, Katherine Karam and others kept the Cougars in contention throughout.

Ultimately, Ridge picked up just enough points in key events to edge Montgomery by two, with the outcome remaining in doubt deep into the meet.

Boys Swimming: Strong Individual Efforts in Loss to Ridge

The Montgomery boys swim team also took on Ridge, falling 111–59 to drop to 2–4, but several Cougars delivered impressive swims against a deep Ridge squad.

In the 200 medley relay, the A team of Kobe Solivan, Winston Shih, Arhan Kondala and Eric Qian finished in 1:49.91, with Montgomery showing solid relay depth through its B and C squads.

Individually, Liam McWha led the Cougars with standout performances in the middle-distance and butterfly events, clocking 1:52.19 in the 200 free and 56.62 in the 100 fly.

Sprinter Eric Qian anchored the sprint events, touching in 23.60 in the 50 free and 51.58 in the 100 free, while also contributing to the 200 free relay that finished in 1:38.99.

Solivan added a strong effort in the 100 backstroke (59.94), with additional key swims from Nicholas Paradizov, Lars Harrison, Elves Huang, Siddharth Parambath, Yusuf Shaikh, Saksham Prasad, Greg Heden and others across the distance and relay events.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Mistretta/headlinenewsmontgomery.com