Experienced Glen Ridge Shines
In Winning First Bloomfield Title

BLOOMFIELD- It was almost fitting that former head coach Rich Kennedy was on the bench with both current head man Mike Salvatelli and veteran assistant Ryan Liddy to watch the performance of this particular group of Glen Ridge Ridgers as they shined with a pair of victories, 44-42, in the semis over a persistent Caldwell team, then 55-44 in the championship game against the host Bengals to win the Group 1 program’s first-ever Bloomfield Summer League playoff championship on Thursday night, July 24.

Kennedy, or ‘RK’ as he’s often referred to has not been the head coach since 2023 when the current rising seniors were part of a 3-22 team that went through the inevitable growing pains following a banner season under RK the season before in 201-2022 when a senior-led Ridgers squad finished 20-8 and won a North 2, Group 1 state sectional title with a 52-48 win over Newark West Side before falling to Paterson Charter, 52-36, in the Group 2 state semifinals.

The upcoming 2025-2026 Glen Ridge team appears to have the same sort of experience and talent of that team four seasons back with four potential rising senior starters in veteran standout Jacob Javier, Liam Feder, Liam Cooney and JP Labadia.

Add in perhaps the team’s most recruitable player in 6-foot-7 rising junior center Ryan Law, plus promising role players including energizing junior guard Jayraj Pasricha, and you have the makings of what could be a definite contender for a N2G1 title next March.

The Ridgers will be in the Super Essex Conference’s fourth division, the Independence, and should be a bona fide title contender among that group of teams as well.

“This is the first time we’ve ever won this summer league title, and our guys did a real nice job against some great competition tonight in both Caldwell and Bloomfield,” said Liddy, a former standout Ridgers athlete, a 4-year basketball assistant coach under both RK and Salvatelli - and a soon-to-be full-time assistant football coach at Norwich University. “This is definitely a step in the right direction while winning something that we can hopefully build off of going into the season.

“We have high expectations with this group and two of our starters Liam Cooney and JP Labadia couldn’t be with us tonight.

“I know that there will be a very promising group of guys for Mike (Salvatelli) to work with next season and hopefully they can accomplish what RK’s team did back in 2022 with that sectional title.”

Along with seniors such as the versatile Javier and Feder doing their strong work on both ends of the court, the two juniors also shined as Law, with his length and good hands, and Pasricha, with his tenaciousness and a number of clutch points from the perimeter, helped the Ridgers pull away from Bloomfield after the Bengals had taken a 27-25 lead at the half behind the shooting of its talented guards, rising senior AJ Cruz and junior Sean Perrotta.

Perrotta’s ‘3’ pulled Bloomfield to within 43-37 with 8:07 before Glen Ridge took control for good in the championship contest, including a dagger ‘3’ delivered by Pasricha, who came off the bench last year for the Ridgers averaging just 2 points per game, but has obviously upped his game to another level this off-season.

“I stay in the gym and keep getting my shots up, trust my work and then look to shoot with confidence in the games,” said the precocious Pasricha, who also showed a penchant to keep battling for any loose ball on the court. “We all just want to put in the work now in the summer so we win more games in the winter.

“We play well together with excellent ‘bigs’ including Ryan inside, and we have nice balance on the floor with our guards doing a great job, and players like Jacob (Javier) can really handle the ball and do a number of things to help us at both ends of the court.”

For Law, who like Jaiver has started since his freshman season, it is definitely shaping up as an upcoming season to watch for Glen Ridge hoops fans, who watched their girls team reach a Group 1 state final last March, and now perhaps the Ridger boys can move in that direction come state tourney time.

“I’ve been a lot of basketball with these guys since I was in the fourth grade and we just know what each other is going to out there on the court,” said Law. “We have the experience and talent and we definitely feel that this team is bound for some greatness next season!”

NOTES- Bloomfield, which competes in the SEC’s third division, the Colonial, where the team was 5-5 last season and 16-12 overall, is coached by Mike Passero who did another superb job directing the Bloomfield Summer League with 16 teams involved…Bloomfield defeated Millburn in the second semifinal on July 24 following Glen Ridge’s narrow win vs. Caldwell when the Chiefs just missed on a 3-point attempt that rattled the rim at the buzzer…Millburn, which is directed by 2023-2024 Sideline Chatter Essex County Coach of the Year Pat Leonardis, is led by two of the better players in the SEC in rising junior Chace Redler and senior Chase Plotkin…Caldwell, under the guidance of another former SC Essex Coach of the Year in Mike Fess, has some reloading to do after graduation claimed key starters from last winter’s superb 22-4 squad that won the SEC-Colonial Division title with a 9-1 record, as the Chiefs – who make the move up to the SEC-Liberty Division next season - look to build another solid backcourt behind rising junior Joe Diorio and senior Ryan Keenan…There was an excellent officiating crew working all three playoff games played on July 24 with Gary Sluck, Frank DiTraini and Chris Jennings…Glen Ridge also defeated Bloomfield, 57-47, in the finals of last December’s Glen Ridge Holiday Tournament…The Ridgers’ 2024-2025 season, which also included an exciting 46-45  Essex County Tournament preliminary round win vs. Livingston, came to an end after two state tourney victories with a 70-46 setback at 3-time Group 1 state runner-up Newark Tech in the N2G1 sectional semifinals.