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GMC Hoops Summaries--January 8, 2008
JV Game Of The Week--Fourth Week Of Action

Colonia Surge To Victory Over Sayreville Behind Team Effort, 50-43

By Greg Machos
January 8, 2008

COLONIA, NJ--After being shut down in the second half of their game against 9-0 St. Joseph's on Saturday afternoon, the Junior Patriots of Colonia High School were looking to get back on track with a bit of support from its home crowd in a divisional matchup against a Sayreville team that is looking to continue building a solid foundation that will eventually return the Bombers to prominence in the Greater Middlesex Conference. Over the summer, both teams had competed in the annual JV rite of passage, the Colonia JV Summer League. The Junior Patriots finished fifth in the final regular season standings, earned the fifth seed in the post-season tournament, and reached the Quarterfinal round before losing to semifinalist, St. Joseph's II. Meanwhile, Sayreville, the ninth seed, had somewhat of a Cinderella ride. After knocking off eighth seeded Middlesex in the opening round, the Junior Bombers upset top seeded Roselle, and then soundly defeated St. Joe's II to play St. Joseph's I in the Championship Game. In that title tilt though, Sayreville was no match as the Junior Falcons of St. Joseph's I came away with the Gold.

GMC Hoops had already seen both teams in action coming into this tussle as the Junior Bombers were covered in an Opening Day tripleheader at the Bomb Shelter against North Brunswick. In that game, Sayreville proved to be too much behind the likes of sophomore forward, Dave Milewski and junior swingman, Mike Greco in a 56-33 victory. Meanwhile, in a JV matchup last weekend that was the focus of a recent JV roundup update, the Junior Patriots trailed by a score of 15-11 after one period, and then by a 26-19 count midway through the second before closing the half on a 8-0 spurt including one of two at the foul line by Ben DeForge at the 2:51 mark, a field goal on a jumper from the left side by DeForge at the 1:59 mark, and then a three pointer by DeForge at the 1:09 mark. Leading at the intermission, 27-26, CHS proceeded to only score five points in the entire second half on 2 of 13 shooting from the floor while St. Joseph's stormed out to an 11-0 showing in the third, and end up with a 19-5 effort over the final two frames for a 45-32 win. Last season, both teams had solid seasons with Sayreville's JV reaching the Elite Eight of the 2007 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament before losing to eventual finalist, Bishop Ahr, and ending up 18-4 on the year. Meanwhile, Colonia, which rolled past New Brunswick very early in the season last year, ended up also making an Elite Eight appearance before being knocked out by eventual champion, St. Joe's (49-42).

Trailing 32-25 with 2:47 left in the third quarter, Colonia embarked on a decisive 23-6 surge over a 7:42 span to take a 48-38 lead, and despite giving up five of the last seven points of the contest, it came away with a hard fought, 50-43 win. Outscoring Sayreville by a 19-11 margin in the final period, the Junior Patriots used a complete team effort as sophomore Torey Underwood scored all four of his points in the game during the final 5:36 of the contest including a nice drive off a fake and stutter step for a layup at the 5:36 mark after he had drawn a charge on a Sayreville player some 21 seconds earlier. DeForge also contributed to the rally with big baskets. Tying for game high with 14 points on four field goals and two threes, the forward first scored on a layup off a steal and assist by freshman guard, and varsity reserve, Dave Cole (a field goal moments earlieer at the 6:52 mark) at the 6:35 mark. Then, DeForge netted a huge three pointer to give his team a 44-36 lead before the Junior Bombers responded on a nice crosscourt pass by Tarif Jackson (a field goal for two points) to Milewski for a layup that made it 44-38 with 4:29 to play. Milewski wound up with three field goals and 4 of 5 at the foul line for 10 points while junior Rob Pizzi led the Bombers by tying DeForge with a game high 14 on seven field goals.

Reserve forward, Aubrey McLaughlin made some key plays down the stretch as well for the Junior Pats with a drive from the right wing for a layin that pulled Colonia to within one again at 34-33 at the 7:26 mark following two foul shots made by Milewski at the 7:40 mark after he had been fouled by McLaughlin on a shot attempt. Capping the second half surge, McLaughlin, who ended up with 6 points on three field goals, put the game away with a steal for a layup at the 3:05 mark for a 48-38 lead. Junior guard, Tyler Jackow also chipped in for the winners with 11 points on three field goals, a three pointer and 2 of 5 from the line in the contest. Jackow's three pointer came toward the end of the third period when McLaughlin drove into the key, and kicked out to the junior on the left wing for a three that closed the gap to one at 32-31 with 29.2 seconds remaining in the third. Varsity reserve junior forward, Julian Smith saw some limited action in the second half after GMC Hoops arrival late in the third, and ended up with three points on 3 of 6 from the charity stripe including two free throws at the 2:17 mark in the third that not only made the score, 32-27 in favor of Sayreville, but more importantly began the second half rally for CHS. Another varsity reserve, C.J. Gray, who saw some limited action in the varsity nightcap won by Sayreville kept the Junior Pats hanging in there with a field goal and two threes for 8 points while Rick Ciube rounded out the scoring with a bucket for two.

Other players that got into the scorebook for the Bombers, which managed only two field goals and two free throws during the key stretch of the game, were varsity reserve, and football standout, Javon Hodges (three field goals for 6 points), who actually came off the bench and got two field goals in the season opener for Sayreville against North Brunswick, David Lagdon (two field goals for 4 points), Chris Taite (a field goal for 2 points), Koran Klyne (a field goal for 2 points), Jon Diaz (a field goal for two points), and Sherwin Login (1-2 FTs for a point). In the varsity nightcap, Sayreville jumped out to a 19-7 first quarter lead, and led at halftime, 35-25 after a three pointer from about midway between midcourt and the three point arc by Rob Pizzi that gave the Bombers some momentum. However, Colonia rallied in the second half as they forced five early turnovers in the third, and despite Brandon Hall being saddled with foul problems, managed to take a 49-47 lead with 4:44 to go after a three pointer at the 6:20 mark by J.J. D'Amico (21 points), a jumper by D'Amico at the 5:48 mark for the Patriots' first lead of the game (48-47), and one of two at the line by Mike Nweme (5 points and 13 rebounds). But, Sayreville, which is off to its best start in several years, got a putback by Chris Matagrano (12 points, 14 boards, and 4 blocks) at the 4:16 mark to tie it, and then a layup by Paul DeLaCosta (13 points) at the 2:25 mark for a 51-49 lead. The Patriots managed to tie the game up again as Jordan Edmonds took in an outlet pass from D'Amico for a pull-up jumper from the left side that made it 51-51 at about the 1:20 mark, but DeLaCosta took the ensuing inbounds, and streaked downcourt for a go ahead layup at the 1:15 mark that made it 53-51. Second ranked Colonia would have several chances down the stretch to tie, but couldn't make a play as tenth ranked Sayreville came up with the 55-52 win.

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