It took double overtime, but St. Thomas Aquinas – minus its biggest star – picked up a huge win Saturday afternoon, beating state-ranked Hudson Catholic 60-58 in North Edison.
The Trojans (7-4) learned they earlier this week they would be without junior guard Jaquan Harris for the rest of the season – as first reported by Greg Tufaro of mycentraljersey.com – with tendinitis in his left knee that requires surgery.
Not to say they didn’t miss him Saturday afternoon, but they pulled off a big win over the No. 11 team in the NJ.com statewide rankings. The Hawks entered the week 5-1, but now are 6-3 after two losses to GMC foes this week; they fell 66-61 at St. Joe’s of Metuchen Wednesday night.
The win essentially locks up the top spot in the GMC postseason pod tournament, which will be seeded Monday and begins Wednesday for both the boys and girls. And Aquinas now should sweep both top seeds, as their girls are the top team in the GMC as well, and beat their next closest competiton – Monroe – in their only head-to-head matchup this year.
Both Aquinas hoops teams won last year’s GMC Tournament.
Click below to hear St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco talk to Mike Pavlichko about Saturday’s big win: