The center scoreboard at Monroe High School tells the story after the girls’ basketball team upset undefeated St. Thomas Aquinas 55-41 on January 20, 2022. (Source: @monroeathletic on Twitter)
Two parochial powerhouses took separate bus rides all the way down to the deepest recess of Middlesex County, and both headed back up North with losses.
And it was a happy night for Monroe fans.
In a doubleheader at Monroe High School, the unranked girls’ team – which started the season second in the Bellamy & Son Paving rankings after winning the GMC’s top pod last year – knocked off current No. 2 and previously-unbeaten St. Thomas Aquinas, 55-41.
The Falcons (6-2) never trailed after jumping out to an early lead, and avenged a season-opening loss to the Trojans by 38 points. That loss, and another to East Brunswick after a COVID stoppage, had the Falcons starting 0-2, and dropping out of the Bellamy rankings. Aquinas fell to 7-1.
Click below to hear head coach Leigh Vogtman talk about Thursday night’s win over St. Thomas Aquinas:
Not to be outdone, the 8th-ranked Monroe boys were next up against No. 4 St. Joe’s of Metuchen, and pulled out a buzzer-beater of a win, as Eli Okocha – one of a set of triplets on the Monroe team, along with Jon and Josh – corralled a long inbound from underneath the basket with 2.4 seconds left, and chucked it up from 30-feet with 1.2 to play. It went in, giving the purple Falcons a 52-49 win, their first-ever victory over their namesakes from Metuchen.
Monroe improved to 7-2, while St. Joe’s fell to 11-3.
Like the girls, the win also avenged a season-opening loss for Monroe, which fell 60-49 to St. Joe’s in Metuchen on December 17th.
Click below to hear head coach Jeff Warner talk about Thursday night’s win over St. Joseph: