Junior forward Jalen Pichardo goes up for two of his 14 points against Colonia in a GMC White Division game on February 3, 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The Trojans threw the first punch. Colonia answered. Then St. Thomas Aquinas went got the takedown.
Top-ranked Aquinas beat No. 4 Colonia Thursday night 68-54 in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, to sweep the season series from the Patriots, clinch the Greater Middlesex White Division title, and lay claim to the top seed in the GMC Tournament when it’s seeded a week from today.
Now 19-0 – owners of the state’s second-longest winning streak, behind only Bound Brook, which has won 27 straight since the beginning of last season – Aquinas has beaten everyone in it’s division, as well as St. Joseph-Metuchen, the top team in the GMC Red Division. That should be enough to give the Trojans the No. 1 seed.
Aquinas took a 3-0 lead to start the game, and built it to a 13-point advantage in the second quarter. But Colonia, on the strength of four treys from the combo of Saivon Pressley, Matthew Scherb and Billy Anderson, tied the score 28-all shortly before half, only to see the Trojans go on a mini 4-0 run off a pair of turnovers to take a 32-28 lead into the locker room.
In the third quarter, Colonia went ahead by three with under five minutes to go in the period. Aquinas was in the rare position of playing from behind. But fueled by great team defense, led by Adam Silas and Kamal Lee, constantly poking at the basketball, often leading to transition buckets, Aquinas wrestled back the lead, took a four-point advantage into the fourth quarter, then pulled away.
Colonia dropped to 13-3, 10-2 in the GMC White, with their only non-division loss coming out-of-conference to Lenape.
Click below to listen to St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco and senior guard Adam Silas talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe after the game: