The 2022 Monroe Falcons. (Source: @MTHS_BBALL on Twitter)
Yes, you read that right, the Monroe Falcons have triplets on their team.
Josh, Jon and Eli Okocha – who wear numbers 1, 2 and 3 (and yes, in case you were wondering, that’s their actual birth order) – average a combined 40 points a game for the fourth-seeded Falcons. And the trouble is, you never know which Okocha it’s going to be who has the big night.
If you can even figure out which Okocha has the ball.
That will be the task for top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas (24-1) tonight when they Monroe (21-3) takes aim at the Trojans in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals, in the second game of a doubleheader slated for 7 pm at Monroe high school.
You read that right, too: Monroe gets to play this neutral court game on their home floor, where it’s only lost once this season. They beat St. Joseph-Metuchen there on a buzzer beater back in January. Those Falcons play the first semifinal at 5 pm against third-seed Colonia.
You can hear all the action on Central Jersey Sports Radio beginning at 4:45 pm with Mike Pavlichko and the pregame for the night’s first matchup, which features 2nd-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen and 3rd-seed Colonia. Click here to listen.
Monroe will be seeking its first trip to a GMC Final since 2010, and to do it, they will have to beat Aquinas head coach Bob Turco, who was the head coach of Monroe that year. They lost that final to St. Joe’s, the first in their string of a league-best five straight titles, and a stretch where they won nine out of ten dating from 2010 to 2019. Joe’s head coach was none other than Dave Turco, Bob’s younger brother, the first time two brothers had ever coached against each other in a GMC title game.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Monroe head coach Jeff Warner about his team’s season, the Okocha triplets, and the matchup with St. Thomas Aquinas: