South Plainfied’s Brandon Dean (right) brings the ball up against Woodbridge’s Kendall Pala in a GMC White Division game in Woodbridge on January 26, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The Greater Middlesex Conference is guaranteed to have at least one team playing for a sectional title this year in the NJSIAA State Tournament.
Top-seed South Plainfield and fourth-seed Colonia won their North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 quarterfinal games on Wednesday night, with both teams rallying for wins.
The Tigers beat 8-seeed Summit 55-51 in overtime behind a monster game from Brandon Dean’s 34 points, who has now scored 34 twice in his team’s last three games. South got off to a slow start, trailing 14-9 after one, but came back to take a 28-24 lead into halftime, before again falling behind in the third quarter. Down 36-32 heading into the fourth, Dean helped his team send the game to OT at 46-all, then win in the end.
Click below to hear South Plainfield coach John Greco talk about the game:
Fourth-seed Colonia came up with a 60-51 win over fifth-seed Chatham, and – like the Tigers – also got out to a slow start, trailing 19-9 after one, and they made no progress before halftime, going into the break still down ten. But a refocus on the Patriots’ game plan and an emphasis on rebounding helped Colonia to go on an 18-9 run, doubling up Chatham, to get to within one going into the game’s final eight minutes, before pulling it out in the fourth. Noah Taylor had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while James Curet added 11 boards.
Click below to hear Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez talk about the win:
The wins set up an all-GMC semifinal game Friday night, with Colonia visiting the South Plainfield for a 5:30 pm tip-off. Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas will have live updates on Twitter (follow him at @tsakonas_chris for updates) and postgame reaction after the game on our site, cjsportsradio.com.
The winner will move on to the North 2, Group 3 finals next Monday, time TBD, but will be guaranteed to host. That’s because of two seed upsets on the other side of the bracket, as 6th-seed Snyder of Jersey City knocked off 3-seed Mendham 56-53, while 7th-seed Payne Tech out of Newark toppled 2-seed West Morris 69-59. Whoever wins the South Plainfield-Colonia game will be the higher seed, earning the sectional final at home.