St. Joseph-Metuchen shocked Rutgers Prep just two days into February. They did it again with two days left in the month, this time to put them just a win away from a sectional title.
On the heels of a strong third-quarter rally, and an equally strong final eight minutes, the 6th-seeded Falcons beat visiting 7th-seed and defending Non-Public South A champion Rutgers Prep, 69-66.
Rutgers Prep controlled early on a big first quarter, but St. Joseph eventually crawled back into the game. Down by six with 1:43 left in the third, two baskets cut the Argonauts’ lead to two, then a pair of Falcon free throws tied it at 54-all, before Jadin Collins stopped the bleeding with a buzzer-beating three at the buzzer to make it 57-54 Prep.
But in the critical final eight minutes, Joe’s simply made the bigger buckets, the bigger free throws, grabbed the bigger rebounds – and drew two charges, to boot – giving them a hard-earned win.
The win moves the Falcons on to play Wednesday in the Non-Public South A final against 5th-seed Union Catholic, which upset top-seed Camden Catholic in the other semifinal in the section Monday night, 61-53. The title game will be Wednesday at 7 pm at Lenape High School in Medford, with tip-off set for 7 pm.
The Falcons will be playing for their first sectional title since the Karl Towns-era, when they won three Non-Public South A titles in a row from 2012 to 2014, capped by the Tournament of Champions title in the last of those three seasons.
They last appeared in a final in 2018 under head coach Mike Thompson, when they fell to Camden Catholic.
Click below for postgame reaction from St. Joseph head coach Jan Cocoziello with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
Discover more from Central Jersey Sports Radio
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.