Colonia takes on La Lumiere at the Metro Classic at Franklin High School in Somerset, NJ on February 7, 2025. (Photo credit: Alec Crouthamel)
Friday started out pretty good, if anticlimactic, for the Colonia boys’ basketball team.
While the team was probably scattered about around second or third period, the Patriots were awarded the No. 1 seed in the GMC Tournament, even if it wasn’t much of a surprise.
A little less than 12 hours later, it got even better. They had knocked off LaLumiere (IN) – one of the nation’s top ten prep schools – at the Metro Classic at Franklin High School, 51-50, on a three-point play with 1.8 seconds to go.
Colonia hung in all night long – down 17-10 after one, and by ten at one point in the fourth quarter – then made its move late.
They even held the ball to keep it out of the Lakers’ hands.
The Patriots cut it to three with 1:51 left. Aiden Derkack cut it to 49-18 with 14.1 to go on a runner in the lane. Then, down 50-48 with 4.8 to go, after a scramble on an inbounds play, they got it to Derkack in the paint, who made the basket, got fouled, and hit a big-pressure free throw to put them up 51-50 with 1.8 seconds left.
La Lumiere inbounded, hurled it over the time-line into a cluster just outside the arc, where it was tipped, then tipped again into Colonia’s hands to seal the deal.
Derkack finished with 33 points as Colonia improves to 18-3 on the season.
Alec Crouthamel contributed to this report.
Click below to hear Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez talk about Friday’s night’s win over La Lumiere at the Metro Classic in Franklin:
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