St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore Jared Jennings leans in for a shot in the second half of a Non-Public South A first round state playoff game at Immaculata in Somerville, NJ on February 26, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Unlike everyone else in New Jersey – all the public schools, anyway – St. Thomas Aquinas and Immaculata were always set to play Thursday night in the opening round of the NJSIAA state tournament.
More than a week since their last game – a 63-51 loss to eventual GMC Tournament champion St. Joseph-Metuchen in the county semifinals – the Trojans got right back on the horse Thursday night.
It wasn’t easy, but 11th-seed STA gutted one out, and pulled off the upset of 6th-seed Immaculata – on the road – winning 77-76 in overtime on a pair of free throws by senior Dan Jennings with just 4.1 seconds left in Non-Public South A opening round action.
The Trojans (12-14) now will go on to play third-seed St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City on Monday night (time TBA), a team they lost to 62-32 back on February second. Then again, as first-yer head coach Tom Weiler said after the game, the Trojans as they’re playing today aren’t the same team they were when the season started, or even a month ago.
St. Thomas got out to a 5-0 lead and led 21-16 after the first eight minutes, but Immaculata (21-7) put together a strong second quarter to go up 38-36 at the break. Then, a strong third by senior Riley Gorman – who had four at halftime but ten in the third period – gave the Spartans a 54-50 lead heading into the final quarter.
That’s when the game appeared at a stalemate. No one scored for the first two-plus minutes until junior Dom Hanusiewicz hit a three to pull Aquinas within one. Then, three minutes later, with STA up 58-57, Immaculata – make that Gorman – put on a run.
He scored the next eleven points for the Spartans, including a split at the foul line, a three off the rebound miss, and another three, then a drive, then two more free throws to make it 68-60, an nine-point swing.
But Aquinas was not done. A free throw cut the lead to seven. With 40 seconds left, sophomore Jared Jennings hit from downtown to cut it to four. Immaculata missed a pair of free throws. Jared Jennings hit another triple to trim it to 68-67. Junior Bryce Higgins split a pair at the line with 18.5 to go, putting them up two. And after an Aquinas time out with 10.7 left in regulation, Albion Ahmetaj tied it on a baseline drive with 2.1 seconds left, and Immaculata out of time outs, unable to get a shot off.
And off we went to overtime knotted at up at 69.
The extra period came down to free throws. Each team had split a pair when Gorman made it 76-75 ‘Lata on a bucket with 37 seconds left. St. Thomas got the ball down the floor and called a time out with 10.7 seconds to go. On the ensuing inbound, Dan Jennings got the ball, and was fouled in the paint with 4.1 to go.
After a 30-second delay for the substitution after a foul-out, Jennings made both, the Spartans inbounded, and got it to Riley Gorman. The senior weaved up court along the left sideline, then cut toward the middle for a 30-foot three from left of the key. It hit the top of the box on the backboard and missed, sending Aquinas on the the next round.
Dan Jennings finished with 31 for Aquinas, while Ahmetaj had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Gorman led with 29 for Immaculata, while junior Tyler Burns added 22.
Click below for postgame reaction from St. Thomas Aquinas senior Dan Jennings and head coach Tom Weiler with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
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