Perth Amboy’s season for the ages comes to an end with loss to Union in North 2, Group 4 quarters

In its fourth season under head coach Donnie Reid, a Perth Amboy native who starred across the victory bridge at Cardinal McCarrick in South Amboy, the Panther basketball program reached heights it had not seen in a long time.

They won the GMC White American Division title, going 12-0 in division play, for their first title in 23 years. They Thursday night, they won their first state tournament game since 2015. Their 22 wins doesn’t happen every day in the Bay City either.

But all good things must come to an end, and while the future of the program is bright, and maybe next year will be even bigger in these parts, it did, indeed come to an end Saturday afternoon, as sixth-seeded Perth Amboy lost 69-30 at third-seed Union in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 quarterfinals of the NJSIAA state tournament.

Amboy took a 3-0 lead, then fell behind 8-5, and took an 11-10 lead into the second quarter, which is when things started to take a turn.

After the Panthers got an early bucket to make it 13-10, the Farmers went on a 9-0 run before Perth Amboy cut it to 19-16. But Union followed it by scoring the next 16 points to take a 32-16 lead that would be narrowed to a 14-point deficit at the break.

While that second run included four treys – Union couldn’t seem to miss, with Ezenna Asawabelem and Reed Flood each connecting twice from beyond the arc – head coach Donnie Reid said after the game that the Farmers’ switch to a zone defense is what really affected them.

In the end, the Panthers finish the season 22-5, and energized the city for the last two-and-a-half months. It’s a run that won’t soon be forgotten.

That is, until they pull of another one. And the way things are going with the Perth Amboy boys’ basketball program, that’s a distinct possibility.

Click below for postgame reaction from Perth Amboy head coach Donnie Reid with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: