Tag: Aiden Derkack

February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by Alec Crouthamel

Metro Classic Whiparound: Somerset & Middlesex Counties shine at Stockton University

The Metro Classic returned for its 13th season, this time down at the Sports Center at Stockton University.

Three different teams from Somerset and Middlesex counties — making up the top three of the latest Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Top Ten — participated in the Thursday-to-Saturday showcase, and headed back up the Garden State Parkway with a sparkling 4-0 record. Some former standouts from the area also got to return home for one final time before they head off to their respective high-major college destinations.

Here’s a full look on how each team did over the weekend.

No. 1 Gill St. Bernard’s sweeps competition, extends win streak

The Knights (18-2, 5-0) were the lone CJSR area team to play twice, and made the most of their chances with two victories over out-of-area foes to extend their winning streak to 14 consecutive games.

They started on Friday with a matchup against fellow Non-Public Paramus Catholic, coached by former Paterson Catholic and Villanova star Tim Thomas, without the services of leading scorer Dorsett Mulcahy. He returned in the second game of the weekend.

Gill started hot with a double-digit lead after one quarter, led by eight points from junior forward Chase Wieder, as part of a 17-point day, one off his career high. The Paladins fought back with a much-improved second quarter, though, as the Knights’ offense ground to a halt.

Then the third quarter came around.

Gill found its proper footing with its up-tempo, in-your-face defensive and transition styles, outscoring PC 31-14 in the third quarter to open up a 20-point lead after 24 minutes. With the game mostly in hand, the two teams played relatively even in the fourth quarter, finishing off a 65-46 Knights win. Senior forward Prosper Highlander added 17 points and nine rebounds — after ending the first half with just three points — while junior guard Jahmal Dixon added 14 points and five rebounds of his own.

“It was a tough situation,” head coach Mergin Sina said after the game. “It’s a middle-of-the-day game. Kids just got out of school at 11 o’clock. No excuses, but I was worried about this game. Playing at 3 o’clock, driving down from North Jersey at 11 o’clock, kids get out of school, real flat. The kids were sleeping, but we woke up in the third quarter, and we played a little more aggressive, and obviously got the win.”

They went back in action on Saturday, taking on SPIRE Academy’s International team, with Mulcahy back in the fold. Gill got going right away, taking a commanding lead from the start and never looking back, leading by 14 at halftime and eventually cruising to a 67-53 victory. Mulcahy scored 21 points in his return, one of three Knights in double-figures. Highlander scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Connor Junker added 17 points and five boards.

“I think we got some mismatch issues on one end, but they had to guard us on the other,” said Sina after the win. “So there’s some big kids out there, but they had a little issue guarding us on the perimeter. I thought we did a good job, especially in the first half, of limiting them to one shot.”

No. 2 St. Joseph (Met.) fends off international foe

The Falcons (19-1, 7-0) shook off their first loss of the season against South Plainfield on Tuesday and have now won three straight games, the second coming on Friday at Stockton.

St. Joseph faced off against Crestwood Prep from Ontario, Canada, in a battle that appeared to be in control, but got tight late.

Crestwood used a hot-shooting first quarter to take an early lead, but neither team gained much of an edge in the first half, as both teams went into the locker room tied at 21 apiece.

Even in the third quarter, the two teams played within two possessions, though the Falcons found their stride and methodically built up a solid lead. Junior wing Andrew Kretkowski scored ten points in the quarter, and got seven from sophomore guard Aidan Carter.

Carter and Kretkowski both executed at a high level early in the fourth quarter, as the lead stretched to eight points, and a talented but young Crestwood team fell into an offensive slump. Saint Joseph looked to be in the driver’s seat, but relentless defensive pressure from Crestwood caused some leaks and eventually it turned back to a one-score game in the final minute.

Sophomore center Joel Patrick proved to be the late-game X-factor, getting switched onto the perimeter twice, but holding Crestwood’s guards to desperation shots that Patrick affected both times. The Falcons came away with a 58-52 victory where they certainly faced some adversity late.

“I thought our D was really good the entire night for the most part,” head coach Mark Taylor said after the game. “Made a couple bad rotations, but overall really shut down Isaiah Hamilton. Wasn’t that much of an effect. The other kid surprised us. Number 10 [Sami Uraz] made some shots, so he kept them in it early, but then we kind of cleaned that up. Second half, I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Kretkowski led the way with 22 points and ten rebounds, while also helping limit Hamilton, a top-ten prospect in the 2028 class, on the defensive side. Carter added 21 points — including 17 in the second half and ten in the fourth quarter — and comfortably knocked down some crunchtime free throws. Junior guard Imaad Johnson added ten points while recording four steals.

“Aidan’s special. He can get where he needs to get, which is important. And Andrew’s got a motor and good size,” Taylor added on his star duo. “Those two both played good. They’re our motor, so when they go well, we go well. And let’s hope they keep rolling.”

Kretkowski finished the game with 998 career points and quickly reached 1,000 on Sunday in a win over New York Military Academy.

No. 3 Rutgers Prep pulls away late from last-second opponent

The Argonauts (13-6, 3-1) notched their second straight victory with a big week ahead, including a Thursday matchup against Gill St. Bernard’s and a showdown with Bridgewater-Raritan in the Somerset County Tournament. They faced off against a team that didn’t even know they’d be participating in the showcase 48 hours beforehand in the Metro Classic, and handled business.

Rutgers Prep was originally slated to face off against Seton Hall Prep, but a late schedule change pitted the Argonauts against Salem, coached by former Rutgers guard Anthony Farmer.

After a bit of a slow start offensively, the Argonauts got going quickly and often, turning an eight-point first-quarter lead into a 36-14 advantage at the half.

The Rams were able to battle back and play even in the third quarter, led by the heroics of guard Tymear Lecator — who finished with a game-high 31 points and six three-pointers — but by that point, Rutgers Prep had controlled the tempo and had the game mostly in hand.

“I think it was honestly energy,” head coach Matt Bloom said of the third-quarter swing. “It’s a big gym, a little bit more quiet than we expected, and I think they kind of swung the energy in their favor, and we handled it. And again, we just have to get better. We’ve got to learn from it and get better.”

Sophomore wing Will Brunson and junior guard Rocco Loomis led the way with 18 points apiece — the duo scored all 16 fourth-quarter points for the Argonauts — as Brunson added five rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Senior guard Nicolas Nsenkyire stuffed the stat sheet as well, with six points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and four steals.

“Honestly, I like that we’re frustrated when we don’t play the way that we think that we can play,” added Bloom. “We have a standard now. The kids are about winning. They want to get better. Any win’s a good win obviously. This is a 12-win team from South Jersey that’s playing us on 24 hours’ notice. So we appreciate that. We love the effort they gave us. They made us better today. But again, coming to the Metro Classic, figuring out a way to win in a game that didn’t completely go our way, especially in the second half, it’s a big deal for our young group.”

Middlesex County natives show out in the Garden State one last time

Not only did three teams from the area have their own respective success, but a few players out of state returned towards the end of their senior campaigns.

Former Colonia star Aiden Derkack played in his home state for the second and final time this season with Ohio’s SPIRE Academy — led by Elizabeth native and high-school coaching legend Kevin Boyle — facing a three-game gauntlet that saw SPIRE go 3-0 on the weekend.

On the first night, SPIRE faced a test from North Jersey power Bergen Catholic, and came away with a hard-fought 69-59 victory. Derkack finished with 18 points and ten rebounds — both team-highs — along with three assists, while also helping contain Crusaders forward Julius Avent — currently committed to Tom Izzo and Michigan State — to nine points on the night.

Friday saw SPIRE battle against College Achieve Public Charter School from Asbury Park, and found easier success with a cruising 78-49 win. Derkack scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, while also recording four steals in the process.

SPIRE closed out its Metro Classic slate on Saturday with a battle against Mike Rice and Linden, in a battle of former Patrick School head coaches. That game turned into a grind-it-out battle, as the Tigers slowed the game down and played with physicality on both ends of the floor, led by its fiery coach.

The visitors from Ohio eventually pulled away with a 59-43 victory, as SPIRE’s top-end talent eventually took over. Derkack scored six points on the night but played a big part in helping SPIRE pull away late. The 6-foot-7 guard will head to Providence to play Big East basketball for the Friars after his season at SPIRE.

On the girls’ side, Edison native and former Rutgers Prep star GiGi Battle made her return to New Jersey, as well. Now at DME Academy in Florida, Battle played in one game, a 52-44 loss to St. James of Virginia for DME’s first loss of the year after starting 18-0. Battle scored nine points in the game. DME was originally set to play two games, with the first coming in a nationally-ranked showdown against Pennsylvania’s Westtown School, but that game was canceled.

Battle will head to Indiana to play for Teri Moren in the Big Ten after her season comes to a close, and joins Red Bank Catholic’s Addy Nyemchek as incoming Hoosiers from the Garden State.

July 27, 2025July 27, 2025 by Alec Crouthamel

Standout Aiden Derkack to leave Colonia for Spire Academy (OH) for senior season

One of Colonia’s all-time great basketball stars is headed to Ohio.

Aiden Derkack, the Patriots’ boys program’s all-time leading scorer, will leave Colonia for his senior season, he announced on Instagram Sunday.

He’ll be headed to Spire Academy in Ohio to play for legendary high school basketball coach Kevin Boyle, who once rose to prominence as head coach at St. Patrick’s Elizabeth before taking over at Montverde (Fla.) for a decade. He moved to take over Spire in March.

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A post shared by Aiden Derkack (@aderkack)

“For developing me beyond basketball, I needed to take this step,” He told CJSR in a phone interview on Sunday. “For basketball, obviously the facilities are great there. But I think the most important thing that I saw there was the people, the coaching staff, [even] the strength guys, everyone there is just winning. People who just want to win and just want to be better, which definitely caught my eye the most.”

The accolades speak for themselves with Derkack and the Patriots program as a whole. In three years, Colonia won three straight sectional championships, two GMC Tournament championships in 2024 and 2025, and went a combined 71-23, including an epic last-second victory over national power La Lumiere in February’s Metro Classic.

As a junior, he was also named the Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Boys Player of the Year, after a season where he averaged 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. Colonia started its season with a big-time win over St. Peter’s Prep in the NJ Basketball Coaches Tip-Off Showcase, and from there rolled into the postseason at 19-4.

In the GMC Tournament, the Patriots won their first three games by an average of 25 points, and took down Piscataway in an intense 70-63 victory to win the GMC for the second year in a row.

The North 2, Group 3 tournament went by in a similar fashion, with Colonia defeating Mendham 62-43 on its home floor, before falling to Ramapo in the Group 3 semifinal, though the Patriots completed a 29-6 postseason record in Derkack’s three years.

Under head coach Jose Rodriguez, Derkack and the Patriots have consistently been one of the state’s finest public school programs – and top teams in general.

Spurred by a standout season in the AAU ranks for the EYBL’s Team Final, Derkack makes the next step in his basketball career, and his journey to the highest level. He leaves Colonia as one of the program’s all-time greats as part of one of the school’s best basketball families.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel speak with Aiden Derkack on his time at Colonia and his basketball future:

March 21, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Boys’ Player of the Year: Colonia’s Aiden Derkack led Patriots to back-to-back GMC titles, another sectional crown

While the Colonia boys’ basketball team was very much a team in every sense of the word, there’s no doubt who is the big draw: Aiden Derkack.

They’ve got a lot of excellent ballplayers. Even Derkack – who was named GMC Tournament MVP for the second year in a row, the first to be so honored since Quentin DeCosey of St. Joseph-Metuchen in 2011 and 2012 – admitted R.J. Wortman could have at least shared the MVP honor with him.

That shows you, of course, what kind of leader Derkack is. But that’s not even something that came as naturally’ it was something he really worked on in the off-season leading into this, his junior year.

Which is another scary proposition for their Greater Middlesex Conference foes. While losing excellent senior guard Zach Smith to graduation, he’s the only senior departing – there’s not even another bench player moving on. So essentially, the entire band will be back in 2025-26.

And that includes Aiden Derkack, Central Jersey Sports Radio’s GMC Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year.

But back to Derkack. The numbers he’s been putting up are off the charts. While a full list of all-time scorers isn’t available, among GMC boys school career scoring leaders, he’s 14th all-time at 1,739 career points. He’ll easily crack the 2,000-point mark next year, joining a club that includes just ten players, although two of them just joined this year, seniors Jalen Fleming of Timothy Christian (2,152) and Alex Grospe of South River (2,173).

Derkack won’t catch No. 1 on the list – John Somogyi at 3,310 points – he could get very, very close, depending on how deep the Patriots go in next year’s postseason, to Blake and Brian Taylor of those great Perth Amboy teams. Brian finished with 2,495, graduating in 1969, while Blake landed at 2,541, graduating in 1975. Derkack would need 802 points to reach Blake Taylor; he scored 790 this season, averaging 24.7 points per game.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s GMC Boys’ Player of the Year Aiden Derkack:

Here are our Honorable Mentions for GMC Boys’ Player of the Year:

R.J. Wortman, Colonia: Aiden Derkack may be the star, and everyone plays a role for the Patriots, but their run in the postseason may not have been possible without Wortman, who only played in eleven games last season and scored a grand total of nine points. This season he averaged 12.2 points per game, but was even bigger in the postseason. In the GMC Tournament, he averaged almost 18 points through four games, scoring 20 in the semifinals over St. Thomas Aquinas, then registering a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds in the title game win over Piscataway.
Nate Davis, Piscataway: There was plenty of talent to go around with the Chiefs as well, and Davis was the team’s leading scorer. Davis averaged 14.5 points per game, and hit a team best 53 treys on the year. Sophomore Landon Pernell was an excellent point guard, and he’ll have his day, but Davis – along with fellow senior Vaughn Turner, the two biggest pieces graduating – was instrumental in the success the Chiefs achieved under first-year head coach and Coach of the Year Bob Turco: providing senior leadership for the rejuvenated Piscataway program.
Aiden Ur, St. Thomas Aquinas: It was a difficult year around the Trojan program in 2024-25, but one player who was key and stuck with it en route to a 15-12 season amongst all the turmoil was Aiden Ur, who joined St. Thomas after playing his first two seasons at St. John Vianney in Holdmel. Ur averaged 16.2 points per game this season with 44 treys, and scored in double figures in all but five out of 27 games. Ur was a steadying force this year.
Alex Grospe, South River: The Rams weren’t able to duplicate their success of a couple of years ago, when they went to the Central Jersey Group 2 title game, but he had another outstanding year and was one of two GMC players to join the elite, eight-member 2,000-point club. Grospe – the program’s all-time top scorer – averaged an even 30 points per game this year, and finishes with 2,173 points, placing him fifth all-time in Middlesex County history (including before the GMC era). In his career, he hit 170 three-pointers, and was never someone you’d want to put on the foul line, where he was a nearly 80-percent free-throw shooter in his final three seasons as a Ram.
Jalen Fleming, Timothy Christian: Fleming is the other one to join the GMC’s 2,000-point club this year, finishing at 2,152, and also becoming the all-time leading scorer in his school’s history. Quick, but also powerful, he can hit the three or throw down a dunk in transition. Fleming had the biggest scoring season of his four years with the Tigers, going for 681, a 26.2 point per game average. He hit 136 triples in his career, and is an 82-percent free-throw shooter. On defense, he averaged over 40 steals a season all four years on varsity.

February 21, 2025February 21, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Repeat, repeat, repeat! Colonia grabs GMC Tournament title for a second straight year, holding off Piscataway in county final, 70-63

By the time the final horn sounded, there were so many parallels between last season’s GMC Tournament title game and this year’s.

First, the obvious: top-seed Colonia won its second straight GMC title – and seventh overall – with a 70-63 victory over second-seed Piscataway in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, presented by the George Street Playhouse in downtown New Brunswick.

Then, a few minutes after the final horn, junior Aiden Derkack was named the finals MVP. That’s another repeat.

And of course, it was a rematch of last year’s final, not in the teams, but in the coaching matchup. Jose Rodriguez, the Colonia head coach and student – who won his 200th game, combining his wins at Carteret and with the Patriots – against Bob Turco, who coached “J-Rod” as an assistant with the Ramblers under his brother, Dave Turco, who was the head coach.

And again, the battle went to Rodriguez.

While Derkack – who finished with 21 points – was the MVP, it easily also could have gone to R.J. Wortman. The junior scored a career high 23 points in the win, with 13 of those coming after halftime.

Colonia slowly built a lead early in the game, ahead by as many as seven in the first quarter, and ten in the second, before going into halftime up 37-29. They would get out to as big as a 16-point lead in the third quarter, but Piscataway kept battling back.

Problem was, they could never quite get over the hump. And Colonia couldn’t quite put them away until the very end.

Colonia coach Jose Rodriguez was surprised by his team with a banner marking his 200th career win. The early ones came at Carteret, but the bulk of them – 148 – have come with the Patriots.. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

The Patriots will head into the state tournament as the top-seed in North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 – where they are three-time defending champions – with a record of 23-4. They’ll open at home against 16-seed Cranford next Wednesday.

Piscataway – also in the states – fall to 22-5, and will be the fourth-seed in North 2, Group 4, where they’ll open at home against 13-seed Bridgewater-Raritan in the first round next Thursday.

Click below for postgame reaction from two-time GMCT Finals MVP Aiden Derkack and head coach Jose Rodriguez, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

February 19, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

Defending champ Colonia roars past Aquinas in semifinals, will take on Piscataway Friday for GMC Tournament title

All year long, Colonia has been the team to beat in the Greater Middlesex Conference.

And that will be the case one more time Friday night, as the top-seeded Patriots will defend their 2024 title when they take on second-seed Piscataway in another student-mentor battle between head coaches Jose Rodriguez of Colonia and Bob Turco of the Chiefs.

The two met in last year’s final – when Turco was at St. Thomas for the last of a six-year run there – and they’ll meet again this year. Colonia held up its end of the bargain with an 83-53 win in the second semifinal Wednesday night at Monroe High School, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, presented by the George Street Playhouse in downtown New Brunswick. It’ll be their third title game appearance in the last four years.

But as both coaches will tell you, it’s not about them, it’s about the players. Plenty of time to talk about that later.

It wasn’t a rout from the start. The teams were tied at six before Colonia went on an 8-2 run to close the quarter, up 14-8. They built a 13-point lead at the half – not insurmountable – but Aquinas went cold from the floor in the second half, and the Patriots got the ball in the paint, drawing fouls, and sending Aiden Derkack alone to the foul line ten times for a total of 20 soul shots.

In the process, St. Thomas – which only had a limited number of players on the bench – had five guys foul out, and finished the last 1:37 of the game down two players, with Colonia essential having a 5-on-3 advantage for the remainder, most of which the Patriots essentially dribbled out.

Derkack – last year’s GMC finals MVP – finished with 28 points for Colonia (22-4), half from the charity stripe, and is scoring 26.3 points per game in the GMC Tournament, a shade above his season average. He had three monstrous second-quarter dunks. R.J. Wortman added 20, more than six points above his GMCT average through the first two games, and almost nine above his season average.

Aiden Ur finished with 17 for Aquinas (15-10), their only double-digit scorer.

Colonia and Piscataway (22-4) will square off at 8 pm Friday for the GMC Tournament title, following the 6 pm girls’ title tilt between top-seed and five-time defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas. Both games can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. And we’ll have full previews of both games with interviews, stats, notes and championship history out Friday morning at cjsportsradio.com.

The boys’ final will be the first meeting of two public schools in the GMC title game since 2006, when Colonia – the No. 2 seed that year – beat top-seed Metuchen.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen with Colonia junior Aiden Derkack and head coach Jose Rodriguez:

January 23, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

No. 1 Colonia rides defense, 31 from Derkack to top No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas and clinch GMC Red Division title

Stellar defense – particularly in their full court press after taking a double-digit lead – and 31 points from Aiden Derkack helped No. 1 Colonia to a 69-53 home win over St. Thomas Aquinas Thursday night, in a GMC Red Division game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Derkack scored 29 of those points in the final three quarters, while Zach Smith – the team’s lone senior – added 14 on Senior Night, with junior R.J. Wortman adding 12.

The victory clinched the GMC Red outright for the Patriots, who are 8-0 in divisional play, virtually assuring them the top seed in the county tournament, which will be seeded in two weeks.

It was their first outright division title since Colonia was in the GMC White, and won it in 2019. The Patriots improved to 14-1 overall, and have now won eleven straight.

St. Thomas Aquinas (9-5, 5-4 in the Red) took the early lead, and ended the first eight minutes up 15-10. But Colonia went on a 20-7 run in the second quarter, taking a lead they would never relinquish, going into the break with a 30-22 lead.

Sophomores Dan Jennings and Albion Ahmetaj led St. Thomas with ten points apiece.

The win was also the 140th for seventh-year Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez, who is now 140-40 with the Patriots.

Click below for postgame reaction from Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez and junior Aiden Derkack, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

December 19, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Derkack joins 1,000-point club, scores 32 to power No. 1 Colonia past Piscataway

Coming into this season, Colonia was well aware it would have a target on its back.

Three-time North 2, Group 3 champions, last year’s GMC Tournament champions, and a star in junior Aiden Derkack.

So, naturally, Piscataway jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead over the Patriots, and while No. 1 Colonia eventually took the lead – and never gave it away again – it was still a ten-point game at halftime, and well within reach.

Derkack had 22 of his team’s 36 halftime points, but after the break, his surrounding cast upped its play, and Colonia won going away, 80-61, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, to improve to 2-0.

It was the season opener for Piscataway and new coach Bob Turco, who came over from St. Thomas Aquinas in the spring; the Chiefs fell to 0-1.

Derkack finished with 32, and during a timeout in the third quarter, a short while after he passed 1,000 on a two-pointer (he needed 28 to get there, and the basket gave him 29), he was recognized over the PA, drawing a hand not only from the large Colonia contingent on hand, but also the Piscataway side.

Watch as Piscataway recognizes Colonia’s Aiden Derkack on scoring his 1,000th career point.

And there were some big names on the Colonia side, too, including Rutgers’ Jordan Derkack, Aiden’s older brother, who transferred from Merrimack to join the Scarlet Knights. Madison Chiera – Colonia’s all-time leading scorer for a brief while, until she was passed be her friend and former teammate Taylor Derkack the next season- was on hand, as was former Rutgers star and fan favorite, Geo Baker, with whom Aiden has been training. (Taylor, Aiden’s sister, is still up at UMass, though she’s out for the season with an ACL tear.)

Jayce Rodriguez – coach Jose Rodriguez’s son, a freshman – finished with 13, including a trio of treys, while Dylan Chiera scored 11, also including three triples.

Click below for postgame reaction with Colonia junior Aiden Derkack and head coach Jose Rodriguez, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

February 16, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia wins first GMC boys’ title since 2015, winning slugfest with St. Thomas Aquinas

The final margin might have been ten, but it was much closer than that for about 30 of the 32 minutes of game play in Friday night’s Greater Middlesex Conference boys’ championship game.

No one led by more than six until the final minutes, as second-seed Colonia got to the foul line and hit its shots to pull away.

The Patriots ended fourth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas’ three-year reign as GMC Tournament champions, pulling out a 55-45 win at Monroe Township High School, despite trailing after each of the first three quarters of play, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Sophomore Aiden Derkack was named MVP after pouring in 21 points for the champion Patriots (18-8), while senior Jaeden Jones chipped in 14.

Rinelson Dilone led Aquinas (16-10) with 20 points in defeat.

Colonia led early, 8-2 in the first quarter, but Aquinas went on a 14-4 run to make it 16-12. Those were the last big runs anyone would make until the Patriots pulled away, holding Aquinas without a field goal for almost the last four minutes of the game.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

February 14, 2024February 15, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Aiden Derkack’s 27 help Colonia boys get back to GMCT final for first time in three seasons

Whether the Colonia boys’ basketball team gets another crack at St. Thomas Aquinas – the team that beat them in the GMC Tournament finals two seasons ago, last time they were there – or faces top-seed St. Joseph doesn’t matter to them.

They’re back in the finals for the first time since 2022, and that’s all that counts.

Speaking of counting, you could be forgiven if you had a hard time keeping track of how many points sophomore Aidden Derkack had for the Patriots. He finished with 27, almost equally distributed among all four quarters, as 2-seed Colonia used a huge third quarter to extend a six-point halftime lead, beating 6-seed South Plainfield 70-37 Wednesday night in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.