The Monroe girls’ basketball team lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer to South Brunswick to open the Falcons’ home NJSIAA state tournament doubleheader Monday night.

Call the Falcons “Even Steven,” because the boys’ team followed it up with a win in much the same fashion.

The difference here was the Monroe boys led most of the way in this Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinal before Tommy Koroma of North Brunswick nailed a three with 9.4 seconds left to tie the game at 45.

Monroe coach Jeff Warner called a time out, knowing if they could get the last shot, they could win, but at worst head to overtime.

Instead, Myles Marabuto found Brody Piscitelli in the left corner for a three that hit nothing but net with three seconds left. With no timeouts, all North Brunswick could do was inbound and heave a prayer that didn’t even leave Koroma’s hands until the clock had already reached zero.

Final score: second-seed Monroe 48, 7th-seed North Brunswick 45.

The Falcons will host third-seed Manalapan Wednesday in the sectional semifinals, after the Braves topped 11-seed Jackson Memorial, 58-42 Monday night.

Piscitelli finished with 11 for the Monroe (18-7), which was led by Marabuto’s 17 points, while Mark Laughery chipped in 10.

Brandon McCain led North Brunswick (15-13) with 13, while Tommy Koroma finished with 12.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: