The Colonia boys’ basketball program has eleven state championships. They’ve won the last five North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 titles. But the one thing they hadn’t done – whether it was 1973, 1994, 2015 or 2025 – was make a state final.
But now, you can check that box off as well.
Colonia – after starting the season 2-6 – now is 21-10, after a 67-57 win over North 1, Group 3 champion Montville at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth Tuesday, as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
And now they get one more game, at Rutgers for the state Group 3 title.
They’ll face South Jersey Group 3 champion Ocean City Sunday afternoon at 2 pm at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway for all the marbles. The Red Raiders were 56-43 winners over Westhampton Tech in the other Group 3 semi down at Central Regional in Bayville Wednesday evening.
Colonia got out to a 9-0 lead early in the game, and that might have been the turning point. That’s because the teams played fairly even the rest of the way, with the Patriots up seven after one, 33-24 at the half, and 51-41 at the end of three. Colonia never trailed in the game, and never allowed Montville to make a run.
Well, almost.
Montville did get the lead down to five at one point late, down 62-57 around the two-minute mark, but Colonia helped itself immensely at the free throw line as senior twins Joey and Ricky Beyer both got in foul trouble in the fourth quarter, Joey fouling out with under a minute left. Big man Eddie Camaj also had four fouls down the stretch.
But the Patriots made them pat from the stripe. Sophomore Jayce Rodriguez finished with a game-high 27, but he had 13 early in the third – his final made field goal coming from beyond the arc – before his last 14 points came from the foul line, where he was a perfect 14-for-14.
As a team, Colonia was 22-of-24 from the foul line, virtually unheard of at any level, let alone a pressure-packed state semifinal.
Rodriguez has three triples, as did senior Dylan Chiera, who finished with 20 points.
Montville finished its season at 23-6; junior David Gonzalez had a team-high 14, while Camaj finished with 12, ten in the second half.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
