Tag: GMC Tournament

by Mike Pavlichko

Youth prevailed at the GMC Tournament Finals: A look back at wins by Colonia, St. Thomas Aquinas

There was plenty of history to be made at the GMC Tournament Championship Doubleheader on Friday night in Monroe, and the two games didn’t disappoint.

The opener saw the top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas girls win their fifth-straight title, beating second-seed Colonia 71-52. Then, the second-seeded Colonia boys ended the Trojans’ three-year reign as GMC champions with a 55-45 win over fourth-seeded Aquinas.

Here’s a closer look at the 2024 GMC Tournament:

It was the young ones: This one will require a lot of fact-checking and it may take us a while, but safe to say it’s rare for a sophomore to be named the MVP, even rarer for it to happen on both the girls’ and boys’ sides in the same year. Jordan Barnes won the girls’ MVP award, after scoring 23 in the title game. It wasn’t her first; she played in last year’s game, but didn’t score at all. This year, she was a point of emphasis inside for Tim Corrigan’s squad, and Barnes made it pay off. On the boys’ side, the MVP went to sophomore Aiden Derkack, who scored 21 in the title game, becoming the first sophomore boy to be so honored since K-Shawn Schulters of St. Joe’s was named MVP in 2018.

St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore Jordan Barnes with her MVP trophy after winning the GMCT title over Colonia on February 16, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Broken records: Last year, Mattison Chiera became the all-time leading scorer in Colonia girls’ basketball history, finishing with 1,514. She’s now at William Patterson. This year, Taylor Derkack not only broke Chiera’s record, but the boys’ mark held by Nick Smith, who scored 1,673 points from 2001 to 2005. With 1,991 points, she’s just nine shy of becoming the first 2,000-point scorer in school history, which she should get in Colonia’s first game of the state tournament when the second-seeded Patriots host 15th-seed Belleville in the North 2, Group 3 opening round this Thursday. That record might not last for long, though. Derkack scored 732 points in 43 games her freshman and sophomore season. But her brother, Aiden, is already beyond that as a sophomore, and his season isn’t even done. He has 858 points already – 156 more points than his older sister – through most of two seasons and 57 games played.

Going public! The Colonia boys’ title was the first win by a public school since 2015, when the then-second-seeded Patriots knocked off top-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen, ending their streak of five straight titles, though they would go on to win the next four. That means either Joe’s, Colonia, or Aquinas have won the last 14 GMC Tournament titles. The last public school not named Colonia to win the boys’ side was Piscataway, which won its seventh title overall (MCT and GMCT) in 2009.

No double vision: St. Thomas Aquinas was going for its fourth straight sweep of the GMC Tournament, but the Colonia boys kept that from happening. Overall, there have been eight “sweeps” in the GMC Tournament, with Aquinas turning the trick in 2020, 2022 and last season. Piscataway swept in 2009, 2007 and 1995, while both Cardinal McCarrick teams won it in 2008, and the 1996 titles both went to East Brunswick. The old Middlesex County Tournament had three sweeps: St. Peter’s in 1985 and 1983, and Piscataway in 1977.

Team Records in the Finals: On the boys’ side, Colonia now is up to 4-5 all-time in county championship games, all coming in the GMC era. St. Thomas Aquinas (also known as Bishop Ahr for a while) suffered its first-ever loss in the finals. They had been 4-0 in the GMCT and 1-0 in the MCT. That leaves South Plainfield as the only current GMC school to have won multiple titles and never lose in the GMC finals; they’re 2-0, going back-to-back with titles in 2004 and 2005. JFK also won its only appearance in 1990. For the girls’ Aquinas/Bishop Ahr is now 8-5 overall, 7-4 in the GMC era, while Colonia drops to 0-2, both finals appearance coming the last two seasons for the Patriots.

Big Crowd: The GMC didn’t release official numbers, but the finals were as well attended as any since they left the RAC at Rutgers several years ago. One could be forgiven for assuming that might not be the case since the same schools were playing in the girls’ and boys’ finals, St. Thomas Aquinas and Colonia. And as a non-public school, Aquinas doesn’t necessarily have the fan base of a whole town behind them. But Trojan fans packed the stands, and Colonia brought a ton of people, too. It was almost standing room only, not to mention tons of media in attendance.

First Wins for Corrigan, J-Rod: Both victorious coaches won their first-ever GMC Tournament titles. Tim Corrigan was an assistant last year with Aquinas, but took over after the retirement of Joe Whalen – who has been battling MS – following last season. Corrigan – a St. Joseph-Metuchen alum – is now one of nine girls’ coaches who are 1-0 in the finals, and one of three current coaches who’ve ever won the GMCT: Janet Cook of Sayreville and Chris Pruder of Piscataway being the others. Colonia’s Jose Rodriguez also won his first title, and is now 1-1 in the finals, the loss coming two seasons ago in 2022. J-Rod is now one of two current GMC boys’ coaches to claim a title, the other being Bob Turco of Aquinas, which his team beat in Friday’s title game. And he’s one of only four who have even been in the finals. The others: Mark Motusesky of East Brunswick (2014), and Darius Griffin of Piscataway (2019).

Raining Threes: The six three-pointers Colonia hit in the boys’ final against Aquinas ties for the fourth-best such effort in a GMC Tournament boys’ title game. Colonia also hit six in the 2006 final, in whihc the second-seed Patriots knocked off top-seed Metuchen. Sayreville also did it in 1998, South Brunswick in 2016, and Aquinas in 2020. Four teams have hit seven in a final, and North Brunswick (2012), St. Joe’s (2010) and South Plainfield (2005) all hit ten in the finals.

Twos rule? Only twice before has a two-seed played a 4-seed in MCT/GMCT history. In the 1976 Middlesex County Tournament, 2-seed Piscataway topped four-seed Perth Amboy, ending the Panthers’ dynasty and snapping their four-year title streak (they also won three straight from 1965-1967, and again in 1970). The next 2 vs. 4 didn’t come until 2020, when second-seed Aquinas beat fourth-seed South Brunswick. This year’s Colonia win makes it 3-0 for the 2-seed over the four in Middlesex County title game history.

Aquinas gains some distance: The win by the Trojans in the GMCT girls’ final makes it five straight, extending their all-time record. The next best streaks are three games, which Piscataway did twice, from 2013 to 15 and 2009-11. JP Stevens won three straight from 2003-2005, and Hoffman (now South Amboy) won three straight from 1986-1988. The win was also the 30th for a No. 1 seed in the 48-year history of the tournament, meaning the top seed has won 62.5 percent of all the title games. On the boys’ side, this was the 58th tournament, but the top-seed has won only 46.6 percent of the time. It was the 16th win for the second-seed overall (MCT and GMCT).

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – GMC Tournament Boys’ Final: (2) Colonia 55, (4) St. Thomas Aquinas 45

Second-seeded Colonia won its first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title since 2015, beating fourth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas for a third time this season, 55-45, in the title game played at Monroe High School. Aiden Derkack led the Patriots with 21 points and was named MVP.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino call all the play-by-play as broadcast live on Central Jersey Sports Radio on February 16th, 2024:

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – GMC Tournament Girls Final: (1) St. Thomas Aquinas 71, (2) Colonia 52

The top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team won its fifth straight GMC Tournament title, defeating second-seed Colonia in the championship game, 71-52, on Friday, February 16th, 2024 at Monroe Township High School.

Sophomore Jordan Barnes was named MVP, scoring 23 points in the title game.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino call all the action, plus postgame interviews with Barnes and head coach Tim Corrigan:

by Mike Pavlichko

INSTANT REPLAY – 2024 GMC Tournament Semifinals (Boys)

Second-seed Colonia and fourth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas advanced to the 2024 Greater Middlesex Tournament championship game with wins in the semifinals on February 14th, 2024 at Monroe Township High School.

In the opening game, the Patriots defeated 6th-seed South Plainfield 70-37 behind 27 points from sophomore Aiden Derkack and 13 from senior Jaeden Jones.

In the second matchup, the Trojans beat top-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen 56-51, getting 14 points and 18 rebounds from senior Rinelson Dilone, and 20 from junior Aiden Ur.

NOTE: The Aquinas-Joe’s broadcast also includes a portion of the overtime in the second girls’ semifinal at Spotswood High School between St. Thomas Aquinas and Monroe.

Click below to listen to the complete games, with play-by-play by Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Game 1: (2) Colonia vs. (6) South Plainfield
Game 2: (1) St. Joseph-Metuchen vs (4) St. Thomas Aquinas
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:

by Mike Pavlichko

Five-peat! St. Thomas Aquinas girls take out Colonia to win 5th straight GMCT title

In the 2023 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final, frosh Jordan Barnes was getting her feet wet. She played in the game, but didn’t score.

Friday night in the 2024 title game, she scored 23 points – to match her number – and was named MVP.

You could say “What a difference a year makes,” but that would be an understatement.

Losing several key players to graduation and transfer and with a new head coach in Tim Corrigan – who was on last year’s staff as an assistant – one could be forgiven if they discounted the Trojans in 2023.

But they’d have to eat some crow now.

The top-seeded Trojans (21-7) won their fifth title in a row, seventh GMC title, and eighth county championship overall, beating second seed Colonia (19-8) at Monroe Township High School 71-52 as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Aquinas came out on fire, up 11-0 to start the game. But Taylor Derkack answered with back-to-back-to-back threes to cut it to 11-9. That was as close as they’d get the rest of the way.

The Trojans played lock down defense on everyone else – Derkack finished with 30 – and only two Colonia players scored in the first half; they were down 36-23 at the half. The second half was more of the same.

Barnes took tough feeds down low and turned them into easy buckets all night, exploiting her height advantage.

Junior Gianna Chuffo finished with 16 for the winning Trojans, while sophomore Trista Whitney had 13.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

GMC Tournament Boys’ Final Preview: Colonia looks for clean sweep of Aquinas and first title in a decade as Trojans go for a four-peat

There are only four active boys’ basketball head coaches in the Greater Middlesex Conference who have ever coached in a GMCT championship game.

And if you come to Monroe High School Friday night to watch second-seed Colonia take on fourth-seed and three-time defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas, you won’t have to scan the crowd to find two of them. They’ll be on the bench, encouraging their players, and sweet-talking the refs from opposite ends of the scorer’s table.

Jose Rodriguez of Colonia was there two years ago, making his first appearance. Bob Turco not only has made the last three county finals – and won them – but he also made a trip as the head coach of Monroe, in 2010, when he lost to his brother Dave and St. Joseph-Metuchen, in the Falcons’ first of nine titles in ten years under the elder Turco’s watch.

(The other two are Mark Motusesky of East Brunswick, and Darius Griffin of Piscataway.)

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Friday’s GMC Tournament Championship Doubleheader, with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino calling all the play-by-play. Tip-off for the boys’ final is set for 8 pm, with pregame at 7:40, all following the girls’ game – with the same two opponents – at 6 pm. Click here to listen.

This may have been Turco’s most challenging year yet. While no one in Middlesex County is shedding tears for a man who has won three straight county titles, only seldom-used Davon Grant returned from last year’s squad. The rest were lost to graduation and transfers.

And even through a spate of illnesses that started in December, and – on occasion – has the Trojans down to seven players, according to Turco, the team has come through it, and returned to the final once again.

Perhaps the biggest reason is the young man Turco calls a “double-double machine.” Rinelson Dilone is averaging 20.3 points and 16.3 rebounds a game in the GMC Tournament, both above his season average. Against St. Joseph-Metuchen – the top seed they knocked off in the semifinals – the STA guards found Dilone with good looks, and his timing to avoid the defense made several buckets underneath look easy.

But they also can play stifling defense, even better when they need to be, as evidenced late in the game against the Falcons, frustrating one of the county’s top players in Jeremy Clayville all night long. Sophomore Greg Reyes has been a huge part of that, his defense being of immensely greater value than his 4.3 points per game on the offensive side.

For Colonia, it’s been the Aiden Derkack show, growing the family’s impact on the Colonia basketball program. His dad, Gene, is a Colonia legend. His brother, Jordan, is slaying up at Merrimack. And his older sister Taylor is the all-time leading scorer – girls or boys – in school history. He’s averaging 20.3 points a game this season, but 23 in the tournament. He’s scored in double figures all but two games this season, and gone over 30 four times. He had a really good freshman year, and has taken it to another level in 2023-24, avoiding any hint of a sophomore slump.

But let’s not forget they have other players too, including Central Jersey Sports Radio’s football Offensive Player of the Year Jaeden Jones, the star quarterback who’s quick on his feet and will be playing at Monmouth next year. He’s contributing almost 14 points a game, and still the team leader in assists, running the show on offense. Zach Smith has been a key contributor on defense.

Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:

Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez
St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco

MORE ON THE GMC TOURNAMENT BOYS’ FINAL:

(2) Colonia (17-8) vs. (4) St. Thomas Aquinas (16-9)
When: Friday, 8 pm
Where: Monroe Township High School
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino (LISTEN HERE)

COACHES: 

Colonia: Jose Rodriguez, 6th season (111-38)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Bob Turco, 6th season (117-32)

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

Colonia: The Patriots cruised through their first two games, beating 15th-seed Perth Amboy in the first round, then got past in-town rival and seventh-seeded Woodbridge in the quarterfinals Saturday, 65-38. Adien Derkack scored 41 points in the first two games, including 23 against the Barrons, all without the benefit of the three-point arc. In the semis on Wednesday night in Monroe, Colonia used a big second half to top 6th-seed South Plainfield by a surprising 70-37 score. Aiden Derkack scored 27 and had eight rebounds, while Jaeden Jones added 13, and Zach Smith just missed a double-double, with 11 points and nine rebounds.

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Trojans topped 13-seed North Brunswick at home in the first round, and topped 12th-seeded Red Division foe East Brunswick 57-45 in Saturday’s quarterfinals at Piscataway behind 23 points from Aiden Ur, and a double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds from Rinelson Dilone. In the semis Wednesday night in Monroe, Rinelson Dilone tallied his third straight double-double in the GMC Tournament, going off for 21 points and 18 rebounds. Aiden Ur added 12, while seven of the eight Trojans who played got in the scoring column.

TOP SCORERS:

Colonia: Aiden Derkack (20.3 ppg, 20 treys), Jaeden Jones (13.7 ppg, 10 treys)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Rinelson Dilone (16 ppg), Aiden Ur (15.2 ppg, 40 treys), Paris Papadatos (13.3 ppg, team-best 43 treys)

TOP REBOUNDERS:

Colonia: Aiden Derkack (7.8), James Curet (4.3)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Rinelson Dilone (13)

RECENT MEETINGS: St. Thomas Aquinas swept Colonia last season in the regular year, but they didn’t face each other in the GMC Tournament, and Aquinas won it all – again. This year, Colonia won both regular season meetings. Will the Patriots win it all this year?

GMC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:

St. Thomas Aquinas: The combo of Aquinas/Bishop Ahr has four GMC Tournament titles – third-best all-time, by the way, behind the 12 of St. Joseph and Piscataway’s five titles – as well as the Middlesex County Tournament title in 1982. Interesting side note: Aquinas girls’ coach Tim Corrigan was a ball boy on that 1982 team; his brother-in-law was on the coaching staff. Then they won it again in 1992, he was on the St. Joe’s team that lost to the Trojans.

Colonia: The Patriots are the last public school team to win the GMC Tournament, briefly snapping a string of five straight titles won by St. Joe’s from 2010-2014. Colonia won it in 2015, before the Falcons won the next four to make it an unprecedented nine titles in a span of ten years. Colonia has won three GMC titles and two MCT championships. They’re 5-6 all-time in finals, 2-1 in the MCT and 3-5 in the GMC title tilt.

OTHER NOTES:

Dominating: A public school hasn’t won the GMC boys’ tournament since 2015, when Colonia upset St. Joseph in a battle of No. 2 vs. No. 1. In fact, since 2010, either St. Joseph-Metuchen or St. Thomas Aquinas has won all but one of the last 13 full GMC Tournaments. (Colonia won the four-team, two-game Karl-Anthony Towns/Jay Williams top GMC pod during the COVID-shortened 2021 season.) But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, since the first GMC Tournament in 1986 – it was the Middlesex County Tournament before that since 1965 – only six of the first 24 titles went to non-publics. (Now-closed Cardinal McCarrick won two of them.) And in the 21-year history of the MCT, only five times did the title go to a non-public. (Now-closed St. Peter’s won four of them.) That’s 11 out of the first 45 titles going to parochials, then 12 of the next 13 since 2010.

Who’s been to the big game? Believe it or not, only four current GMC boys’ coaches have ever been to the finals. That includes Bob Turco of St. Thomas Aquinas, who’s 3-1 overall. He has three wins with the Trojans and one loss at Monroe in 2010 – when he lost to his brother, Dave, who was the head coach at St. Joseph-Metuchen, and now is at Kean University. But he’s the only current coach to win one. The other, North Brunswick’s Ed Breheney, retired after last season. The other three who’ve coached in the GMC finals before are Jose Rodriguez (lost in 2022), Darius Griffin of Piscataway (lost to St. Joe’s in 2019) and Mark Motusesky of East Brunswick, who lost to the Falcons in 2014, his first season taking over for longtime coach Bo Henning. 

Up the list: St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Bob Turco is tied for third on the all-time county championship list, MCT or GMCT. Paul Schoeb of Piscataway, Ken Pace (at JFK and Colonia) and John Somogyi of St. Peter’s also have won three. But Turco will have a long way to go to get to No. 2, where his brother Dave sits, having won eight titles. Seven of those came with St. Joe’s, while he also won one in 2002 while coaching his alma mater, Carteret. Turco is No. 1 if you just count the GMC, but overall it’s ill Buglovsky of Perth Amboy, who won eight, including the first Middlesex County Tournament in 1965. The won the next three, another in 1970, and four more from 1972-1975.

Consecutive Titles: St. Joseph-Metuchen is on this list twice, with the longest stretch of consecutive wins of five from 2010-2014, and again tied for second with four from 2016-2019. Perth Amboy also won four from 1972-1975. Three teams have won it three times in a row, including St. Thomas Aquinas in 2020, 2022 and 2023, St. Pete’s (1983-1985) and Perth Amboy (1965-1967).

How have the seeds fared? There have been 57 MCT/GMCT championship games, and the top seed has won 27 times. But they’re not in it this year, as St. Joseph was ousted in the semifinals by St. Thomas Aquinas. The 2-seed – in this case, Colonia – has won 15 times, while the four-seed has only won it twice. One of those was Colonia, in the 1969 Middlesex County Tournament, over 6th-seed South River. The last four-seed to win the GMC was Carteret, in the very first event, in 1986, over third-seed New Brunswick. The last time we had a two-seed against a four-seed? It was the only time, and it came in 2020, the beginning of St. Thomas’ run, when the second-seeded Trojans beat fourth-seed South Brunswick.

by Mike Pavlichko

GMC Tournament Girls’ Final Preview: Colonia seeks first title as St. Thomas Aquinas seeks one for the thumb

No other school has had a run like St. Thomas Aquinas/Bishop Ahr in the GMC Tournament.

Clinching a record fourth-straight title last year, the top-seeded Trojans will try to make it five in a row Friday night, when they take on second-seed Colonia in the GMC title game at Monroe High School.

Last year was a first for Colonia, its debut in the county final. And after a narrow loss following two blowout defeats during the regular season, and two close losses this year, have the Patriots finally closed the gap?

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Friday’s GMC Tournament Championship Doubleheader, with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino calling all the play-by-play. Coverage starts at 5:40 pm for the girls’ game, with the boys final – between the same schools – tipping off at 8 pm. Click here to listen.

For St. Thomas, the tournament has belonged to sophomore Jordan Barnes, who’s nearly averaging a double-double through the first three games, with 15.7 points per game and nine boards a contest. In fact, she notched double-doubles in the last two games, with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Spotswood in the quarterfinals, then scoring 19 and grabbing 10 rebounds against Monroe in the semifinals.

Gianna Chuffo also has had a hot tourney, averaging nearly 19 points a game against the trio of Edison, Spotswood and Monroe.

On the other side, it’s Taylor’s world, and the GMC is just living in it. No, not that Taylor. Senior Taylor Derkack – the all-time leading scorer at Colonia, boys or girls, with 1,961 points – could crack the 2,000 mark if she goes off Friday night. She’s averaging 24.1 points per game this season, and a double-double on the year, with 12.5 rebounds per game. She leads in every key statistical category: two-pointers, treys, free throws attempted and made, steals, blocks and assists. In the tournament, she’s averaging 27 points and 17.5 rebounds a game, with double-doubles in all three.

And yet, the supporting cast is key. Mya Patino can hit the three ball, along with Isabel Gidado. And head coach Sandi Chiera says her team has improved defensively; they’ll want to keep the score low against Aquinas.

Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:

St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan
Colonia head coach Sandi Chiera

MORE ON THE GMC TOURNAMENT GIRLS’ FINAL:

(1) St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) vs. (2) Colonia (19-7)
When: Friday, 6 pm
Where: Monroe Township High School
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino (LISTEN HERE)

COACHES: 

Middlesex: Tim Corrigan, 1st season (19-7)
Colonia: Sandi Chiera, 5th season (75-35)

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

Colonia: The Patriots topped 18-seed Carteret 52-36 in the first round, then beat 7-seed East Brunswick 43-22 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Taylor Derkack poured in 38 of her team’s 52 points against the Ramblers – including five from beyond the arc – then scored a human 16 in a lower-scoring victory over the Lady Bears. In the semifinals against 14-seed Middlesex, the Patriots grabbed a 56-40 win, with Derkack going for a monster 27-point night with 15 rebounds, while Hailey Conklin added 14 points and six boards, while Nashaelah Hooker chipped in seven points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

St. Thomas Aquinas: The top-seeded Trojans cruised through their first two games, beating 16-seed Edison in the opening round, 85-53, then blowing out 8-seed Spotswood 90-36 in the quarterfinals on the Chargers’ home floor. Monroe was a different story, as the fifth-seeded Falcons led them 22-12 after one quarter Wednesday night in the semifinals, and 30-14 at one point. But they chipped away, and came out with a 57-55 overtime victory. Sophomore Jordan Barnes finished with a double-double of 19 points and ten rebounds, while Lauryn Downing had her best game of the tournament scoring-wise, adding 12 points and four rebounds.

TOP SCORERS:

St. Thomas Aquinas: Gianna Chuffo (16.2 ppg, team-best 83 treys), Jordan Barnes (14.4 ppg), Trista Whitney (9.6 ppg)
Colonia: Taylor Derkack (24.1 ppg, team-best 43 treys), Mya Patino (9.4 ppg, 37 treys), Isabel Gidado (6.5 ppg, 20 treys)

TOP REBOUNDERS:

St. Thomas Aquinas: Leah Kearney (10.2), Jordan Barnes (9)
Colonia: Taylor Derkack (12.5), Nashaelah Hooker (5.8)

RECENT MEETINGS: St. Thomas Aquinas/Bishop Ahr has won 18 straight against Colonia, with the Patriots’ last win coming on February 1, 2014, a 52-36 victory. Since then, Aquinas/Ahr has won by an average of 31 points. But in the last three meetings – including last year’s GMC Tournament final, and two regular season meetings this year, the gap has been an average 8.3 point margin of victory.

GMC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:

St. Thomas Aquinas: In addition to winning the last four GMC Tournaments, the first of which was under the moniker Bishop Ahr, they also won it in 2001 and 1994, while also claiming the 1981 Middlesex County Tournament title. Aquinas is 6-4 in the GMCT, 1-1 in the MCT. St. Thomas had never been a one-seed before the current run they’re on, but has been the top-seed in all four wins on the current streak.

Colonia: Last season was the Patriots’ first trip to the county final, a 49-42 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas.

OTHER NOTES:

Trojans’ streak: Though St. Thomas Aquinas lost in the 2021 de facto GMC championship – the “top” Somogyi Family Pod – to Monroe, they have won the last four full GMC Tournaments, going back to pre-COVID, when they won in 2020 over Edison as the top-seed and under its old moniker, Bishop Ahr. No other school has won four in a row, though several have won three, including Hoffman (which won the first in 1986, then won again in ’87 and ’88), JP Stevens (2003-05), and Piscataway (twice, from 2009-11 and again from 2013-15). Nobody won more than two in a row in the Middlesex County Tournament, which ran from 1975 through 1985.

Coaching in the Big Game: Tim Corrigan of St. Thomas Aquinas is a head coach for the first time in the GMC Tournament final, though he was on the bench next to Joe Whalen last year as an assistant. Sandi Chiera of Colonia is in her second final as a head coach.

How have the seeds fared? This one is a battle of No.1 vs. No. 2, with the top-seed winning 29 titles overall, and the No. 2 winning it just nine times. The top-seed is 29-13 in the title game. The top two seeds have met 22 times, with the No. 1 seed going 17-5 in those games. Only the first of Aquinas’ four-straight titles came against the 2-seed, Edison in 2019. Otherwise they beta 3-seed Monroe in 2020, 7-seed South Brunswick two seasons ago, and third-seed Colonia last year. The last 2-seed to win the tourney was Piscataway in 2018, and the last second-seed to knock off the top-seed in a final was East Brunswick in 2016 over Monroe.

Bonus Ball: Since St. Thomas is fresh off an overtime victory in the semifinals, we figured you’d want to know there have only been two overtime games in the history of the girls’ GMCT, both won by schools that are now closed. Third-seed Cardinal McCarrick of South Amboy beat top-seed Piscataway in double overtime in 2008, while St. Peter’s of New Brunswick upset top-seed East Brunswick as the two seed in 1992, led by Kristen Somogyi, the New Jersey Player of the Year that season.

by aleccrouthamel12

St. Thomas Aquinas girls complete wild comeback, outlasting Monroe in OT to advance to fifth straight GMCT title game

The last time St. Thomas Aquinas, the Greater Middlesex County Tournament’s top seed, lost to a GMC team was January 30th, 2022 against Monroe. In tonight’s semifinal round, history almost repeated itself, but the Trojans completed a double-digit comeback in overtime to take down the Falcons 57-55.

STA will take on Colonia, whose second-seeded girls beat 14-seed Middlesex in the night’s first semifinal, in Friday night’s 6 pm title game at Monroe Township High School, followed by the boys at 8 pm, featuring the same matchups. Both games can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

After the first quarter, Monroe led 22-12 and was able to pick apart the Aquinas defense with great ball movement leading to good shots on the inside and outside.

In the second quarter, the offensive efforts still kept going full speed ahead, but the Trojans were able to force some turnovers down the stretch and went into halftime trailing 32-25. Both teams were led by the bigs, as Aquinas’ sophomore forward Jordan Barnes went into halftime with 11 points – later finishing with 17 – while Monroe was led by senior forward Avery Labaska with 12 first-half points.

The Trojans really turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, limiting the Falcons to only five points in the entire third quarter and was able to cut the defecit to just one heading into the fourth.

That period went back-and-forth the entire way, as both teams traded buckets with neither leading by more than a possession for the whole quarter. However, with time winding down and the Falcons trailing by three, senior guard Halley Cottrell – who finished with a team-high 19 – nailed a game-tying trey with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime, after Aquinas could not score on the other end.

The Trojans were helped by an unsung hero in the extra period, as freshman forward Leah Kearney scored six of their nine points. She scored down low getting past a tough defensive effort from Monroe (16-9) and helped lead St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) to its fifth consecutive GMC tournament finals appearance, where they won the previous four.

POSTGAME

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan and freshman Leah Kearney:

by aleccrouthamel12

Taylor Derkack leads Colonia to GMCT Semifinal victory, ends Middlesex’s Cinderella run

When second-seeded Colonia felt some pressure in the second half, they leaned on one of the program’s all-time players to a 56-40 victory over Middlesex, the Greater Middlesex County Tournament’s 14-seed on a Cinderella run.

Taylor Derkack, the school’s all-time leading scorer, put up a game-high 27 points and contributed in almost every possible way to help bring the Patriots to its second consecutive GMC Tournament final. She racked up numerous rebounds, blocks, and steals to stifle the Blue Jays’ resurgent offense and build a wire-to-wire lead throughout the entire game.

Colonia (19-7) will look to avenge its 49-42 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in last year’s GMC Tournament final, and will have a chance to do so depending on if the Trojans take down Monroe in the other semifinal game. The Patriots played their best basketball in the first half, opening up a 36-15 lead at halftime. Freshman Hailey Conklin was the Patriots’ other double-digit scorer, putting up 15 points.

For Middlesex (15-12), star junior Jess Devine led the way with 21 points, including scoring all 16 of the Blue Jays’ points in the third quarter. Their season ends in the semifinals after a huge tournament run in head coach Stew Lester’s first season.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Colonia head coach Sandi Chiera and senior Taylor Derkack: