Tag: Jose Rodriguez

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia strikes first atop the GMC Red Division with big, long win at St. Joe’s

The “Big Three” likely in the GMC Red Division this year are widely considered to be – in alphabetical order – Colonia, St. Joseph-Metuchen and St. Thomas Aquinas.

But on Tuesday night in Metuchen, the Big Three might have been the three extra periods of basketball St. Joe’s and Colonia played.

Or, it could have been the huge three-pointer Jaeden Jones hit to send the game to a third overtime with just five-seconds to go in the second extra period.

Either way, the opening salvo among the three teams was fired, as the Patriots got on the bus ride back home with an 83-78 triple-OT win over the Falcons.

It wasn’t looking good for Colonia late in the third-quarter, but they made a run to cut a double-digit deficit down to a couple of possessions. St. Joe’s extended the lead to more than ten again in the fourth quarter, but Colonia – which was dealing with some foul trouble – chipped away again, and this time sent the game to OT tied at 65.

Oddly enough, perhaps with an inkling of how long this game could have gone on, both teams took the air out of the ball after a quick basket by Colonia and an answer from St. Joe’s. Those were the only two buckets made in the first OT, with numerous misses for both sides, and they went to a second extra period tied 67-all.

In the second OT, Jones came up big. He had a key steal on an inbound late, then tied it with a triple with five-seconds left to send it to yet another extra four-minute period.

It was there the Patriots hit some shots, got a lead, made the Falcons miss, and hit their free-throws down the stretch.

Colonia improves to 3-0, 2-0 in the GMC Red. St. Joe’s suffered its first loss to drop to 2-1, 1-1 in the division.

Jones finished the night with 29 points, a career high. He tied for game high honors with St. Joseph’s Josh Ingram, who also set a new personal career high.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with an exhausted Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez after a thrilling 3 OT win at St. Joseph-Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia boys will look to new leaders on the floor in ’22-’23 as they jump up to the GMC Red

You never replace a player like Saivon Pressley. Those kind of kids, who lead by example, are never replaced. Maybe you get more of them, but they’re never replaced.

That being said, it’s time for the next generation of Colonia boys’ basketball players to step up, and carry the ball – figuratively, not literally.

For the 2022-23 Patriots, that means players like Noah Taylor and Jaeden Jones will have to step up in lieu of the loss of Pressley – the team’s leading scorer a year ago – as well as its No. 2 scorer and No. 2 rebounder, Billy Anderson.

Taylor was third on the team in scoring last year at 8.5 points per game, while also being the team’s leading rebounder at 6.1 per game. Jones – who just finished a football season where he played quarterback for the first time ever and all he did was lead Middlesex County in rushing, following up a similar performance by Josh Oluremi the previous season – averaged 7 points per game last season, and dished out a whopping 122 assists to lead the team, an average of four per contest.

All that while Colonia – and St. Thomas Aquinas, with whom they’ve battled atop the GMC White Division the last several years – moves up to the GMC Red Division for ’22-’23.

The Patriots will make a regular season appearance on Central Jersey Sports Radio Thursday, January 12th, when they visit St. Thomas Aquinas for a 7:00 game.

Colonia opens the season against Hunterdon Central Thursday night at 6:30.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk about Colonia’s upcoming season with head coach Jose Rodriguez:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia falls short in Group 3 semifinals, 49-39 to Ramapo

Turns out, there was no lucky seven for the Colonia Ptriots.

Six times before, they had won a sectional title, and all six times they had been eliminated in the next game, in the Group Semifinals.

They could not change their luck in 2022.

A young Ramapo team – the North 1 champion – with only one senior and a slew of sophomores came out and attacked Colonia early, going right to the basket and getting shots to go down.

Colonia, on the other hand, couldn’t find the bottom of the net from in close, wasn’t drawing fouls, and didn’t get good looks on the perimeter for Saivon Pressley, who finished with 19, including a trey.

In the end, though, Colonia had a great season, adding to the trophy case with the North 2, Group 3 title, the seventh in program history.

Click below for postgame reaction with Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia is much more than Pressley, as it seeks first-ever trip to a group final tonight against Ramapo

Colonia has won seven state championships, but never gotten to a group final.

The 2021-22 version wants to change that.

And it’s very well within their reach, as the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 champion Patriots (25-4) play North 1 champion Ramapo (22-6) tonight in the Group 3 semifinals at Phillipsburg High School.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast all the action, with Mike Pavlichko on the air at 6:40 for the pregamw show. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm. Click here to listen to all the live play-by-play, for free, with no paywall.

The winner goes on to face either Manasquan (the Central 3 champ) or Woodrow Wilson (the South 3 champ) in the Group 3 finals. All the public finals are held at Jersey Mike’s Arena (formerly “The RAC”) at Rutgers University this Sunday. Game times are noon, 2, 4, and 6 pm, but times won’t be announced until all the matchups are done being determined tonight.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko talk about the Patriots’ season and preview the Ramapo matchup with Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia gunning for first GMC Tourney title since 2015, with Pressley leading the way

In the game of “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” Saivon Pressley usually wins.

That’s sure been the case in the last couple of weeks for the Colonia senior, who has scored at least 21 points in each of his last six games, and is averaging 29 points per game in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament games, heading into tonight’s county final.

That’s when third-seed Colonia (21-3) will take on top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas (25-1) as it looks for its first league title since 2015, when the then-second-seeded Patriots gave top-seeded St. Joeseph-Metuchen its only blemish in a ten year stretch that saw it win nine out of ten GMCT titles.

Colonia was its only defeat in that stretch.

You can hear tonight’s game on Central Jersey Sports Radio live at 8 pm, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe calling all the action from Monroe High School. Click here to listen.

Colonia lost twice this season to St. Thomas Aquinas, by 12 and 14 points. But both games were tight most of the way.

Last year, in the COVID-shortened season that saw the GMC do four-team pods instead of a full-on tournament, these two teams met in the pod that had the top four teams in the league, the Karl-Anthony Towns/Jay Williams pod. And Colonia – designated the two-seed – beat top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas on the Trojans home floor, 80-64.

Click below to hear a preview of tonight’s game with Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez:

by Mike Pavlichko

Monster game for Pressley propels Patriots to first GMC Tourney final since 2018

Colonia may have won last year’s one-off Karl-Anthony Towns/Jay Williams pod, the top grouping in the GMC, and the de facto title game in the COVID-shortened 2021 season, but winning the full-on tournament title is different.

The Patriots will get the chance Friday night, thanks in large part to a huge game from senior guard Saivon Pressley, who had his biggest offensive night in a Colonia uniform in Wednesday night’s first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinal at Monroe High School.

Pressley put up 35 points – one off his scholastic career-high of 36 he scored against Calvary Christian while at Wardlaw-Hartridge as a sophomore – including six treys – ten percent of his season total team-leading 58 triples – en route to a 70-58 win for the third-seeded Patriots over second-seed St. Joseph of Metuchen.

Colonia led 4-0 early, then 4-2 and never looked back, even when in the second quarter they had built a seven point lead a number of times. Each time the Falcons cut it to a single possession, the Patriots answered right back.

And when they went on a 17-4 run to start the third quarter, went up by 19, and it looked like they’d blow the doors off the thing, Joe’s cut it to four at 61-57, but Colonia punched back yet again, winning by 12 in the end.

The win puts Colonia – now 21-3 in the GMC Tournament final for the first time in four years, and they’ll seek their first title since they beat St. Joe’s in 2015, with Chris Chiera as head coach. That year, the Patriots beat Chatham to win the North 2, Group 3 title, but were eliminated in the Group 3 semifinals by Bergenfield.

To win the title, they will have to beat St. Thomas Aquinas for the first time in three tries this year. Then again, last year, they lost to the Trojans in the shortened regular season, only to turn the tables in the pod final, and win in North Edison, to boot.

Colonia senior guard Saivon Pressley talks to CJSR’s MIke Pavlichko after punching the Patriots’ ticket to the 2022 GMC Tournament Final.

Click below for postgame reaction from Colonia’s win over St. Joseph-Metuchen Wednesday night with senior guard Saivon Pressley and head coach Jose Rodriguez:

by Mike Pavlichko

Colonia seeks first GMC finals berth since 2018 against a title game regular

Sure, it’s been a couple of years since the last full Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, and it’s been one more year since St. Joseph of Metuchen last made a GMC Tournament final, but the Falcons are regulars at this sort of thing. After all, 2020 was the first year they had missed the title game in 13 years.

But there will be no underdog feeling on the Colonia side of things tonight, when the third-seeded Patriots (20-3) take on St. Joe’s (19-5) in the GMCT semifinals tonight at Monroe High School, for a chance to go and face either Monroe or St. Thomas Aquinas for all the marbles.

They believe they belong, and well they should, with only three losses all year: twice to the Trojans, and once out-of-conference to Lenape.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have full coverage of both semifinal games as Mike Pavlichko calls all the action, beginning with pregame at 4:45 for the Colonia-St. Joe’s matchup at 5:00. The second semifinal is set for 7 pm. Click here to listen to both games for free, with no registration required.

Colonia is not nearly the regular to the GMC Tournament finals party that the Falcons are. Their last trip was fairly recent, in 2018, when Brandon Hall – now an assistant at FDU under Greg Herenda – was in charge. They last won it in 2015, when Chris Chiera – whose wife, Sandi, is now the school’s girls’ coach – was on the bench.

Senior Saivon Pressley has been leading the way at 19.3 points per game, but more than that, has been scoring at his most prolific rate of the season in the team’s last five games, pouring in no less than 21 a contest during that stretch, averaging 23.5 per game.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk to head coach Jose Rodriguez about the Patriots’ recent stretch, and tonight’s matchup with St. Joe’s:

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 4 Colonia looks to topple No. 1 tonight when Patriots visit St. Thomas Aquinas

It’s the final two weeks of the regular season in high school basketball, where the stakes and games get bigger and bigger.

Last March, there was a pretty big game in North Edison. Colonia had already lost to St. Thomas Aquinas in their one regular season meeting during the COVID-shortened campaign, and the Trojans were considered the favorite to win it.

Until Colonia did, on a second-half rally and a barrage of treys.

This year, Aquinas is unbeaten, 18-0 (12-0 in their second year in the the GMC White Division), and has its eye on the top seed in the upcoming GMC Tournament, which will be seeded in exactly one week. But the Patriots (13-2, 10-1 GMC White) have their eye on that prize, too.

Whether they can get it even with a win tonight over St. Thomas Aquinas remains to be seen. But what’s certain is they have no shot without a W tonight in a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Tip-off is set for 7 pm, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call. Pregame is set tentatively for 6:40 pm. Click here to listen live.

Click below to hear Justin Sontupe of Central Jersey Sports Radio talk with Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez about tonight’s matchup:

by Mike Pavlichko

Pressley’s monster 3rd quarter, 30 points, powers No. 1 Colonia past North Brunswick

An 11-0 run by senior guard Saivon Pressley alone helped keep a game North Brunswick team at bay on the road, as the No. 1-ranked Patriots came away with a 73-50 GMC White Division win Tuesday night.

In a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, Pressley – who had nine point at halftime – scored the first 11 points of the third quarter by either team, helping to keep some distance from the game Raiders.

Pressley hit a trio of treys in the contest, while Colonia (3-0) also got 16 points from junior forward Billy Anderson, including seven in the fourth quarter.

North Brunswick (0-4) was led by senior forward Ian Morris, who hit four triples on the night, and matched a career high 17 points, which he scored in a season-opening loss against East Orange.

Colonia shook off the rust following more than a week off with the team in COVID protocols, and let its defense fuel the offense.

Patriots head coach Jose Rodriguez earned his 60th win at Colonia with the victory; he’s now 60-16 in three-plus seasons.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from Colonia’s White Division win Tuesday night:

Senior guard Saivon Pressley
Head coach Jose Rodriguez

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending GMC top pod champs and top-ranked Colonia will try to shake rust off against North Brunswick after COVID stoppage

The Colonia boys’ basketball team has already lost three games in the 2021-22 high school basketball season, which isn’t even three full weeks old yet.

That’s not three defeats, just three games taken right off the schedule; they’ve only managed to play two so far.

The Patriots’ opener against Carteret was cancelled, originally to be played on the day many districts stepped up security – and some shut down – after a potential nationwide threat on social media warning of school violence.

And then, after getting in two road games against Edison and Sayreville – a pair of wins – all it took was a couple of COVID cases, low numbers, and the risk of it spreading to anyone else, to force the program to shut down over the Christmas break.

But finally, the top-ranked Patriots (2-0) will get back on the floor Tuesday night when they visit North Brunswick (0-4) in a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Coverage starts at 6:45 with tip-off at 7 pm. Click here to listen live to Mike Pavlichko with all the play-by-play.

Colonia has won nine straight in the series, predating fourth-year head coach Jose Rodriguez’ arrival. The Pats’ last loss to the Raiders came on January 12, 2017, a 55-52 road defeat. Colonia was just 7-15 that season, but they’ve not been below .500 in a season since.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko preview Tuesday night’s game with Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez: