Here are highlights from the action in the North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Quarterfinals between seventh seeded Colonia and 2nd seeded Somerville. Colonia jumped out to an 11-8 first quarter lead as Chase Barneys scored 9 points, but he then picked up his second foul of the game at the very end of the period and sat out the second as Somerville rallied to pull within one at the break. Kolby Chapman give the Patriots some breathing room late in the second with a jumper.
However, in the third period, the second seeded Pioneers took control of the game for good with a 15-2 showing in the frame to take a 32-20 lead. Colonia’s only points in the frame came early in the period as the Patriots went scoreless for over eight minutes. The Pats were unable to get any closer than 7 points after that while Somerville went on an 8-0 run midway through the fourth to take a 46-29 lead, and held on to win, 48-35.
Randy Walko led all scorers with a game high 25 points while Barneys finished with 19 points to lead Colonia in a losing cause and finish his career in third place on the CHS all time scoring list behind Nick Smith (1,672 points) and Justin Chiera (1,620 points) with 1,325 points. Kolby Chapman chipped in with 8 points as the senior duo combined for 27 of the Pats 35 points in the game. Somerville had 5 different players score while Colonia just had four. Colonia had a 15-12 edge in points scored from beyond the arc, but was just 0 of 2 from the line while Somerville was 8 of 8 and enjoyed a 28-20 edge in points scored from within the arc.
The Pioneers, which lost to Gill St. Bernard’s in the Somerset County Tourney final, improved to 24-3 on the season, and advanced to face Warren Hills, a 51-41 winner over Voorhees, in the semifinals on Friday. Colonia finished its season at 16-9 after losing 5 of its last 6 games.