Knights Survive Fourth Quarter Rally For 1st Win Over Joes Since 2007
METUCHEN, NJ–It was an historic night at Maglio Gymnasium on the campus of St. Joseph’s High School on Tuesday night. For the first time in 56 Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division games, St. Joseph’s came away with a loss.
The Old Bridge Knights had a 14 point lead with six minutes to play to regulation only to have the top ranked Falcons, which recently survived a scare from Shore Conference foe Neptune to win in overtime on January 28th, rallied to tie the game with 5.5 seconds left in the fourth. St. Joe’s outscored Old Bridge 27-16 in the fourth.
The game would go for two extra sessions before a winner was decided, and that was Old Bridge, which ended up winning, 62-59. The win marked the first time a GMC Red Division team defeated St. Joseph’s during the regular season since East Brunswick defeated the Falcons on January 17, 2013.
St. Joseph’s had a 56 game winning streak against Red Division foes during the regular season. The streak goes up to 61 when you included games in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament during the four plus year span. Old Bridge’s win also marked the first time since February 15, 2007 that the Knights defeated the Falcons.
The Knights snapped a 22 game losing streak to St. Joe’s which included both regular season and conference tourney play. The last time Old Bridge beat St. Joseph’s was also a historic upset. The victory by the Knights over St. Joseph’s in February 2007 was the only time a 15th seeded team defeated a 2nd seeded team in GMCT history.
The Old Bridge team that year was only 7-17 on the season and eventually lost to South Plainfield in the 2007 GMCT Quarterfinals. Piscataway defeated South Plainfield in the semifinals, and McCarrick in the Championship to claim the crown that year. St. Joseph’s, which began that season at 0-3, ultimately finished at 20-6 after losing to CBA in the Non-Public A South semifinals.
Four different players scored in double figures for Old Bridge including senior forward Kyle Parris with 16 points. Guard Mike Olivia chipped in with 13 points while Will Osvald added 12 points. Jared Meyer also contributed with 11 points. Old Bridge had six different players score as did St. Joseph’s.
Freshman Tyree Taganeca-Ford led three different players in double figures for the Falcons with a game high 17 points while senior guard, Letrell West chipped in with 16 points. Malachi Walker added 10 points in the loss for the Falcons, which had their 19 game winning streak to start the season also snapped.
Both teams combined for 13 three pointers in the contest with St. Joe’s enjoying a 21-18 edge in points scored from long distance. Old Bridge outscored St. Joseph’s by a margin of 32-24 from within the arc. St. Joseph’s had a 14-11 edge in points score from the foul line.
With the victory, Old Bridge improved to 14-7 overall on the season and finished third in the GMC Red with a 9-5 mark. The Knights are also 13-5 in conference play. St. Joseph’s fell to 19-1 overall and 13-1 in both divisional and conference play with the loss. Both teams return to action with games later this week.
Old Bridge has little time to recover after its historic win as it hosts St. John Vianney of Holmdel in a non-conference game on Wednesday night at 6:00 PM in Old Bridge. St. Joseph’s will not play again until Saturday afternoon when it hosts Bayonne of Hudson County in a non-conference game at 1:00 PM.