LINDEN, NJ–On Wednesday afternoon, GMC Hoops began a trip to three different summer leagues by heading over to Linden High School to see the Colonia Patriots play the Linden Tigers in the 4:30 PM game from the Monday/Wednesday Division of the 2011 Linden Summer League. The site got over there toward the end of the first half, and Colonia was out in front by the score of 28-25 with under to minutes to go in the period. For a while, the contest was nip and tuck, but Linden put together a 25-5 surge over a span of 11 minutes to turn a 38-37 third quarter Colonia lead into a 62-43 Linden advantage en route to a 65-52 victory.
Linden Surges In Second Half To Storm Past Colonia, 65-52
For the first 25:38 of its contest against Linden, the Colonia Patriots played solid basketball. The Pats led 28-25 with 1:43 to go in the first half, and after the Tigers got back to back scores including a one handed dunk by sophomore sensation, Quadri Moore, the Pats made two free throws to go into the brief intermission with a 30-29 lead. Then, for the first 5:38 of the third period, the Pats went toe to toe with Linden even after two straight threes by Moore gave the Tigers a 35-30 lead at the 9:04 mark of the third.
Colonia scored 8 of the next 10 points over a span of 4:42 to actually go up by one at 38-37 with 4:22 remaining in the period. Linden head coach, Phil Colicchio, was very aware of that, and pointed it out to his team during a timeout with 6:57 remaining in the third. Following the stoppage, Linden played with more of a purpose, but still had trouble getting going. It wasn’t until the Tigers fell behind by one with less than four and a half minutes to go in the frame that they showed the urgency Colicchio was looking for.
Over a span of 11:17 from the end of the third quarter to several minutes left in the game, Linden went on a 25-5 rampage to take a 62-43 lead, and went on to win from there by the score of 65-52. Over the last 21:43 of the contest, Linden outscored Colonia by a margin of 40-24 for the win. The Tigers scored 17 points off turnovers during that stretch, and connected on 15 field goals including five threes as well as made 5 of 8 from the foul line. The Patriots were limited to just 7 field goals including three from beyond the arc, and made 7 of 9 from the foul line. LHS outscored CHS by a margin of 15-9 from three point range.
Moore contributed a great deal to the onslaught with 19 points over the final 21:30. The big man connected on 6 field goals including three treys while making 4 of 7 from the foul line. Jordan McDaniel did what he could to keep Colonia in the contest with 9 points on two field goals as well as 5 of 7 from the line. McDaniel also handed out two assists. Trent Barneys chipped in with 5 points including a three pointer while handing out an assist over the final two plus quarters of play.
After Linden took a 62-43 lead with 3:05 remaining, Colonia closed the game with a 9-3 run as McDaniel had a hand in 8 of the final 9 points with a tip-in, and two assists. Despite Linden’s strong finish to the third, the Patriots were only trailing by five at 45-40 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. However, the Pats didn’t score until the 6:16 mark of the fourth while the Tigers scored the first seven points of the frame, and put together a 17-3 surge over nearly a seven minute stretch of the final period to put the game away.
Prior to Linden’s surge, there were a total of five lead changes and a tie over a span of 8:54. Colonia, which was playing without Greg Jones as well as several other players, just wasn’t able to sustain the fine effort that it had put in for the first two and a half periods. However, in three games that GMC Hoops has seen the Pats play this summer at Linden, they have played fairly well.