COLONIA, NJ–On Tuesday, the opening round of the playoffs in the 2011 Colonia JV Summer League took place at Colonia Middle School between the ninth seeded Junior Tigers of South Plainfield and the eighth seeded Junior Patriots of Colonia. Â The winner of this contest moved on to play top seeded St. Mary’s of Elizabeth on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round.
Colonia Survives Late South Plainfield Rally To Advance, 41-38
The Junior Tigers consist of a solid incoming sophomore class that includes the likes of Malik Cisson, Chris Mathis, Roemmello Monroe, and Andrew Franco. Â As freshmen this past season, these players contributed to a team that reached the Championship Game of the 2011 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before losing to top ranked St. Joseph’s (54-41).
While the likes of top player, Jordan Lackey, is playing up with the varsity at both the Kean Spring League and the Rahway Summer League, Cisson, Mathis, Monroe, and Franco are trying to develop themselves with the JV squad. Â In this contest, SPHS fell behind early as Colonia was the better team for about 30 of the 40 minutes in this contest. Â The Junior Patriots jumped out to a 16-6 lead over the first 11 minutes of the game.
After the Tigers rallied with a 10-0 run over a span of 3:13 for the second and last tie of the contest, Colonia went on a 10-2 run over the next 5:13 for a 26-18 lead en route to a 26-22 halftime advantage. Â In the second half, the Junior Pats scored the first ten points while South Plainfield didn’t get on the board for the initial 11:20 for a CHS 36-22 lead with under nine minutes to go in the contest.
Sleepwalking through much of the contest, the Junior Tigers came to life when Monroe scored on a layup with 8:40 remaining for a 36-24 Colonia lead. Â Monroe’s basket sparked a 14-1 SPHS spurt over a span of 7:20 that narrowed the deficit to a single point at 37-36 in favor of the Junior Pats with 1:20 left. Â South Plainfield used fullcourt pressure to get its players to play with more urgency late in the contest. Â However, Colonia got a basket and a foul at the 1:04 mark, and then made two free throws with 26 seconds to play to hang on for the 41-38 victory.
For the game, Colonia scored its 41 points on 17 field goals including a three pointer and 6 of 14 from the line while South Plainfield compiled its 38 points on 11 field goals including four threes, and 4 of 6 from the charity stripe. Â The difference in this game was turnovers. Â Colonia forced 13 SPHS turnovers, and converted them into 14 points. Â Meanwhile, the Junior Tigers only forced seven CHS miscues for 8 points. Â Each team had four second chance points.
Monroe and Mathis each led South Plainfield with 9 points on four field goals including a three. Â Monroe added six rebounds, a block, and a steal while Mathis added five rebounds, a block, and an assist. Â Cisson scored all six of his points in the final 5:48 of the first half while collecting five rebounds and an assist. Â With only two ties in the contest, the game was only knotted for just a minute and seventeen seconds. Â Colonia led for the other 38:43. Â The Junior Pats biggest lead was 14 points while its smallest was one.
A couple things that kept the Junior Tigers in the contest were three pointers and steals. Â Despite having a big disadvantage in turnovers, SPHS enjoyed a 6-5 edge in steals. Â In addition, South Plainfield had a 12-3 edge in points scored from beyond the arc. Â Early on, the Junior Patriots looked like a well-oiled machine with a 14-4 run over a span of 9:52 of the first half to break away from an early 2-2 tie. Â During the stretch, Colonia scored 10 of its points off of turnovers.
Mathis then scored five points while Franco and Cisson each added baskets, and Jared Agee netted a free throw to rally the Junior Tigers to a 16-16 tie with 5:48 remaining in the first half. Â However, Colonia retook control of the game with four more points of SPHS turnovers, and a couple second chance points on a possession where the Junior Patriots grabbed five offensive rebounds. Â Cisson then made a three pointer with 29 seconds left in the period, and one of two from the line with no time left to narrow the gap to 26-22 going into the brief intermission.
Colonia went to work quickly with six points in just the first 1:50 of the second half including a layup at the 19:16 mark, a putback at the 18:53 mark, and then a score in the paint at the 18:10 mark for a 32-22 lead. Â The Junior Pats went nearly two minutes without a bucket before connecting on a pull-up jumper with 16:12 left for a 34-22 advantage. Â CHS didn’t get another point until banking in a shot at the 8:49 mark to cap the 10-0 spurt for its largest lead of the game.
Sparked by Mathis, who was very active on both sides of the floor in the latter portion of the game for the Junior Tigers, South Plainfield battled back. Â He had three rebounds and an assist during the stretch. Â The Junior Tigers also had five points from Monroe during the rally. Â After allowing three field goals in just under the first two minutes of the half, SPHS held Colonia to just two field goals over a span of 17:06. Â Fortunately, the Junior Pats were able to survive, and advance.
With the win, Colonia improved to 5-4 overall on the season, and moved on to the quarterfinal round to play top seeded St. Mary’s of Elizabeth. Â Meanwhile, South Plainfield concluded its summer at 3-5.