Gonzalez-DeOlio’s Late FTs Thwart Metuchen Rally
MIDDLESEX, NJ–Both Middlesex and Metuchen have had their share of close games and near misses this year. Â The Blue Jays lost both of their games to Blue Division leading Carteret by five points or less. Â The Bulldogs also lost to Carteret by two, and Kennedy in overtime in another GMC Blue contest earlier this month. Â Metuchen did have a nice upset win recently at Spotswood to add to its resume, and spark a recent win streak.
Heading into Wednesday night’s game, the Jays and Bulldogs appeared headed in opposite directions. Â Middlesex had started the season well with four wins in its first five games including an opening night victory over the Bulldogs as well as a win over Dunellen in the Championship Game of the Shello/Santy Tournament over the holidays. Â Since then though, the Jays had lost five of their last seven including a one point loss at Carteret on Monday evening. Â Meanwhile, Metuchen had been riding a roller coaster ride, and was 5-4 after losing to Bishop Ahr, 52-25 on January 15th, but then won four straight including a 44-41 upset of Spotswood on the road.
For much of the game, Middlesex lulled the Bulldogs to sleep en route to building up a 47-33 lead with 5:40 remaining in the contest. Â However, Metuchen battled back with a 19-4 tear over a span of 4:07 to take a 52-51 lead with just over a minute and a half left. Â The game went back and forth a bit until senior forward, Emilio Gonzalez-DeOlio netted two free throws with 26.6 seconds left to lift the Blue Jays to a very important, 55-54 victory in one of the wildest endings to a basketball game that GMC Hoops has witnessed in a long time. Â Gonzalez ended up with 12 points while Sean Sarnoski led Middlesex with 13 including two threes and Jarret Bogus chipped in with 11. Â Evan Collier led Metuchen with 23 points including 11 during the late rally while Artie Flaherty Jr. chipped in with 12 points before fouling out with under 30 seconds to play.
Metuchen appeared to have picked up right where it had left off during this recent winning streak with a 13-10 showing in the first quarter to open the game. Â Both Evan Collier and Brian Eustace had four points for the Bulldogs in the frame. Â Each team had four different players score in the opening stanza. Â However, the Jays turned the table on the Dawgs by limiting the visitors to just two field goals in the second quarter during an 18-7 showing to take a 28-20 halftime lead. Â Bogus had 7 of his points in the second while Sarnoski chipped in with 5 including the first of his two threes on the night. Â In the third quarter, Middlesex increased its lead to a dozen thanks to a 5-1 start to the second half that included a basket by Bogus and a three pointer by Sarnoski for a 33-21 score as Metuchen called for time with 4:42 left in the period.
The Bulldogs managed to trim the deficit to nine points entering the fourth quarter, but then Middlesex opened the final frame with an 8-3 run over a span of just 2:20 for its largest lead of the game at 47-33. Â Then, the contest went crazy as Metuchen made a frantic rally. Â The Bulldogs got three treys from Collier including one that banked in from the left wing with about 2:25 remaining to pull within one at 49-48. Â The run started modestly with Metuchen scoring 7 of 9 points over a span of just two minutes to narrow the deficit to 49-40. Â Highlighting the run was a three from the right corner by Collier, and a steal for a layup by Tom Chalker (7 points) with 3:40 left. Â Following a Middlesex timeout, the Bulldogs continued to go to work by scoring the next 8 points including two more threes to pull within a point with under two and a half minutes to go.
Middlesex then got a quick layup by Sarnoski to go back up by three only to have Metuchen respond with the next four points including a layin by Collier that capped the 19-4 rally and put the Bulldogs on top for the first time since early in the second quarter at 52-51 with just over a minute and a half left. Â Middlesex went back out in front at 53-52 with a off-balanced shot in the paint by Gonzalez-DeOlio at the 57 second mark. Metuchen answered though when Flaherty Jr. was fouled with 40.6 seconds left, and made both free throws to retake the lead at 54-53. Â The big moment in the game came when Gonzalez-DeOlio was fouled by Flaherty Jr. with 26.6 seconds to go. Â Not only did Gonzalez-DeOlio put Middlesex ahead by making both free throws, but the Jays caught a break with Flaherty Jr. fouling out. Â Following a Metuchen timeout with 14.5 seconds to play, the Bulldogs set up for a final shot, but the attempt from the left wing with time running out was off the mark, and Middlesex escaped with the 55-54 victory.
The contest ended up just about as even as it could get. Â Both teams outscored each other in two of the quarters played. Â Middlesex had six different players get into the scorebook while Metuchen had five. Â The Blue Jays enjoyed an edge in two point field goals (19-12), but Metuchen outscored the home team by a margin of 18-12 from beyond the arc and by a 12-5 margin from the foul line. Â With the victory, Middlesex improved to 7-6 overall, 5-4 in conference, and 4-4 in the GMC Blue. Â Metuchen had its four game winning streak snapped, and dropped to 9-5 overall, 6-5 in conference, and 5-5 in divisional play.