Top Seeded St. Joseph’s Defeats Roselle Catholic for League Crown
COLONIA, NJ–On Tuesday evening, GMC Hoops finished another busy day of Hoops coverage by taking in the final two rounds of playoff action at the 2016 Colonia JV Summer League. Top seeded St. Joseph’s climbed back up to the top of the mountain this year by defeating fourth seeded Old Bridge in the semifinals and second seeded Roselle Catholic in the Championship.
The Junior Falcons, which earned a first round bye thanks to its 8-0 record in the regular season, defeated the defending champion Junior Knights of Old Bridge in the first semifinal during the 5:00 PM hour. Roselle Catholic, the second seed thanks to its 7-1 regular season record, took on Colonia in the second semifinal at 6:00 PM, and appeared to have the game in control when it took a 34-21 lead with about 13 minutes to play, and led 42-33 midway through the second half.
However, to Colonia’s credit, the Junior Patriots rallied back with a 9-0 run that was highlighted by a three point play, and then capped by a three pointer from the right corner with 2:43 left to tie the game at 42-42. Colonia ran out of gas and Roselle Catholic, which stepped up its defensive pressure down the stretch finished the game on an 8-0 run including two free throws at the 2:01 and 1:37 marks, a layup with 56 seconds left, and another pair of foul shots with 35 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The finale was a very entertaining and exciting contest between the Roselle Catholic and St. Joseph’s, there were six lead changes and several ties in the opening half while neither team had a lead bigger than six before Roselle Catholic rallied from its 16-10 deficit with a 9-0 run to take a 19-16 lead on a three pointer. St. Joseph’s would answer though with a 19-7 surge over the rest of the half to take a 35-26 lead at the intermission. However, the Junior Lions would answer by opening the second half with a 19-7 surge of its own to take a 45-42 lead.
St. Joseph’s would prevail though by putting together a decisive 25-6 outburst to take a 67-51 lead with under two minutes to play. Roselle Catholic would outscore Joes by a 6-2 margin over the last minute and a half of the game thanks to a couple threes, but the Junior Falcons would prevail by a dozen to claim the title. Below are the results from all three playoff games at Colonia on Tuesday:
2016 Colonia JV Summer League–Playoff Results–Semifinal and Championship
- St. Joseph’s over Old Bridge–Semifinals
- Roselle Catholic 50–Colonia 42–Semifinals
- St. Joseph’s 69–Roselle Catholic 57–Championship
Special thanks to Colonia’s Brian O’Lone for providing his assistance with the coverage of this year’s league.