Former Colonia Standout to Play in Northeast Conference
COLONIA, NJ—After a year of playing post-graduate basketball at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, Colonia’s Jordan Derkack is going to the next level. Last Friday, Derkack announced his commitment to Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. Derkack will be playing in the Northeast Conference next fall.
According to an article by Kevin Emmons for Best Available Player last month, Derkack had received offers from Marist, Merrimack, and St. Francis of Pennsylvania. Merrimack had offered Derkack on March 16th. Derkack became the second Colonia hoops standout to attend Spire Academy. Two years ago, Chad Baker attended there before going on to play for Duquesne and now San Diego State.
This past season at Spire Academy, Derkack averaged 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. Among his accomplishments was a career high 38 points versus MOC Valley Prep. Prior to arriving at Spire Academy, Derkack helped lead Colonia to the Karl Anthony Towns-Jay Williams Pod Championship with an 80-64 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas.
Colonia finished 11-4 overall in 2020-21, and second to St. Thomas Aquinas with a 4-1 mark in the GMC White. The only defeat was a 75-63 defeat to the Trojans in Colonia on February 13, 2021. According to stats compiled by NJ.com, Derkack made 77 total field goals including 14 threes, and 35 foul shots for a total of 205 points.
Derkack also compiled 106 rebounds, 72 assists, 30 steals, and 13 blocks in 15 games. He averaged 13.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and nearly a block per game to earn GMC Hoops Player of the Year. He also was selected to the 2021 All Karl Anthony Towns-Jay Williams Pod Team and the 2021 GMC Hoops All Pod First Team.
In the 2021 Karl Anthony Towns-Jay Williams Pod, Derkack scored 31 points on 13 of 20 shots from the floor, and 5 of 6 from the foul line. On top of that, Derkack collected 20 rebounds, 20 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. He ended up averaging 15.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and a block per game according to stats compiled by GMC Hoops via GameChanger.
Derkack also only committed 3 fouls, and had an assist to turnover ratio of 2.5. In the victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in the Championship, Derkack scored 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor and 2 of 3 at the line. He also collected 10 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals while committing only one foul and a turnover.
During his three years at Colonia, Derkack made 167 total field goals including 38 threes, and 117 free throws for a total of 495 points. In addition, Derkack collected 164 rebounds, 124 assists, 60 steals, and 20 blocks in 63 games. He averaged 7.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and nearly a steal per contest.
During Derkack’s time at Colonia, the Patriots were 57-16 overall and 24-4 in the GMC White. Colonia won a GMC White Division title and reached the GMCT Elite Eight twice. The Pats also appeared in the GMCT Final Four, and won the de-facto GMC title in 2021. Colonia also made two NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Finals appearances, and won the 2019 North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Championship.
Derkack is not the only member of his family to play D1 hoops. His father, Gene Derkack, a 1,000 point scorer for Colonia during the mid 1990s, played Division 1 men’s basketball at Florida International. He scored 1146 points in 110 games at FIU according to Sports-Reference. His younger sister, Colonia sophomore Taylor Derkack, helped lead the Lady Patriots to its best season ever at 25-5 this year.
Colonia also finished ranked in the GMC Hoops Top Five in each of those three seasons. Meanwhile, Merrimack was 14-16 overall including 10-8 in the Northeast Conference this past season. The Warriors were slated to play the University of Maryland at Baltimore County in The Basketball Classic on March 16th. Unfortunately, the game was cancelled after the Retrievers withdrew from the tournament.
In the COVID shortened season of 2020-21, Merrimack played only Northeast Conference games, and finished 9-9. Two seasons ago, the Warriors finished 20-11 overall including a 14-4 mark in the NEC in its first year in D-1 competition. Before moving up to NCAA D1, Merrimack finished 22-10 overall and 14-7 in the Northeast-10 in 2018-19. The Warriors defeated New Haven for the Northeast-10 Conference Tourney title. Merrimack then lost to Dominican in the NCAA D2 Eastern Regional Quarterfinals.
Congratulations Jordan, and best of luck at the next level.