Thompson and Naguib Lead 10-0 Fourth Quarter Patriots Rally for Win
| Colonia’s Pat Naguib goes up for a layup in the second half against Woodbridge. |
COLONIA, NJ–The fourth quarter of the latest installment of the neighborhood rivlary between Colonia and Woodbridge at Colonia High School on Tuesday night was a tale of two different periods. Â After the Patriots broke away from a 25-25 tie with a 12-4 spurt for a 37-29 lead late in the third period, Woodbridge, still full of confidence after its buzzer beating victory over Sayreville last Thursday night, battled back with an 11-0 run that carried past the midway point of the fourth period for a 40-37 lead.
Following a Colonia timeout with 3:17 remaining in the contest, the third ranked Patriots, which had yet to score at all in the fourth, and had gone without any points for nearly 9 minutes, put together a game deciding rally by scoring the last 10 points of the contest for a 47-40 victory over the seventh ranked Barrons before a packed house of both Colonia and Woodbridge fans at CHS. Â Seniors Jodrell Thompson and Pat Naguib led the way with 4 points each while another senior, J.J. Corbett wrapped up the victory with two free throws with just under 16 seconds to play in the game. Â Naguib also added several blocks over the last 1:13 to help keep Woodbridge’s offense at bay.
Brandon Haines led Colonia with a game high 16 points including 9 in the first half and 7 in the second half. Â Naguib chipped in with 10 points for the winners. Â Zaire Robinson led Woodbridge with a team high 14 points although he didn’t have a field goal over the final two points after scoring 10 of those points in the first half. Â Teammate and sophomore Quassim Glover, the hero of the Sayreville game, chipped in with 9 points. Â Both teams struggled from the perimeter in this contest. Â Neither team could really get into a rhythm from beyond the arc. Â Neither team had a three pointer in the game while Colonia had a 19-14 edge in two point field goals while Woodbridge held a 12-9 edge in points from the foul line. Â The Barrons were actually 12 of 17 from the line while Colonia was 9 of 11.
The game was close throughout with neither team having a lead larger than eight points while there were a total of 10 lead changes and 4 ties in the contest. Â The gym was full of energy and enthusiasm as Woodbridge brought their fans down to support the Barrons while Colonia’s Crazies were back in full force. Â Woodbridge was able to lead after one quarter, 14-12 and 23-20 at the half thanks to Robinson, who had five field goals in the first half including a shot at the end of the first period that got a kind bounce for a two point lead, and then a basket with 0:18 seconds to go in the first half for the three point lead at the intermission. Â Glover also chipped in with 6 first quarter points including a three point play. Â Haines countered for Colonia with 7 of his points in the first stanza including two field goals and 3 of 4 from the foul line.
Colonia took control of the game for much of the third period by first scoring 5 of the initial 7 points of the frame to tie the game at 25-25 with two minutes gone by in the second half, and then putting together the first significant run of the game with a 12-4 spurt over a span of 5:05 capped by a Trevor Bevilacqua to take a 37-29 lead with under a minute to go in the third. Â Colonia’s third quarter tear was the first of three momentum swings in the second half. Â Woodbridge would answer with the final points of the third period on a layup off a steal by Glover with 24 seconds left in the stanza for a 37-31 Patriots lead heading into the fourth. Â Then, the Barrons opened the fourth by scoring the first 9 points of the period for a 40-37 lead. Â The rally included two free throws by Zahneer Shuler (6 points) at the 7:32 mark, one of two from the line by Glover at the 7:12 mark, a putback by Charles Cole with 6:22 to play, and two go ahead foul shots by Robinson with 5:05 remaining.
Woodbridge then capped the run with another basket by Cole, who had the only two Barron field goals in the final period. Â Colonia wouldn’t get on the board in the fourth until the 2:47 mark when Thompson dribbled in from the left side for a layup to narrow the deficit to 40-39. Â After the Pats stopped the Barrons on their next offensive possession, Colonia took the lead for good as Thompson drew a foul, and made both free throws for a 41-40 edge with 2:23 remaining. Â Naguib took over after that with 4 of his points and 3 of his blocks in the last 1:48 of the game. Â He hit a short hook shot from the right low block at the 1:48 mark, blocked a shot at the 1:13 mark, scored on a putback with 55 seconds to play, and then blocked two more shots at the 36.36 second mark, and the 34.33 second mark. Â Corbett then wrapped things up with two free throws at the 15.86 second mark for the 47-40 victory. Â With the win, Colonia improved to 10-2 overall including an 8-0 mark in the GMC White while Woodbridge, which had its three game winning streak snapped, fell to 8-4 overall including a 4-2 mark in divisional play.
Colonia also won regular season bragging rights in Woodbridge Township by going 3-0 against the other two schools in the town including Kennedy (57-40 win on January 5th) and two wins over Woodbridge (57-45 on December 20th and 47-40 on Tuesday night). Â Woodbridge was 1-2 against the other two schools in the town with its double overtime win over Kennedy last week (67-58), and the Mustangs ended up 0-2.