Colonia boys hoops strike back against Sayreville
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
The Colonia High School boys basketball team avenged an earlier-season three-point loss to Sayreville with a 50-36 win over the Bombers last week. The Patriots were led offensively by J.J. D'Amico, who pumped in 19 points with five three-pointers.

"J.J. had a great game, with someone dogging him the entire time," Colonia head coachChrisChiera said. "He shot the ball really well frombeyond the arc, and the entire teamplayed exceptional defense."

The Patriots held Sayreville to a season low 36 points and used an early 10- point lead after the first quarter to keep the Bombers at bay.

"We played strong defense for four quarters," Chiera said. "We also got a lot of good inside play. Sayreville has some size, and I thought Jeff Mentzel and Mike Nweme did a great job rebounding the ball and doing the dirty work."

Mentzel finished with 10 points and helped the defense prevent a single Sayreville player fromfinishing in double figures.

Perhaps even more impressive than avenging the loss to SayrevillewasColonia's thrilling win over South Plainfield. On the road, Colonia got a three-pointer fromBrandon Hall with less than a second - eighttenths of a second, to be exact- on the game clock to pull off a 43-42 victory.

The Patriots raced out to a nine-point lead in the second quarter but saw it slip away as South Plainfield fought back in the quarter to even the score. The score remained tight as the biggest lead in the second half never got beyond six points. South Plainfield took the lead with 24 seconds remaining to go up 42-40.

Colonia came down the floor and got a shot off with 10 seconds left to play, but the shot was partially blocked and South Plainfield regained possession of the ball. With 4.8 seconds left, South Plainfield inbounded the ball under the Colonia basket, and Colonia used a foul. With 3.8 seconds to go, Colonia's Jordan Edmonds stole the ball, and Hall called timeout as Edmonds was on his way out of bounds. The Patriots had one last chance, with .8 on the clock.

"We call two consecutive timeouts, because we have them to use and because we want to be sure we give ourselves a chance to get off a shot," Chiera said. "Our first option is to hit J.J. in the corner for either a two or three points. Brandon was really our fourth option, and he ended up being the only guy open. He was in the corner by himself, caught it and let it go."

Hall's shot, to make matters more dramatic, rolled around before going down and the Patriots could celebrate on South Plainfield's court.

"The ball rolled around twice and looked like it was coming out before some force of gravity pulled it down," Chiera said. "Thank goodness for gravity."

Hall ended the game with 10 points and six assists, and Nweme had 13 points and eight rebounds. Mentzel gave the Patriots another 10-point performance to go with his six rebounds.

Colonia will embark on the final week of the regular season with games against Monroe and South Plainfield. The rematch with South Plainfield is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off Feb. 7. Should the Patriots win both games this week, they will be guaranteed a share of the GMC White Division title.

"February is a big month," Chiera said. "It's high school basketball's equivalent of college's March Madness."