Boys basketball: Colonia dominates to end St. Joseph's five-year GMCT run

PISCATAWAY – For 32 minutes on Thursday night the Colonia High School boys basketball team put on a near-perfect performance against St. Joseph in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final.

The Patriots played to their style – they executed in the half court, forced turnovers on defense, held St. Joseph in check offensively, and pushed the tempo when they needed to.

Senior guard J.J. Corbett scored a game-high 20 points to go with six rebounds, four assists, and four steals to earn tournament MVP honors as second-seeded Colonia defeated the five-time defending champion and top-seeded Falcons 54-38, claiming its first GMCT title since 2006 and putting an end to a dynasty in the process.

"We were in the Red Division for four years, took a lot of losses," Colonia ninth-year coach Chris Chiera said. "For these guys it's just a bittersweet win for them."

Junior guard Chase Barneys added 10 points while senior guard Jodrell Thompson netted eight and Pat Naguib and Trevor Bevilacqua each added eight as Colonia (21-4) never relented.

"I've never seen us so motivated before in my life," Thompson said. "We knew that we had a great opportunity this year. We've set this since we were freshmen, so we really wanted to just fulfill this dream and we got the chance to do it tonight."

The Patriots led 15-12 through one quarter and 24-19 at the half, ending each quarter with baskets at the buzzer to increase the lead.

Colonia continued in the third, holding the St. Joseph offense in check and closing the quarter on a 7-0 run to grab a 35-25 lead heading into the fourth, where St. Joseph never got closer than within nine points.

"They were the better team today," said 10th-year St. Joseph coach Dave Turco, who was going for his 400th career win in Thursday night's final. "Came out hot, which we didn't want them to do. They didn't let us do some things that we wanted to, but they just took it to a whole other level and we never had a response for them."

The St. Joseph loss also snapped its 42-game winning streak it had against GMC opponents.

St. Joseph (21-4) junior guard Breein Tyree, arguably the conference's best player, finished with a team-high 14 points, while senior forward Marcus Ashamole added 14 as well as Colonia held Tyree in check with just five points through the first three quarters as the Falcons could never get in a flow offensively.

"We just wanted to cause a lot of turnovers on defense and stop Breein on defense," Corbett said, as the Patriots forced 21 turnovers on the night. "That's their main player that they got back from last year. We knew if we could stop him, then we could win it."

Colonia now will look to carry this momentum into the state tournament – they're the No. 1 seed in its section, North 2 Group III.

"This is a great confidence booster going into states, knowing that we're the best team in the GMC and now teams have to watch out for Colonia," Thompson said. "They have to show us that respect when they come to our town."

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@mycentraljersey.com