Boys basketball: Colonia holds off Chatham to claim sectional title
WOODBRIDGE – Staring at a six-point deficit going into the fourth quarter of the NJSIAA North 2 Group III championship game, the Colonia High School boys basketball team needed to quickly change the tide against Chatham on Tuesday night.
They did just that, forcing turnovers on each of Chatham's first three possessions of the fourth quarter that led to seven straight points and they never relented in front of a sold out home crowd.
Up two with 5.5 seconds left, J.J. Corbett missed a pair of free throws for the top-seeded Patriots but second-seeded Chatham never got a shot up to either tie or take the lead in the closing seconds as Graham DeLaney lost control of the ball in the backcourt and time expired as Colonia stormed the court in celebration of its 45-43 win.
It's the fifth sectional title all-time for the Patriots and first since 2007 as Colonia will face North 1 champion Bergenfield on Thursday in the Group III semifinals, tentatively slated for 8 p.m. at East Orange Campus.
"Coach was telling us the whole game it was going to be a roller coaster game," said Colonia senior guard Jodrell Thompson, who finished with 12 points. "There's going to be a lot of highs and lows and that was one of our low points, but we had to stick through it and stay together. That's what we always say."
Senior guard J.J. Corbett led Colonia (24-4) with a team-high 13 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter including a left wing 3-pointer with ice cold veins with 6:20 remaining that capped Colonia's 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter and gave them its first lead of the second half, 36-35.
"We just wanted to turn the defense up, make them turn the ball over and we can get our points from playing D," Corbett said.
Chatham (20-9) quickly answered to regain the lead but Colonia scored the next five points to hold a 41-37 lead with 2:30 left to play as they would carry the lead the rest of the way.
"I think these games and even the timeouts and the quarter intermission there, there wasn't a lot of, 'Hey we're doing this wrong, we're doing this bad.' I think we just needed to keep our composure," Colonia coach Chris Chiera said. "It's a state championship game at home. These guys have been living their whole lives for this thing."
"This is a senior laden team that has four-year, three-year, two-year starters that have been around and (Chatham) is a little bit younger and the ball bounced our way at the end."
With Jack Rooney at the line for a 1-and-1 for Chatham, Thompson committed a lane violation on the first attempt that was missed, as Rooney went on to make the subsequent following two free throws to pull the Cougars within 41-39 with 2:02 left.
After Chatham had opportunities to tie the game, but couldn't convert, it came down to free throws in the final 40 seconds for Colonia – the Patriots went just a collective 3-of-8 from the line during that span, but held on with their defense in that span as Chatham's only points came on a DeLaney 3 with 6.5 seconds left that brought the score to 45-43.
Colin McKenna scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for Chatham as he was a force early on in the post. DeLaney and Rooney each added nine points apiece for the Cougars.
Chapman added eight points off the bench for Colonia while Chase Barneys chipped in six.
"I don't even know, it like an emotional roller coaster right now," Thompson said. "I don't' know if I wanted to cry because of all the hard work or like full of pure joy because of the win, but it's indescribable."
Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@mycentraljersey.com