Boys Basketball: Linden falls in North 2 Group IV final

NEWARK - For the past two years, the road to a sectional title has led through Newark East Side. On Monday night, the Linden High School boys basketball team hit a road block.

The third-seeded Tigers, who were looking to win their sixth-straight sectional title, fell to top-seeded Newark East Side 57-52 in the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV final. 

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"We came in expecting to win, we both knew we were going to play each other in the sectional final, so it wasn't any secret and we came in here expecting to win," Linden coach Phil Colicchio said. "I have nothing but respect for their coaches and their players. Their kids remind me so much of our team, and I think if we played each other 10 times, maybe it would be five and five, but they won today, they were the better team by far and they deserved to win." 

Tavon Jones led the Tigers with 22 points and six rebounds, and he finishes as Linden's second all-time leading scorer with 1,766 points. He was instrumental in the fourth quarter as Linden staged an epic comeback.

Down 45-24 with 7:22 left in the game, the Tigers went on a 16-2 run, with 10 points coming from Jones. That run pulled Linden to within seven, 47-40, with 4:29 remaining. 

Shamir Johnson scored four-straight points to give Newark East Side a 51-40 lead, but another basket from Jones cut it to 51-42 with 3:02 to play. Mikah Johnson scored for a 53-42 Red Raider lead, and three-straight Linden points cut it to 53-45 with 2:15 left. 

"It's kind of what I said to to the kids at halftime, we're trying to run plays instead of making plays. They're making plays, let's stop trying to run plays and go out there and just make plays and we just finally figured it out, put our heads down and go," Colicchio said of the second half. "We had them back on their heels a little bit, it's hard sometimes to play with a lead. They always kept us at bay but we just started making plays."

Newark East Side (28-3) then went to the free throw line six straight times, hitting three shots for a 56-45 advantage with 1:37 left. Myles Ruth was fouled on a 3-point shot and made two, cutting the lead to nine, 56-47, with 1:27 to go. 

The Red Raiders went to the line four more times, hitting one shot for a 57-47 lead with 22.1 seconds remaining. Linden's Mikey Watkins went to the line with 6.3 seconds left and hit both shots, then hit a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left for the 57-52 final. 

Newark East Side led 17-12 after the first quarter and held Linden to only six points in the second quarter en route to a 31-18 lead at halftime. 

"We cut this game into a five-point game, how I don't know. We were down 24, I'm sure everyone in the gym thought we were going to get blown out of the building and lose by 40," Colicchio said. "Somehow we fought right to the end, but that's a sign of us, we're five-time champions, we weren't going to let East Side win it that easy, we're going to make them battle to the end."

Watkins recorded 13 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Ruth added 12 points, two rebounds and two steals. 

Linden, which won back-to-back Group IV finals the past two seasons, finishes with a 22-7 record, going 5-3 in the Union County Conference Watchung Division. The Tigers also advanced to the Union County Tournament semifinals as the fourth-seed. 

"For 21 years we pride ourselves on being the small guy on the block, going against Roselle Catholic and St. Pats and those teams all these years, we thrive on that, it's the same thing East Side does," Colicchio said. "I would not be surprised if I see them win a Tournament of Champions, they play together, they won the Essex County Tournament this year, this was their year I guess."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego