By Jeff Appelblatt
The second half of the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV semifinals against Sayreville War Memorial High School could have only been reminding the players on Freehold Township High School’s boys’ basketball team of its previous game.
In the prior round — a quarterfinals match with Trenton Central High School — the Patriots were outscored, 16-5, in the fourth quarter. However, their lead was big enough through three quarters to pull out a 47-44 victory.
The Patriots also had an answer each time the Bombers from Sayreville looked poised to take things over.
“We talked about Trenton during a timeout,” Freehold Township coach Brian Golub said after the game, remembering the big lead his team nearly forfeited in the quarterfinals. “We knew [Sayreville] was too good to let them back into it.”
Sayreville did get back into the game, and the lead was nearly erased. Freehold Township, which led by 20 points about halfway through the third quarter, let the Bombers spend the final three minutes of the game within just a few baskets.
Each time Sayreville trimmed the Patriots lead to single digits, including when the score was 70-65 with only 46 seconds remaining, Freehold Township had an answer.
Freehold Township outscored Sayreville from that point, 6-1, holding on to win, 76-66.
For the most part, it was the seniors that made sure the Patriots wouldn’t lose. The usual duo of Stephen Staklinski and Ryan Zyskowski led the offense, scoring 23 and 18 points apiece. They got a huge contribution from fellow-senior Bobby Weise. Weise only scored 13 points over Freehold Township’s first two tournament games but against Sayreville, Weise went off for 16 to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds and six assists.
“It’s a a senior-based team, and they know it’s one-and-done,” Golub said. “They did enough tonight to win against a ridiculously good team.”
Freehold Township’s coach just hoped his team did enough to win against Hunterdon Central Regional High School in the tournament’s final round March 7. He and his team beat the Red Devils in last year’s semifinals but this year, Hunterdon Central (25-3) entered the game against the Patriots at the top of its game.
In this year’s semifinals March 5, Tyler Richardson and the Red Devils rolled over Old Bridge High School, 61-28. The senior led the way with 31 points and 10 boards.
“We went up there [and] beat them in a war [last year],” Freehold Township’s coach said prior to the game. “I’m expecting another war.”