On Tuesday January 10th, boys’ varsity basketball took on Cranford High for their eighth game of the 2017 season. Colonia came out strong with a 33 – 32 win over their opponents.
Within the first few seconds of the first quarter Colonia scored an easy 4 points over Cranford. By the end of the quarter Cranford was able bounce back, ending with a final first quarter score of Colonia’s 9 points to Cranford’s 11 points.
Throughout the entirety of the game both teams were neck-and-neck. It seemed as though whenever Colonia gained the lead, Cranford would come right back and balance out the scoreboard.
Between the first and second quarters, both teams consistently committed fouls: Colonia committed four fouls, while Cranford committed three. By the end of the second quarter and the beginning of halftime however, Cranford managed to hold a slim 18 – 15 lead over Colonia.
After halftime ended and the third quarter began, both teams continued to score at a steady pace. Colonia began to pick up the pace towards the end of the quarter however, evening out the score and diminishing Cranford’s slim lead.
Going into the fourth quarter, Colonia earned a leg up over their opponents, achieving a 3-point lead.
Alike any extremely close basketball game, both teams consistently made use of their timeouts in the fourth quarter, taking the opportunity to slow the game down and reevaluate their strategies.
Colonia made some phenomenal plays within the final few moments of the fourth quarter. With less than a minute left in the game, Colonia was in the lead with a score of 32 – 27. Colonia was able to hold the lead all the way until the end of the game despite Crandord’s attempt to win the game with a buzzer beater at the last second.
While both teams played amazing basketball, Colonia proved they are a better team. Colonia’s lead scorer of the night was Luke Valeriano with a whopping 10 of the 33 total points. Timmy Carroll came in second, scoring 8 of the 33 points.
With their win against Cranford, Colonia proved they’re a team to be taken seriously. Fans look forward to see what else boys’ basketball can accomplish. Go Patriots!
