By Tim Morris
When you have a classic championship basketball game, one team has to come out on top and the other doesn’t.
In the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV championship game March 7, it was Colts Neck High School that came out on top, beating Freehold Township High School on Brendan Clarke’s buzzer-beater, 45-44.
While the Cougars were deserving champions, how could you call the Patriots losers? Both teams gave everything they had that night and left in on the court. It came down to a final shot that, for Colts Neck, went through the basket. Had Clarke misfired on his baseline jumper, the results would have been different.
That’s how narrow the margin of winning and losing is when you have two evenly matched clubs playing.
Nothing that happened in Colts Neck will take away from what the Patriots accomplished this year to head coach Brian Golub.
“This team came within nine seconds of the first state championship in school history in basketball,” he said. “They won a share of the A North title and where only the fourth group in school history to win 20 games. I think that is a pretty good résumé, but it is not what I will remember them for.
“I will remember the day in December when we met in a classroom and discussed the course our season could take and what can the coaching staff do to help them as individuals and as a team. I believe we were 4-4 at the time playing OK up and down. They all answered each question coach [Todd] Smith and I asked honestly and openly. We, as coaches, listened and from that day forward, huge adjustments were made both in practice and in games.”
Golub pointed out that the team focused more on fundamentals and the little things that win games during practices. There was more teaching, and the players became fast learners. The highlight of the season was the way the newcomers and inexperienced players developed over the course of the season, turning the Patriots into a championship team.
“The second thing I will remember about this group is how they always accepted the challenge we put in front of them, whether it was as simple as we need a good intense practice today or this is a huge game (must-win situation), and they answered the bell every time with amazing effort. We all know they will not win every time, but the effort was always there each and every time,” Golub said.
The effort, as well as playing as a team, made the 2015-16 memorable for the Patriots, even if they didn’t bring home the program’s first sectional title. They were still winners.
