Lost-and-Found: CBA Spoils Upset Bid by RBC in OT

MIDDLETOWN — Prior to Saturday, the Christian Brothers Academy basketball team had played four Shore Conference teams this season and to say the Colts beat all four would not properly convey how dominant they were in those four victories.

In those four games, CBA outscored those four Shore Conference teams by an average of 34.5 points and none of the games was closer than 31 points. That included a win over Rumson-Fair Haven — the No. 3 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 and one of just two teams to beat CBA’s opponent on Saturday, No. 4 Red Bank Catholic.

Just when it was starting to look like CBA was poised to steamroll the Shore Conference through the Shore Conference Tournament championship game on Feb. 20, Red Bank Catholic revealed to the Colts their own mortality. The Caseys did not hand CBA its first loss in the Shore Conference this season, but they delivered some hope to the rest of the Shore Conference, including their own players after an inspiring-albeit-heart-breaking performance.

RBC led CBA by 13 points with just over nine minutes left in the game and by five with under two minutes to go, but the Shore’s No. 1 team found a way to spoil the upset bid and escape with a 69-65 overtime win against their rivals from east on Newman Springs Road. CBA’s win marks its third straight win over RBC in the Founder’s Cup rivalry and officially gives the Colts a 6-3 record in the Founder’s Cup game since its inception in 2016-17.

Sophomore Izayah Cooper scored nine of his 16 points during the fourth-quarter comeback, during which the Colts did the bulk of their heavy lifting in erasing a 13-point deficit. Senior Charlie Marcoullier scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime, including a pair of game-tying free throws with 54 seconds left in regulation, followed by a tie-breaking three-pointer to give CBA a 64-61 lead with 1:30 left in overtime.

After hitting the g0-ahead three on the extra session, Marcoullier found junior Avery Lynch for a layup to extend the lead to five. Then, senior Charlie Messano converted a three-point play to extend the CBA lead to 69-61.

Just two days before his late-game heroics vs. RBC, Marcoullier lit up Red Bank Regional for 31 points on 10 three-pointers in an 85-46 win in Little Silver. In that same gym, back on December 12, Red Bank Catholic needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Red Bank to win its season-opener. Similarly, CBA handled Rumson-Fair Haven, 79-48, on Monday — the same Rumson-Fair Haven team that won at RBC before Christmas.

As it turned out, comparing results vs. common opponents provided almost no indication of how Saturday’s Founder’s Cup showdown would unfold.

RBC went up, 47-34, with 1:18 left in the third on a three-pointer by senior James Hankowski, who knocked down four triples in a 12-point performance. On the next CBA possession, Marcoullier answered with a three of his own and with the final seconds ticking away in the quarter, senior Matt Veisz buried a three that he released just before the buzzer to pull the Colts within 47-40 going to the fourth.

The Caseys’ largest lead of the fourth quarter was 50-42 and Cooper eventually pulled CBA even, 52-52, with a pair of free throws with 3:09 left, which marked the first time the Colts did not trail since RBC hit an early three to go up 3-2. RBC junior Tyler Hager answered with a pair of free throws and a scored on a layup to give the Caseys a 56-52 lead with 1:55 to play.

Lynch converted a three-point play to pull CBA within 56-55 and Hager made the first of two free throws for a 57-55 RBC lead with 1:08 left. CBA senior Connor Andree fouled out on the play.

Marcoullier’s free throws with just under a minute to go sent the game to overtime and on RBC’s first possession, Hager made a layup, but was called for an offensive foul that negated the basket and disqualified him from the game with five fouls.

Lynch finished with 12 points, junior David Buley threw in eight and Messano pitched in six for CBA.

Hager — who played for CBA coach Brian Lynch at St. Rose as a contributor off the bench last season — led RBC with 17 points, including the final five of regulation. Senior Ryan Saxton added 15 points and senior James Hankowski knocked down four three-pointers for 12 points in the loss. Junior Ryder Ciorciarri netted nine points and junior Gavin Biasi threw in eight for RBC before fouling out.

With a 5-0 start vs. the Shore Conference this season, CBA head coach Brian Lynch now owns a 37-game winning streak against Shore Conference competition. The first 32 games of that streak came during the past two seasons, when Lynch was the head coach at St. Rose with Hager, Avery Lynch, Cooper and current CBA sophomore Oymere Rene all on his roster. During that 37-game streak, Saturday was the closest a team has come to ending it, followed closely by a win at Manasquan last year in which the Purple Roses erased a 12-point deficit over the final 5:30 to win in regulation, 50-45.

Since the first Founder’s Cup game in 2017, CBA and RBC have played nine official Founder’s Cup games, but have also met three other times. The two rivals faced off twice after the Founder’s Cup game, with CBA beating RBC in the Shore Conference Tournament round of 16 just five days after winning the Founder’s Cup game. Then, in the sectional quarterfinals of the NJSIAA Tournament, RBC shocked CBA in Lincroft to reach the sectional semifinals and beat CBA for the first time in nearly three decades.

The two teams also played in the first round of the truncated Shore Conference playoffs of the 2021, COVID-shortened season, which CBA won on its home floor. Including those additional three games, CBA now owns an 8-4 advantage over RBC since 2016-17. While CBA’s air of invincibility within the Shore Conference took a hit, the Colts remain the No. 1 team for another week and the SCT championship still will still go through them.