Sloane, Belcher Set Tone, Colts Neck Earns First Sectional Final Trip Since 2018

COLTS NECK — Lukas Sloane and his Colts Neck boys basketball teammates read the quotes coming from the Freehold Boro players over the last week, including after defeating Red Bank — the No. 1 seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III bracket — over the weekend to set up a sectional semifinal showdown at Colts Neck Tuesday night.

The Colonials were talking like a team that had already won a championship, perhaps because many of them already did last season, when they won the Central Group III section and reached the Group III final. Sloane, however, sensed a team that was not giving him and his team credit.

Rather than clap back with his words, Sloane, fellow senior Bryce Belcher and the rest of the Cougars let their games do the talking.

Sloane turned in one of the best performances of his high school career Wednesday, scoring a game-high 27 points, hauling in nine rebounds and dishing out three assists to lead fourth-seeded Colts Neck over No. 9 Freehold Boro, 59-47, sending Colts Neck to its first NJSIAA sectional championship game since the 2017-18 season.

“We challenged this group over the summer and they never flinch,” Colts Neck coach Steve Jannarone said. “They move the ball and they trust each other. And then Lukas for three years has had some sort of ailment or injury, but this summer, I had no worries about his work ethic. He’ll spend four hours shooting, so when people ask ‘Where did that three-point shot come from?’; well, it came from all the work in the summer.”

Belcher, meanwhile, played the role of secondary scorer with 12 points while working the glass with 10 rebounds, blocking two shots and drawing the defensive assignment of guarding Freehold Boro senior Brian Tassey — the 6-foot-4, four-year starter, 1,000-point scorer and the Colonials’ leading scorer this season.

“Bryce is a just an elite defender,” Jannarone said. “He can match their athleticism and then Lukas is a great athlete. Jack Freid has done a great job on kids. We have the luxury where we can switch when we need to and stay matched up. Plus, all five of those kids on the floor are top-of-their-class, National Honors Society, so to be able to to just say and them do is just an unreal blessing for me as a coach. This is a special group — not just on the court, but off the court. They are just unbelievable.”

Tassey exuded supreme confidence when talking about his team’s chances to win a second straight Central Jersey Group III championship after beating Middletown North in the first round of the Central Jersey Group III playoffs. Classmate Qua’Mir Everett spoke of the chip of Freehold Boro’s collective shoulder after losing to Ramapo in the 2024 Group III final and the team’s obsession with getting back to the state final.

It was understandable confidence and ambition from a team that proved worthy of it during last year’s state playoffs, but it also served as fuel for a Cougars team that has been battling for respect all year long. Sloane is the top scorer back from a 2023-24 team that graduated its top two scorers — Vova Trotsko and Mike Belcher — and coming into play Tuesday, the Cougars sported a a 1-5 record against teams currently ranked in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 and 1-5 vs. teams that were ranked at the time Colts Neck played them. Both wins were over No. 10 ranked teams, with Red Bank Catholic currently sitting at No. 10 and Ranney owning the No. 10 spot when Colts Neck beat the Panthers on Jan. 21.

“I really shouldn’t be looking at my phone on game day,” Sloane joked, referencing the back-and-forth banter between the two Freehold Regional District programs in various media. “I know how much hype they had coming into the game and how much people were rooting against us, talking about Freehold Boro winning back-to-back championships. I kind of took that to heart, because of all the hard work we put into this season. This is a good group of guys and I love them all. We just put in so much work together that I think we deserve this win.”

Tuesday, of course, was about more than just respect for the Cougars, who currently occupy the No. 9 spot in the SSI rankings and were the No. 9 seed while they made a run to the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals in February. Four seniors occupy spots in the starting lineup and six of the eight players to see the floor for the Cougars on Tuesday are seniors, so each game from here on out is played with their high school careers on the line and a legacy at stake for a team in search of its first sectional title since 2016.

Cougars In Attack Mode

Colts Neck made its offensive approach to Tuesday’s game clear from the jump. In the 40-38 quarterfinal win over Hopewell Valley, the Cougars held Hopewell scoreless for the final 8:44 of the game and won despite scoring just four points in the fourth quarter thanks to a game-winning putback by junior Dillon Younger at the buzzer.

On Tuesday, any rust that showed in the fourth quarter on Saturday wore off. Belcher blew by his defender for the first basket of the game and while Freehold Boro pulled even on two occasions during the first quarter, Colts Neck did not trail. From there, the Cougars got a three-pointer from senior Jack Freid, followed by a series of isolation drives to the basket on repeat — mostly by Sloane. Colts Neck shot 21-for-48 (43.75 percent) from the field and 18 of its 21 field goals were in the paint. Freid and Sloane each hit threes in the first half, but the Cougars shot just 2-for-15 from beyond the three-point arc for the game — a malady that Colts Neck remedied by converting its many ventures into the lane against Freehold Boro’s defense.

“Our mindset is really just to attack the rim on offense,” Belcher said. “Lukas Sloane does a great job of that every single play. They had a lot of size on us, but that didn’t really matter to us. We just have more heart.”

“We are a very diverse team,” Sloane said. “We have some on days, some off days, depending on what we do. We could shoot five percent from three, but we could also shoot 40 percent from three. It really just depends on the day and every time we have those situations, we just take advantage of them. We know Freehold Boro is a tall, lanky team. I didn’t think I was going to be able to drive that much, but the game said otherwise.”

Although it never led in the game, Freehold Boro remained within five points of Colts Neck for the entire first half and trailed, 30-26, at the break thanks to a hot start for senior Aidan Hamlin-Woolfolk, who scored 10 points in the half, including a rim-rocking dunk that resulted in a technical foul after he was cited for taunting during his dunk celebration.

Aidan Hamlin-Woolfolk with the highlight of an entertaining first quarter. He throws it down and picks up a tech. Colts Neck however leads Freehold 18-16. pic.twitter.com/tFjlCUwjlm

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 4, 2025

That technical foul would come into play when Hamlin-Woolfolk picked up his second foul of the half and was back-and-forth between the bench and the court the rest of the way due to foul trouble, with the Colonials senior picking up his third foul early in the third quarter and his fourth with over four minutes to go in the fourth. Colts Neck kept Hamlin-Woolfolk quiet after halftime, with the 6-foot-5 forward scoring just one point on a free throw early in the third. He finished with 11 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

Tassey, meanwhile, reached the 20-point mark against Belcher, but it came thanks to a series of contested shots in the first half and as the result of scoring off Freehold Boro’s full-court press in the second. Tassey shot 7-for-15 for the game and also made an impact on the other end with five of Freehold Boro’s nine blocked shots.

“Tassey’s one of the best players in the Shore,” Belcher said. “Coach gave me the assignment and I feel like I did the best I could. In the end, we prevailed. We couldn’t stop him, but we were able to contain him a little bit.”

Altogether, Colts Neck held Freehold Boro’s big three of Tassey, Hamlin-Woolfolk and Everett to a combined 37 points, which is six below their combined average for the season. The Cougars also made sure the supporting cast did not wreck the game like it did vs. Red Bank on Saturday, when Joe Haney, Mike Cush, Damier Lester and Max Girandola combined for 30 points. On Tuesday, that quartet combined for 10 points, with Haney scoring four to lead the group.

Despite Colts Neck slowing down Freehold Boro’s offense, the Colonials still had a chance to claw back in the fourth quarter after Colts Neck built its lead to 44-33 early in the fourth quarter by holding the Colonials to seven points over the first 10 minutes of the second half. Tassey, however, hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to single-digits and Freehold Boro unleashed its full-court pressure to create a pair of layups by Tassey and Haney to make it 44-40.

Younger, however, answered with a pair of free throws — part of an effort in which the junior scored nine points, handed out four assists, picked off three steals and handed Freehold Boro’s pressure throughout the game without letting the Colonials defense cause pure chaos. His steady performance in Tuesday’s sectional final followed his heroics in the final seconds on Saturday, when he gave Colts Neck its fourth win on a basket that either won or tied the game within a second of the fourth-quarter or overtime clock expiring.

“That all starts with Lukas and Bryce,” Jannarone said of Colts Neck’s ability to win close games. “They are both so calm, so poised and so confident, that it rubs off on the other kids. When they are going out there like, ‘We got this,’ the other kids feed off of it.”

Sloane then found Belcher for a layup to make it 48-40, to which Tassey responded with a free throw on the other end, followed by a steal by Everett and an and-one by Tassey to pull the Colonials within 48-43.

Tassey’s free throw, however, spun out, which did not allow Freehold Boro to set up its press again. Colts Neck pushed the ball into front court, settled in for a lengthy possession, which ended when Lukas Sloane found his freshman brother, Nate Sloane, cutting along the baseline for a reverse finish and a 50-43 Cougars lead.

“It was a little interesting, maybe a little too interesting,” Sloane said. “I can’t say I didn’t get a little nervous, because I did, but I trust my teammates so much. I’m making the cuts because I know they are guarding hard. Sometimes, you just have to get out the way and let others cook.”

Colts Neck worked another stop on defense and Freehold Boro was whistled for an intentional foul on the other end, which effectively marked the beginning of the end for the Colonials and their championship defense. Sloane hit the two free throws, drew another foul on the ensuing possession and hit those two as well for a 54-43 Colts Neck lead that Freehold Boro could not overcome.

A Night to Remember for Lukas Sloane

In all, Sloane went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help Colts Neck close out the win. The senior finished the game 9-for-18 from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line.

Sloane’s performance in the state tournament has helped him make up for a limited effort in the Shore Conference Tournament, during which he played through ankle and hamstring ailments. In two Shore Conference games, Sloane scored seven points apiece in a win over Wall and in a loss to Manasquan. Prior to his initial ankle injury, Sloane was averaging 18.4 points and 6.9 rebounds. Over his next seven games between his return and Colts Neck’s final regular-season game, the senior averaged 10.8 points and 6.9 rebounds.

“Those injuries were rough,” Sloane said. “The Shore Conference Tournament was such a good opportunity to play Manasquan. I wish I was a hundred percent for that, but that just fueled the fire even more for me in the state tournament, because I knew I lost an opportunity to be at a hundred percent vs. Manasquan. To be healthy and to have a chance to give it my all, that’s all I could ask for.”

During the state tournament, Sloane has returned to form. He has reached the 20-point mark in all three Colts Neck wins and will head into the sectional final Friday against Ewing averaging 24.7 points, nine rebounds, and 3.75 assists.

“I don’t think anybody in the Shore can really guard Lukas Sloane,” Belcher said. “He is tough and he is a bucket. We’ve got guys coming off the bench, guys in the game who can really go score the ball. It doesn’t matter who it is.”

The junior who played the role of third option when Colts Neck was at full strength a year ago has become one of the top lead guards in the Shore Conference as a senior thanks to improvements in his shooting and passing to complement his crafty, left-hand-dominant handle, speed and strength.

“I’m ecstatic that this group is healthy and has a chance to do what they are doing right now,” Jannarone said. “We graduated a lot of production but we are back because these kids are just unbelievable.”

One Win from a Championship

For the fourth time in its relatively short history as a program, Colts Neck will host its fourth NJSIAA sectional championship game while playing in its seventh. Seven years ago, Colts Neck was in a similar situation in the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament when the Cougars reached the final when the bracket broke in its favor and kept them at home throughout the sectional playoffs. Colts Neck played another Mercer County team with a rich tradition in Trenton, which beat the Cougars, 42-41.

On Friday evening, the Cougars will chase just their second sectional title in program history, with Colts Neck now nine years removed from Brandon Clarke’s buzzer-beater to beat Freehold Township and give the Cougars their first ever title. Ewing has gone on the road for wins over Westampton Tech in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Burlington Township on Tuesday and will be seeking to capture a sectional championship trophy for the first time since 2017. Ewing lost to Nottingham in the 2023 Central Group III final and to Freehold Boro in last year’s sectional semifinal.

“Home or away, we bring the same effort every single game,” Sloane said. “Look at the tapes, I think any coach will see we’re just a tough team, no matter where you play us or who we’re up against.”

This is the first sectional final for Colts Neck since its first head coach and 621-game winner Lou Piccola retired at the end of the 2021-22 season — his 24th at Colts Neck after coaching at Xaverian in Brooklyn. Jannarone was Piccola’s longtime assistant, left the program to coach the Colts Neck girls team, then returned as the boys head coach after Piccola’s retirement.

Jannarone was an assistant coach on Colts Neck’s only sectional championship team and also led the Cougars girls team to a Central Group III final in 2019, which Colts Neck lost to Westampton Tech. This will be a second chance for Jannarone to win a title as a head coach and he could not think of a better squad to lead into a championship game.

“I love this group,” Jannarone said. “They are a lot of fun to coach. They listen, they do whatever you ask, they are great with each other. These are the groups you want to see succeed.”