The Alternative Press

SUMMIT, N.J. - The Summit boys basketball season came to a premature and abrupt end on Tuesday night. The Hilltoppers were stunned in the opening round of the North II, Group 3 state sectional playoffs at home by Colonia, 47-41.

With 2:10 left to play, Summit's Mac Weisner made a pair of game-tying free throws, bringing the locals back from a mid-fourth quarter, five-point deficit, making it 41-41. But on the ensuing Colonia possession, Trent Barneys drove to the basket, made a layup, drew the foul and completed the three-point play. Summit never scored again, while Colonia tacked on three more free throws to come away with the six-point shocker.

"I thought we all fought hard, but at the end of the game, we just couldn't put it together to win," Weisner said. "Credit the other team, they did what they had to do to win and we just couldn't do it."

Defensively, the Hilltopper boys played about as well as could be expected. They held the opposition below 50 points (previously 10-2 in games when holding teams to 50 or less), and Colonia made just 35.5 percent of its shots from the floor, though they did sink six three-pointers.

It was the offensive side of the ball which hurt the Hilltoppers. The 41 points scored was the third fewest they tallied in a game all season long, they turned the ball over 20 times, but did make better than 47 percent of their shots from the floor. However, Colonia's three-point advantage, coupled with attempting 11 more shots from the floor proved to be the difference.

"We were missing Ba'Shawn [Mickens], and that was a big blow to our team," Weisner said. "We needed to have more scorers, people needed to look more to score, that's what I was trying to do throughout the game...We needed more of a leader on the offensive side, and we usually look for that in Ba'Shawn."

"We didn't have our point guard today, that's 23 points per game, plus he creates for other people," Summit head coach David White said. "They also had a really good defensive game plan, which was they were not going to allow the ball to go to the post."

Also, late in the fourth, down by three with less than two to play, Summit's offense went cold, going 0-for-4, while committing two late turnovers.

"We worked so hard to get back to tie it, and when they came and hit that three, that just kind of like popped our bubble," Weisner said. "We lost all of our momentum at that point and we couldn't get it back."

Wiesner had a big game for Summit, scoring 18 points to lead all players, with Robbie Walsh and Ryan Sweeney both chipping in eight. Colonia, which improved to 10-15 and will face Irvington on Thursday, was led by 17 points from Barneys, and 16 from Bieriot Thompson.

"They were a very physical team, they got away with a lot, which really negated a lot of what Robbie Walsh could do for us with his size," White said. "They had a great game plan, they executed their game-plan."

The contest was close throughout, with neither team ever taking a big lead. At one point in the third, Summit fell behind 32-27, but then mounted a 7-0 run to close the quarter with a two-point lead. The six point final margin, was the largest lead by either team at any time during the game.

At one point this season, Summit was 18-3 and looking like a dangerous postseason team, with scoring threats all over the floor. But the Hilltoppers dropped their last three games of the season, all coinciding with Mickens's absence. They finished up 18-6, and will return four of their five starters next season.

"It's a very disheartening and disappointing way to end, but we won 18 games this year, we lose five seniors, one of them obviously is Ba'Shawn, but we have a great nucleus to build on," White said.