New Egypt stuns top-seeded Salem in overtime for SJ Group I final; 14th-seeded Warriors knocked off 3, 6, 2 and 1 along the way
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
SOUTH
New Egypt 48. Salem 46 (OT)
CENTRAL
Thrive Charter 48, Point Pleasant Beach 23
NORTH I
Waldwick 66, Pequannock 61
NORTH II
Shabazz 95, Arts 72
GROUP I FINAL FOUR
March 11
New Egypt (15-14) vs. Thrive Charter (21-5) at Monroe H.S., 5 p.m.
Waldwick (21-9) vs. Shabazz (27-1) at Franklin H.S., 6 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM – The clock struck midnight twice for Cinderella Saturday and she’s still dancing.
New Egypt continued its magical run through the Group 1 basketball playoffs Saturday, knocking off the biggest of the single-digit seeds it’s been beating in the post-season when it took down top-seeded Salem 48-46 in overtime.
The 14th-seeded Warriors (15-14), over .500 for the first time since Jan. 23, extended their Hoosiers story into the Group I semifinals, where they’ll play Central Jersey champion Thrive Charter (21-5) Wednesday at Monroe High School.
The Rams (22-5) had chances to win or tie it at the end of regulation and overtime, but their shots didn’t fall. Their dream of winning a sectional title turned into a pumpkin when they missed two free throws with 0.8 seconds left in overtime.
Warriors coach Mick Hughes shared afterwards that his 2-year-old daughter, Penny, “demanded” he read her a story last night. Her choice: Cinderella.
You can’t make this up.
“She knew we were playing today,” Hughes said realizing the irony, “but it all happened and it happened because these guys believe in themselves. We had a little bit of a disappointing regular season, but we thought we had the talent to make a run.
“Just from jump in the playoffs we liked what we saw right away and once we won that first game against Haddon Twp., who was a great ball club, we kind of just said to ourselves why not us. We just believed. That’s really it. It’s funny how far that can take you.”
The Warriors have mowed down top seeds like the power points didn’t matter. They beat the 3, 6, 2 and 1 seeds (with a combined record of 81-29 at the time of their game) along the way. Thrive was the No. 1 seed in Central Jersey.
“After we won that first round we knew it wasn’t a Cinderella, we were actually here to play some good basketball,” senior Nolan Arnold said. “We started locking down on defense, started making shots and … we knew we had a shot. No more Cinderella now.”
Salem (22-6) was playing in the sectional final for the first time since 2022 – coach Anthony Farmer’s first season with the team – and looking to win its first sectional title since 2008.
Farmer described the game as a “heavyweight fight” and neither team gave an inch. There were 11 ties and nine lead changes. The game was tied at the end of the second, third and fourth quarters. The Rams last led 44-42 with 1:52 left in regulation.
“We had opportunities,” Farmer said. “We had chances to make some big plays, to make some big shots and we just came up short. We just didn’t make the plays. We left them on the floor. That’s what happens in a tight game like this.
“We never got a run when we were able to get into our stuff and execute. We were always fighting, clawing back, trading blows. We couldn’t get our run.”
The Warriors had a chance to take all the momentum midway through the third quarter when a six-point lead could’ve gone to nine after Arnold made both ends of an intentional foul, but they turned over the ensuing possession and never got a shot. The Rams stormed back to tie it by quarter’s end and the slugging continued in front of a sold-out crowd.
Arnold, New Egypt’s all-time leading scorer headed to Iona for baseball, hit two free throws with 21.9 seconds left in overtime to give the Warriors a 48-46 lead. He also hit the game-tying layup with 38 seconds left in regulation after the Warriors scrambled to save a ball from going out of bounds.
“Early on in the season foul shooting wasn’t my strong suit,” Arnold said. “During practice we’ll shoot foul shots non-stop now and that definitely helped late in this game. I just told myself to relax, I told myself I’m going to make these two and we’re going to win the game.”
The Rams had a chance to win it at the end of regulation and win it or tie at the end of overtime. Neziah Spence got through traffic and put up a runner in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter but his shot hit the rim. In overtime, after Arnold’s go-ahead free throws, Xavier McGriff took a 3-pointer from in front of Salem’s bench with four seconds left that went long and Fatah Paige was fouled trying to put back the rebound with 0.8 seconds remaining.
Paige needed to make both free throws to extend the game. He missed the first shot and the Rams were called for a lane violation anticipating a rebound on the second miss effectively ending the game.
“There was a lot of pressure, it just felt like there was a lot of pressure, and I let it get to me,” Paige said. “There’s just a lot of emotion right now. It’s going to take me a little while to move past this, but I’ll get past it.”
NEW EGYPT 48, SALEM 46
NEW EGYPT (15-14): Nolan Arnold 4 12-13 20, Clyde Ferris 6 2-4 17, Cam Cassandrea 0 0-0 0, Ryan Reynolds 2 0-0 6, Paul Kennedy 1 0-0 2, Dylan Harper 1 0-0 2, Jake Milicia 0 1-4 1. Totals 14 15-21 48.
SALEM (22-6): Donnie Weathers 0 0-0 0, Xavier McGriff 0 0-0 0, Neziah Spence 5 2-2 16, Tymear Lecator 3 1-2 8, Fatah Paige 2 2-5 6, Deshaan Williams 3 4-8 10. BJ Robbins 0 2-2 2, Darrell Johnson 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 11-19 46.
| New Egypt | 11 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 4- | 48 |
| Salem | 9 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 2- | 46 |
Top photo: New Egypt coach Mick Hughes celebrates with his players after they beat Salem in overtime for the South Jersey Group I basketball title Saturday.
Riverview Sports News 