Boys Basketball – Sayreville Beats Middletown North in Final Seconds to Reach Buc Final

LITTLE SILVER - At two different points of Wednesday's Albert E. Martin Buc Holiday Classic semifinal, it looked like both Middletown North and Sayreville were poised to pull away with a convincing win. Instead, the two resilient teams went down to the wire.

Bombers 6-foot-8 senior center Jahsim Floyd scored on a pass from Xavier Townes with 15 seconds left and Sayreville held on to beat the Lions, 65-64, in a wild Buc Classic semifinal.

Middletown North had two chances to win the game on its final possession, but sophomore Rob Higgins missed two free throws with 4.7 seconds left and senior John Tomassetti's three-pointer rimmed out just before time expired.

Higgins led the Lions with 19 points, while senior Marc Cerbo added 17 and junior Sky Cherry poured in 15 off the bench. Higgins scored 15 points in the first half and Cerbo netted 11 in the third quarter.

Cherry hit two key shots down the stretch for Middletown North - the first with a layup to break a 60-60 tie with three minutes left and later a jumper to put the Lions up 64-63 with just under two minutes to play.

Ryan O'Leary led Sayreville with a game-high 27 points, including five three-pointers.

Both teams had a double-digit lead at one point in the game before the action tightened up in the final minutes. Middletown North led 32-22 midway through the second quarter before Sayreville unleashed a 11-0 run to take the lead.

The Lions scored the final four points of the second quarter to take a 36-33 lead to the break, but Sayreville burst out of the halftime locker room with 13 unanswered points to take a 46-36 lead.

The Bombers built the lead to 51-40 before Middletown North countered with its biggest punch. The Lions erased the 11-point deficit with a 13-2 run to close the third and scored the first seven points of the fourth to make it a 20-2 run that gave Middletown North a 60-53 lead with 6:32 left in the game. Sayreville then scored seven straight points to tie the game at 60 before the teams traded baskets over the final three minutes.