Middletown South Rallies Past Marlboro To Claim Sectional Title

Photos courtesy of Tom Smith: @ www.tspsportsimages.com

MIDDLETOWN – Down 56-42 after a Jessica Riepe 3-pointer thirty seconds into the fourth quarter, top-seeded Middletown South staged one of the most memorable comeback victories in program history.

The high-flying Eagles defeated second-seeded Marlboro 80-77 in overtime to capture the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV championship on their home court in front of a raucous partisan crowd while presenting head coach Tom Brennan with his 400th career victory in the process.

“To win a state championship on top of 400 wins is amazing,” said Middletown South head coach Tom Brennan, whose program won its fourth sectional title in the past six years and first since 2016 when his seniors were freshman. “Just the resiliency of these kids spotting them 12 points going into the last quarter and just figuring out a way to win.”

The two Class A North rivals met earlier in the season in the WOBM Christmas Classic with the Mustangs (24-7) prevailing in that one before splitting their regular season series with each winning on their home court.

The Eagles (24-5) have enjoyed a distinct home-court advantage this season going 18-2 on their own hardwood while being backed by one of the rowdiest student cheering sections in the Shore and Tuesday night they were at their best.

“I thought our kids in the stands were a huge advantage for us,” said Brennan giving some love to the South Nation student section. “That was as loud as I’ve ever heard it here.”

Following the Riepe three, the Eagles rattled off eight-straight points to cut the deficit to six, 56-50, but up to this point in the game it seemed like every time the Eagles made a move the Mustangs would counter with one of more 3-pointers frustrating the Eagles.

“We knew they were capable of doing that but even tonight’s display was spectacular,” said Brennan of Marlboro’s 3-point shooting. “We knew we were going to give up some three’s but we had to be able to weather that emotionally and just be sure we got a one-and-done when they missed. In the fourth quarter we did a much better job with that.”

Riepe kept following the script, however, knocking down back-to-back three’s for Marlboro’s 16th and 17th 3-pointers of the game for a 62-52 lead with 5:24 left in the game.

“They’re a great team and they have moments like that,” said senior guard Isla Brennan. “They go on runs. We’ve played them so many times and it happens every single game. So, it gets a little scary for a minute but if you believe, anything can happen.”

Sammy Jay’s free throw pushed Marlboro’s lead to 63-52 at the 5:03 mark of the fourth quarter but that would be the last points the Mustangs would score until Gisella Romeo converted one of two from the stipe with 36 seconds left in regulation.

Senior Eve Pirie sank two free throws before senior Sam Keenan drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to spark the comeback and electrify the capacity crowd.

“Definitely,” said Brennan when asked if Keenan’s three’s got the team going. “We’ve been shooting partners all season and we practice those shots all the time. Luckily she got them to go down.”

"Those two three's are what got us back into the game," added Richardson.

The Eagles were now within three, 63-60, with 2:10 remaining when junior forward Kayla Richardson took over the game.

“Amazing, I was in shock just sitting there watching her play that hard,” said Brennan of Richardson’s outburst. “Knowing she wanted it that badly meant that much more to me and everyone else to see her put that kind of effort out. It was uplifting for everyone.”

Richardson, who went scoreless in the first half, pulled down an offensive rebound and went back to the rim for two points to make it 63-62 with a little over a minute left.

Romeo’s free throw put Marlboro up 64-62 before Richardson pulled down another huge offensive rebound and was fouled on the put-back attempt.

Richardson then calmly sank both free throws to tie the game with 25.2 seconds remaining sending the crowd into a complete frenzy.

"They're just foul shots, everyone's got to make foul shots," said Richardson of her huge moment at the free-throw line. "Not that it's that easy but I just said to myself, 'They're just foul shots.' We practice them all the time and I knew what we were doing it for and I was shooting for. So I took a second and made some foul shots."

On the Mustangs ensuing possession, Richardson blocked a shot and sent an outlet pass to Emily McCarthy but two last-second shots by Steph Mayerhofer and McCarthy were off the mark forcing overtime.

Brennan fouled out with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter so the Eagles were forced to play without their star guard and undisputed team leader in the overtime period. Brennan finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists, steal, and blocked shot.

“It was so hard,” said Brennan of having to watch from the bench. “As a senior that’s everything you want to be able to play in a game like that on your home court. But for my teammates to look at me and say, ‘We got this for you’ was very emotional and amazing that they could go and do that.”

“It was definitely a rallying moment for me,” said Richardson of when Brennan fouled out. “She’s one of my closest friends and for her this is so special. For all the seniors its their last game on their home court but for her it could’ve been her last game with her dad, so emotions got hot but I grabbed the team and said, ‘We’re doing this for Isla, if we win we’re doing it for her.’ Ultimately what rallied us together was looking at her on the bench. I felt if someone needed to step up it was going to be me.”

Brennan was proud of the way his troops rallied around his daughter after she fouled out.

“The kids really rallied around Isla,” said Brennan. “They were all on the floor looking at her saying, ‘Don’t worry we got you, you’re going to play on Thursday.’”

The score was tied 69-69 with under two minutes to play in overtime when Richardson, who was virtually unstoppable at both ends of the floor in overtime, grabbed another offensive rebound and was fouled as she went up for two points. She then finished off the three-point play at the line for a 72-69 lead with 1:49 left.

Richardson scored all of her game-high 23 points in the second half, including 10 points in overtime when the Eagles outscored the Mustangs 16-13. For the game she added 17 rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two steals in a sensational all-around effort. Mayerhofer also added six clutch overtime points for the Eagles.

“She was fantastic,” said Brennan of Richardson’s performance. “She’s been doing it the whole postseason just putting her on her back and just doing really dynamic things and that was a phenomenal performance in the fourth quarter and overtime.”

Marlboro then missed on a three-point attempt with Keenan grabbing a huge rebound and getting the ball to Mayerhofer who found Richardson steaking down the lane for the bucket and a 74-69 lead with 1:28 remaining.

Back-to-back buckets by Richardson and Mayerhofer put the Eagles up by five, 78-73, with 30 seconds left in overtime but Laura Morehead drained a long three to bring the Mustangs back to within 78-76 with 19 seconds left.

Marlboro immediately fouled Mayerhofer with 17.5 seconds remaining and she confidently sank both free throws for a 80-76 lead.

Jay’s 3-pointer was off its mark on Marlboro’s ensuing possession and during the struggle for the rebound Theresa Besso was fouled making one of two from the stripe with 8.3 seconds left to make it 80-77.

Marlboro had a miserable night at the free-throw line hitting just 5-of-22 for the game and 4-of-17 in the decisive fourth quarter and overtime, while the Eagles went 21-of-31 from the stripe for the game.

Brennan felt like that was the difference down the stretch, “In the end it seemed like we made our free throws and they struggled and that was the difference.”

McCarthy was then fouled with five seconds to go but missed both ends of her free throws before Romeo chucked up a last second desperation shot that was way off its mark and the Eagles prevailed.

The Eagles came out hot at the start of the game and took a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter but Marlboro’s full-court press led to multiple Middletown South turnovers that the Mustangs turned into a 17-0 then 20-2 run at the start of the second quarter to go up 28-19 with 5:49 left in the half.

“Their press is relentless,” said Brennan. “But if you can manage to throw it over everybody they’re throwing at you, you get layups and we managed to do that multiple times in overtime and that’s what won us the game.”

During that run, the Mustangs went an impressive 5-of-5 from beyond the three-point arc with five different players hitting three’s.

Brennan scored seven points in the second quarter and Keenan five helping the Eagles claw their way back to within 34-29 at the half.

Marlboro pushed its lead to 11 points, 53-42, at the end of three quarters with another head-shaking barrage of 3-pointers, five in total, to seemingly take control of the game heading into the fourth quarter before the Eagles turned it around late.

Keenan finished with 20 points, including four 3-pointers while Eve Pirie and Mayerhofer added 10 apiece.

Riepe led Marlboro with 16 points, including four three’s, Morehead added 15 points off of five 3-pointers while Jay finished with 14 points. Seven players hit at least one 3-pointer for the Mustangs, who connected on 18 three’s for the game.

The Eagles advance to face Lenape, ranked No. 16 in the NJ.com Top 20, which won the South Jersey Group IV title beating No. 7 Cherokee 41-30. The Group IV semifinal is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at Central Regional High School.

“It’s super special,” said Brennan about winning the title with his daughter, Isla. “She got one her freshman year but I think all these seniors who got one when they were freshman feel as though that one wasn’t theirs, so the first thing Isla said was, ‘We did it,’ and that was a really cool moment.”

“Having our student section here, having our parents, friends and coaches here really motivated us,” said Richardson. “Midd. South is a big family so we wanted to bring it home to our family. We knew no matter what the score was we were going to play to the end. We knew coming into this game it wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t, they played a great game.”

Follow @getmready