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Schools

Top-Seeded Purple Roses Boys Basketball Team Upset

St. Rose falls in NJSIAA Non Public South B semifinals to Gloucester Catholic

Early in top-seeded St. Rose High School's 50-40 loss to the fourth-seeded Gloucester Catholic (15-12) on Monday night in the NJSIAA Non Public South  B boys basketball semifinals, it was clear the flow of the game was going to be vastly different than previous games.

In its quarterfinal victory over Moorestown Friends School in the previous game, the fast-paced Purple Roses' attack scored 19 points in the first quarter -- a benchmark that was not reached until the third quarter vs. Gloucester Catholic on Monday night.

Cliff Clark hit a 3-point late in the first period to tie the score at 9, from that point, St. Rose (21-7) chased Gloucster Catholic all game. Three separate times the Purple Roses came within one point but that was a close as they got.

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Following Clark's 3-pointer, Gloucester Catholic scored five points before the quarter ended, holding a 14-9 lead. St. Rose could only engineer six points in the second quarter as forward Andrew Kurtz was on the bench in foul trouble.  

Before the half ended, the deficit grew to 25-15.

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The third quarter saw the Purple Roses, led by Kurtz, start with a 9-0 run.

"We woke up at halftime and had the intention to ride Andrew (Kurtz) as long as we could," said St. Rose head coach Dennis Devaney, "against good teams, sometimes it's just too late."

Kurtz's  seven points and emotional play gave the Purple Roses the jolt they needed. The senior came alive grabbing rebounds and being a nuisance in the post.  Kurtz finished with 11 points.

After putting the pressure on Gloucester Catholic, making the score 25-24, the Rams stormed back and held a 34-26 advantage as play in the final quarter was set to begin.

The Purple Roses' best chance to grab the lead came after Matt Suchecki made it a one-point game getting fouled on his made layup and knocking down the free throw. However, once again, Gloucester answered.

"We got within one point three seperate times," said Devaney. "Each time I thought we had them. Then they would seem to come down and hit a three."

Seniors Matt Suchecki and Cliff Clark scored nine and eight points, respectively. St. Rose suffered shooting woes as they only converted two 3-point attempts, both made by Clark.Mark Kukuda scored 10, with six in the last period. The junior guard struggled to create offense in the first three quarters, as did the rest of the team.

Forward Brandon Carroll was excellent vs. Moorestown Friends School,  but got only two points against Gloucester Catholic.

"He's one of our big options," said Devaney, speaking of Carroll. "His 3-point shooting has improved a lot lately, it wasn't just him, we couldn't buy a basket tonight. He did have six rebounds in the seconds half along with some nice passing and helped in other ways."

Devaney went on to say he was proud of his team and all the seniors have achieved in their time at St. Rose.

"Right before the playoffs began, we lost our inside presence in Andrew Van Schaack. He was averaging close to 12 points and eight rebounds a game and we never once brought that up as an excuse. Everyone tried to pick up to make up for the loss and did everything they could," said Devaney.

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