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Sports

St. Rose Outlasts Matawan in Double Overtime, Advances to SCT Quarterfinals

Purple Roses defeat the Huskies in an absolute thriller, 65-63

Through two quarters of the Purple Roses 65-63 victory over the Matawan Huskies on Thursday night, the dull first half closed with a bang and certainly foreshadowed an incredible finish.

The Roses jumped out to an early 12-7 to end the first quarter, as Matawan was unsuccessful on numerous attempts as the Huskies tried to establish a presence beyond the arch.

Mark Kukuda hit two three pointers, but other than his effort in the second quarter there was little else as the Huskies outscored the Roses 15-9 in the second frame. Matawan became more aggressive as the game grew longer and took the lead with 20 seconds left in the half. Kukuda was fouled while attempting a free throw needing to make one of three to head in the locker room with a tie, yet struggled and could not connect - all making the closing moments more unbelievable.

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"Every shot [Kukuda] took from the line then had a different form each time," said St. Rose head coach Dennis Devaney. "In the locker room I told him he was a good shooter, no reason to mess around now. I can't really explain what happened shooting free throws tonight."

The slow scoring game had become a chess match as every possession become more important than the last with time ticking down. Matawan's four point lead with 2:48 to play in the third quarter was the largest advantage either team would face in the second half. The #8 seeded Roses got within two of the #11 Huskies as play in the fourth began.

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Cliff Clark very early in the fourth and gave St. Rose their first lead since the first quarter. Brandon Carroll followed up with a basket to push the lead to 39-36. Before you could begin to think the Roses may have been pulling away, Matawan had two quick steals in part of grabbing a 42-41 lead.

With 1:17 to play, Andrew Kurtz gave the Roses the lead which was added to swiftly by Clark seven seconds later as St. Rose was clinging to a 47-44 lead. Kurtz was later called for a block and was given a technical foul, giving Matawan four free throws, three of which were made, tying the score. St. Rose could not connect on their final possession of regulation to end the game.

Both teams went back and forth in an incredible display, Matawan would be holding a 57-55 lead as 2.2 seconds remained on the clock -- Mark Kukuda found himself on the line shooting two with a chance to tie. After difficulty early in the game, Kukuda came through and lifted the Roses to double overtime.

As fast as the previous few minutes were, St. Rose one the tip off and took off an entire minute before Kukuda would give the Purple Roses the lead.

"It was a tough situation," said Devaney, "There are times to kill the clock and there are times to score points - that time we did both."

Following the theme of the night Matawan answered tying the game at 59 and again at 61 as Carroll added a basket.

Cliff Clark's three pointer allowed for some breathing space, which was shortly cramped up again as the Huskies answered, yet still trailed by one, 64-63. With 15.7 seconds left John Scotto made a free throw to increase the lead to two points. The Huskies had two chances to continue play after that, but could not get them to drop as the Roses held on.

"We survived," said a still tense Devaney post game, "[Matawan] is a really good team and their coach does a great job, but we just managed to do what was needed to survive tonight."

Clark was a force late for the Roses, scoring 19. Carroll and Kukuda followed up with 14 points each.

St. Rose will be fighting again to keep their Shore Conference Tournament dreams alive as they will take on the #3 seed Raritan Rockets in the quarterfinals at 3:00 PM Saturday at Brookdale Community College.

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