Phillipsburg boys basketball’s historic season ends in heartbreaker vs. Plainfield

Phillipsburg High School boys basketball coach Todd Sigafoos perfectly summed up the Stateliners’ 50-48 loss to Plainfield in the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 quarterfinals Monday night.

“They just made the last play. I wish there were a couple of seconds left on the clock, but that’s the way basketball is,” Sigafoos said.

Phillipsburg was the section’s top seed, Plainfield the eighth seed, but everyone knew seeding meant nothing when the teams met on the Stateliners’ Thomas Fisher Court for the second time this season. On Jan. 3, Phillipsburg edged the Cardinals 64-63 in overtime in a non-league game.

While all-world 5-foot-9, 130-pound freshman guard Micah Gordon lit up the Stateliners for 27 points, it was Plainfield defensive ace Zander Anyanwu who scored what proved to be the winning basket with 15 seconds remaining to break a 48-48 tie. With Phillipsburg blanketing Gordon, Anyanwu shook free on the right side to deposit a running jumper in the lane.

“Coach ran a play for us, and I was trying to calm everyone down,” said the reserve senior guard. “I tried to look toward the basket. I took a handoff, got it and shot it.”

Phillipsburg (24-3) advanced the ball over midcourt, and Sigafoos called timeout with 7 seconds showing.

Matthew Scerbo Jr., who led Phillipsburg with 22 points, inbounded in front of his bench to senior Andrew Martin, who flashed to the top of the foul circle. He immediately passed back to Scerbo, who launched a 3-pointer that was just off to the left.

Plainfield (18-7) forced a jump ball on the rebound and had the possession arrow in its favor. The Cardinals inbounded, and the final 0.4 seconds of Phillipsburg’s incredible season came to an end.

“I love these guys and couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Martin, a 1,000-point scorer who played in the two sectional games with a torn meniscus that will require surgery. “There were so many games where we battled back to keep our 20-game win streak alive … I wouldn’t want to go out with any other guys.”

Plainfield will host 12th-seeded Linden, a 55-50 winner over 13th-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood, on Wednesday.

Monday’s quarterfinal was a playback of the teams’ Jan. 3 contest, though Phillipsburg’s 6-5 junior forward Jason Abbott played little in that one but was a big factor this time. He surprised the Cardinals by opening the game with consecutive 3-pointers as the Stateliners started strong and established a 13-11 lead after the first quarter.

“Abbott can really shoot, and he shows it,” Sigafoos said. “He shoots it with confidence, and when Martin went down it gave him even more confidence. He’s played more minutes, and the kids trust kicking it out to him. When he’s shooting with confidence, he’s the best.”

Plainfield surged ahead 23-19 on Rashawn Williams’ transition layup at the three-minute mark. Scerbo responded with a 3-pointer with 2:18 left to close the gap to 23-22, and that’s how it stood entering halftime.

“They are a heck of a team, and they were clicking all the way through their last nine games,” Sigafoos said of Plainfield. “They beat some really tough teams. They play tough competition all year, so they’re battle-tested, they’re well-coached, they fly after the ball and are very athletic.”

And yet, the Stateliners, with Martin playing essentially on one leg, their big men Ameer Herran and Jayveon Jackson both in serious foul trouble, and Scerbo being double-teamed at every turn, refused to fold. Even when Gordon’s 3-pointer pushed Plainfield’s lead to 32-25 midway through the third quarter.

Instead, Phillipsburg held the Cardinals scoreless the rest of the quarter, forced five turnovers and hustled to a 36-32 advantage as Scerbo went 6-for-6 from the foul line and drove for another basket.

“We were doing a great job of limiting their second-chance points, getting rebounds and pushing the ball up the floor,” Scerbo said.

“When we went on that run, they took pride defensively and got some buckets in transition, which has been a key to our success all year,” Sigafoos said. “Matt got a couple of steals up front, Drew (Martin) did a good job getting the ball out there, too.

“And then being unselfish, making the extra pass to get Abbott a wide-open 3-ball, who’s been shooting the ball really well; so collective things, defense first, digging in, and then being unselfish on offense.”

Phillipsburg added another three points to its lead early in the fourth quarter on Scerbo’s 3, which came after Abbott tracked down a long, offensive rebound.

But Gordon went into microwave mode and personally lifted Plainfield back in front 42-41 with a pair of NBA-range 3s and a layup off a steal.

“He hit two really difficult shots with Matt all over him,” Sigafoos said. “He hit two step-back 3s from 25-feet out. And if you step out on him, he has the ability to drive by you,”

Scerbo answered with a steal and layup. Gordon again drove for a basket, and Anyanwu scored for a 46-43 edge with three minutes to go.

Thirty seconds later, Abbott stepped into his fifth 3-pointer of the game to enable him to match his career-high 14 points set in Phillipsburg’s sectional-opening win over Bayonne.

Plainfield went back in front on Rashawn Williams’ putback with 2:11 remaining. Gordon left the door open for Phillipsburg by missing a pull-up jumper on one possession and traveling on another.

Yes, the joystick on this game was stuck in fast forward.

Martin tied the game one last time when junior guard Ethan White-Philpot found him for a short jumper in the lane for the senior’s final points in a Stateliners’ uniform with 42 seconds showing.

After Herran swatted Randy Williams’ layup try out of bounds, Plainfield coach Michael Gordon – Micah’s father – regrouped his players with a timeout, and that resulted in Anyanwu’s game-winner.

“I told the kids after the game this season was something to be proud of,” Sigafoos said. “It wasn’t the result we wanted; we had bigger expectations for ourselves. This group has been through everything.

“Looking back, it’s something to be proud of and realize we achieved a lot of things that no other boys basketball team here ever achieved, with the wins record and that. It’s just kudos to those guys for buying in and being a family. They truly love one another, and it shows with how well they played all year.”

Martin unofficially finished his four-year career – freshman season was limited by COVID-19 – with 1,044 points. He’ll most likely be playing at the Division III level next season.

Martin was just grateful to end his career on the court and not on the bench in street clothes.

“This is my second game coming off a torn meniscus, so I’m just happy to be back and competing,” Martin said. “I did anything and everything to come back and play with these guys, and I’m just thankful to the athletic trainers to make it back and play in these playoffs. It was the biggest blessing.

With Scerbo, Abbott and White-Philpot as the nucleus, the future should remain bright for the Stateliners.

“We had some goals that we didn’t get, but this team is so much more than that,” said Scerbo, who will unofficially carry 1,144 points into his senior season. “We’re a family and we’re going to continue to be a family.”

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Corky Blake may be reached at sports@lehighvalleylive.com.