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Piscataway Looking For Tune-Up Game This Week |
By Greg Machos
February 23, 2010On Monday, GMC Hoops was contacted by Piscataway head coach, Guy Jensen, who is looking to get a game for the Chiefs this coming week. P-Way is playing in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV State Tournament, and is looking to get a tune-up game in before tourney play starts next week. If your team is interested, please contact Coach Jensen at gjtaskforcenj@aol.com.
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Piscataway Looking For Scrimmage On January 2nd |
By Greg Machos
December 31, 2009On Wednesday, GMC Hoops was contacted by Piscataway assistant coach, Jeff Adkins, who is looking to get a scrimmage for the Chiefs this coming weekend. P-Way is looking to scrimmage on Saturday, January 2nd. If your team is interested, please contact either Jeff Adkins at either 201-400-7829, or jadkins100@aol.com.
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Former SPHS Standout Smith Overcomes Adversity To Lead Penn |
By Greg Machos
December 25, 2009It has been a tough road for South Plainfield's Darren Smith. After suffering an injury to his knee cap two seasons ago, and a setback in rehabilitation last year, Smith, a 1,000 point scorer at SPHS, and a member of the only two conference/county championship teams ever at the school, had missed two years of play, and his career appeared in jeopardy.
However, Smith showed tremendous character and determination to not only come back this season for his senior year, but also to be a bright spot in what has been a dismal season so far for the Quakers. He has played and started in all seven games, and has averaged 29.4 minutes per game. Although he has struggled somewhat from the floor, Smith has made 78 percent of his free throws, and is averaging 10 points per game along with 1.9 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, and a steal per game.
Coming into this season, Smith, who played a year of post graduate ball at Peddie, had played in 28 games including 11 starts. He averaged 14.2 minutes per game, 4.1 points per game, and neary a rebound per contest. Over the course of his career, he has made 39 percent of his shots and 46 percent of his three pointers. In three years at South Plainfield, he and Marquis Jones (Rhode Island) led the Tigers to three division championships, two conference titles, and an overall record of 63-13.
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Former
St. Peter's And McCarrick Hoops Standout Appiah |
By Greg Machos
December 25, 2009GMC Hoops learned recently in an article published on MyCentralJersey.com that former St. Peter's and McCarrick hoops standout, Dominic Appiah, will be playing college football at Boston College next fall. Appiah, who came over to Cardinal McCarrick after St. Peter's closed its doors in 2007, was a member of the Eagles team that won a share of the GMC Blue title, and the 2008 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament over St. Joseph's.
In 2007-08, Cardy Mac began the season at 2-3 before they virtually ran the table with 22 victories in its last 24 games. The only losses came at the hands of Union and St. Rose. Last year, Appiah teamed with Julio Rosario to help lead the Eagles to a share of the GMC White Division before an injury to his shoulder sidelined him for the 2009 GMCT and the Non-Public B State Tournament, where he was sorely missed despite the fact that the Eagles reached the final four of the GMCT, and the sectional final.
Appiah also played football while at McCarrick. After graduating from the South Amboy school, Appiah chose to pursue football at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, where he led the Cats to a 6-3 overall mark. He is also helping out with the basketball team as well. On the hardwood, Appiah has helped the Cats get out to a solid start with a 6-0 record including a championship in the 47th annual KIT Invitational Holiday Tournament at the Kingswood-Oxford school in West Hartford. Appiah was one of four players to earn All Tournament Team honors.
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Sayreville's Matagrano Playing Division I Hoops At New Hampshire |
By Greg Machos
December 25, 2009Two seasons ago, Chris Matagrano helped the Bombers to a 17-8 season. He teamed up with the likes of Ricky Harding to knock off Colonia at CHS. He also scored a last second shot to defeat Carteret on the road. After blossoming into a solid player at Sayreville, Matagrano fined tuned his skills at Mid-Atlantic Prep League school, Blair Academy, where he was teammates with Ryan Lubreski, the son of former South Plainfield coach, Jeff Lubreski.
The year of post-graduate ball helped Matagrano's stock rise as he is now playing Division I college ball at the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats, which are 4-5 so far this season, compete in the America East Conference against the likes of Vermont, and former Metuchen standout, Marqus Blakely. So far in 2009-10, New Hampshire has played the likes of Vince Rosario and Central Connecticut State as well as the University of Maryland, which has been ranked in the Top 25.
This season, Matagrano, a 6'9", 250 lb. center, has played 43 minutes in five games, made 4 of 6 shots from the floor, and 3 of 4 from the line for 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal. His coach at UNH is former Drexel head coach, Bill Herrion, who is no stranger to GMC talent such as former St. Joe's standout, Mike DeRocckis. Last season, the Wildcats finished 14-16 overall including an 8-8 mark in conference play.
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Highland Park's Brown Playing At NAIA Division II Virginia Intermont |
By Greg Machos
December 25, 2009While the Highland Park Owls are off to a 2-1 start this season, one of their standouts from last season, Justin Brown, is playing college ball. Brown is currently attending Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia. He has seen action in four games. The Cobras compete in the Appalachian Athletic Conference against the likes of Union, Bryan, Reinhardt, Milligan, Tennesse Wesleyan, UVA-Wise, Bluefield, Montreat.
It's been a tough year for VIC, which is currently winless after 14 games. The AAC is in the Division II of the NAIA. Last year, Brown was a member of an HPHS squad that finished 6-17 overall including a Play-In round loss to East Brunswick Tech in the 2009 GMCT. The Owls, which ended up 3-9 in the GMC Blue last season, did finish the year with a victory over Timothy Christian. Brown led the team in scoring with 16.7 points per game.
As a senior for the Owls, Brown made 92 two point field goals and 38 three pointers while connecting on 53 of 69 foul shots. He also averaged 3.7 assists per game, 3.4 rebounds per contest, and 1.7 steals per game. Brown reached his season high in scoring with 26 points against both Bound Brook and South River in back to back games.
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New Brunswick To Host MLK Jamboree Again In January |
By Greg Machos
December 18, 2009Looking ahead to the season, this is a time to take a look at some of the showcase events that will be taking place duriing the 2009-10 season. On Martin Luther King Day, January 18th, New Brunswick will be holding its MLK Jamboree event. The main event will take place at 6:00 PM when the Zebras host Piscataway in a renewal of their neighborhood rivalry. The last time the two teams played against each other was in the 2005-06 season at P-Way. New Brunswick won that game by a score of 42-40.
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Six New Coaches In The GMC For 2009-10 |
By Greg Machos
December 18, 2009In getting ready for the season, GMC Hoops learned that there are several new coaches at schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference. As a matter of fact, six new coaches are in the GMC this year including three in the Gold Division alone.
Starting in the GMC Red, Bob Jones, previously an assistant coach at South Plainfield and Edison, takes over for James Cardillo at J.P. Stevens. Jones was on the coaching staff at SPHS when it won the first of two straight Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championships in 2004. The following year, he joined the staff at Edison, and guided the Little Eagles to a strong season that earned them a fourth seed in the 2005 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before it lost to 12th seeded South Brunswick in the Elite Eight.
Moving on to the White Division, Herman White, previously the JV coach at Carteret takes over for Jose Rodriguez. Last year, White guided the JV squad to a 14-7 record, and a berth in the Elite Eight in the 2009 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament. Over in the GMC Blue Division, Rodney Harris, a 1987 graduate of South River High School, takes over at his alma mater. Previously, Harris helped develop players through his Millennium Ballers hoops program. Harris takes over for Mike DelAversano, who is now an assistant over at J.F. Kennedy.
Then, there is the GMC Gold, which has several coaching changes. The first one is at East Brunswick Tech, where Jeff Staples is taking over for Jerry DelGuercio after the latter stepped down to pursue a baseball coaching job at Raritan Valley Community College. Staples inherits a squad that went 16-7 last year, and will contend for the division title. Next, at Perth Amboy Tech, John Meyer, previously the girls coach asketball coach at Amboy Tech, is now taking on the boys program in place of Artie Wachtel. South Amboy has its third coach in three years as Mark Truhan, brother of successful girls basketball coach, John Truhan, is replacing Joe Szaro.
Check out all the coaches in the GMC at our coaches page.
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North Brunswick's Anderson Playing At Rowan |
By Greg Machos
December 18, 2009There are a number of former players in the GMC that have moved on from playing at Middlesex County College to four year schools. One of those players is Laud Anderson of North Brunswick. A high school and college teammate of former Raider standout, Brandon Rogers, Anderson is now playing at Division III Rowan University down in South Jersey. So far this season, Anderson has played in nine games and started three.
In those nine games played, the North Brunswick native is averaging 19.1 points per game, 4.1 points per game, 1.4 rebounds per game, 0.7 assists per game, and 0.8 steals per game. He is shooting 42 percent from the floor (16 of 38), and 71 percent at the line (5 of 7). Rowan, which competes in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, has a record of 7-2 overall including a 2-0 mark in conference play. To see more information on former GMC players starring at the college level, check out the GMC Hoops College Coverage section in the blog..
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