Outlook: For the fourth straight year, Joe Lewis and his Cardinal McCarrick Eagles will be taking on Dave Turco and St. Joseph's. After losing to McCarrick in the 2008 GMCT Championship, the Falcons have won the last two meetings. This was GMC Hoops Pre-Season pick for this year's GMCT Final. Well, we were a round off, but still not bad.

Like in 2007, Cardinal McCarrick entered this tournament a bit wounded with losses to Roselle Catholic, North Brunswick, and Piscataway in a span of a week. However, the Eagles rebounded by winning a regular season game over South Brunswick (60-57) on February 15th, defeating Colonia in double overtime (74-69) in the GMCT Round of 16 on February 17th, and then knocking off third seeded East Brunswick in the Elite Eight round this past Saturday. So, for McCarrick, this is the fifth straight game against a GMC Red opponent.

St. Joseph's had a bit more of an easier road to get here with an easy win over Metuchen in the first round (83-40), but then got a bit of a scare from a resilient Perth Amboy team that wouldn't go away quietly in the quarterfinals (72-62). The Falcons are the defending champions, and from a talent standpoint, are favorites to win the GMCT again this year. However, all four teams in this round including McCarrick and Ahr have outstanding teams, and could come away with the title. The Eagles are riding the solid play of freshman Marques Townes, who scored the game winning layup against EB on Sunday. He had 11 points in the fourth quarter alone when McCarrick rallied from a 54-48 deficit to take a 60-57 lead, and then win the game after Anthony Gusiti hit a big three for the Bears to tie the score.

Ahmid Williams is definitely the right person to run Joe Lewis' high octane offense with the way he pushes the ball up the floor especially after McCarrick gives up a score. Williams ability to do that puts pressure on opposing team's defense, and it will be interesting to see what Turco and the Falcons do to counter that. McCarrick has other weapons too with perimeter scoring specialist, Charlie Gorman, and senior guard Jeremy Cruz, who brings some quickness of his own to the rotation. Will Thomas has been standing tall for the Eagles down low as of late, but look for Jumanne McDaniel to step up in this game.

McCarrick has a deeper bench with the likes of Mohammed Alli, Mike Lewis, Chris Peralta, freshman Alonzo Hamilton, and John Appiah, but St. Joe's did benefit when Monroe transfer Danny Brix became eligible and big man Kevin Waitikowich returned from an early season injury. The Falcons also got playing time for the likes of Karim Awad in both the Prime Time Shootout, and against Metuchen and Perth Amboy in the earlier rounds of the tourney. So, they are deeper than they were earlier in the season. I thought one big key to St. Joe's win over Amboy was the ability of Brix to bring up the ball when Jimbo Long got into early foul trouble. His ball handling, experience, and free throw shooting makes him a good candidate to have the ball, especially late in the game.

Not to be outdone though is junior phenom, Quenton DeCosey, who scored a career high 38 points in the victory over Amboy on Sunday. He, too, can handle the ball well, and can score in so many different ways. He had three dunks as a part of his repetoire on Sunday versus the Panthers including one for a three point play in the fourth quarter that sealed the win. DeCosey has scored 30 or more points at least eight times this season. His presence as well as the Falcons size advantage with the likes of sophomore James Ziemba and Waitikowich make things difficult for McCarrick in the paint.

The Eagles will have to make this an up tempo game, and use their edge in the backcourt to take this game. If the Falcons can dictate tempo, and make this a halfcourt game by not letting Williams push the ball, then it will be tough for Cardy Mac to win. Another thing to add on this game is that it is the first time Williams and Brix will be playing against each other since they both transferred from Monroe following the departure of former coach, Bob Turco (now at Notre Dame of Lawrenceville). With DeCosey and Brix along with the size advantage, St. Joe's gets the nod from me in this one.

GMC Hoops Pick: St. Joseph's

Outlook: This year, the Trojans finally broke through after reaching the GMCT Elite Eight in 2007, 2008, and 2009. BGA looked to have another team reach that point last season, but lost in the Round of 16 to then 14th seeded North Brunswick. This year, Ahr took on a tougher schedule playing the likes of Union, Rutgers Prep, Roselle Catholic, Colonia, Cardinal McCarrick, and East Brunswick in addition to their GMC Blue schedule.

The stronger schedule along with the addition of North Brunswick transfer, Dillon Salva have made a difference. It also didn't hurt that North Brunswick got hit with the upset bug in the Round of 16 as Blue Division rival, J.F. Kennedy took them down. The Mustangs also gave the Trojans some trouble early on in the quarterfinals with a 7-1 lead before BGA rallied with a 19-7 surge over a span of about six minutes to take a 20-14 lead that they would never relinquish. Pat Widdoss stood tall with a 19 point performance, but the play of Kenny Virden was a huge factor.

Virden overplayed the passing lane to JFK's standout player, Daishon Robinson, and it paid off with several steals for breakaway layups including one that capped the 19-7 rally for the six point second quarter lead. Virden scored 16 points on eight field goals. It was probably his best performance in a game covered by GMC Hoops this season. Ryan Blakely also contributed with a double figure scoring effort as he scored 10 points including three treys. Salva is a big help to Ahr because he allows head coach, Dennis O'Keefe, who took over at the school a year after the BGA last won the GMCT, to rest his other big men such as Rashad Kilgore and Widdoss.

Having Salva also gives Ahr a good deal more size down low if they play him, Rashad Kilgore, and Widdoss at the same time. Kevin Douyan has come off the bench to make contributons like the two free throws late in the game against Kennedy to help put the game away. Roger Kilgore is a big key though. His ability not only to score, but handle the ball, and make plays gives this Ahr team a solid backcourt with Virden and Blakely. These Trojans are quite athletic too. Piscataway may have not been the popular choice to be the top seed, but their suffocating defense, and timely three point shooting were big keys in its win over South Brunswick on Sunday.

Junior point guard, Jelani Jackson turned in a career high performance with 17 points as he opened the game with a jumper and a three pointer to help the Chiefs jump out to a 9-0 lead. South Brunswick didn't get its first field goal until the 1:30 mark of the first quarter. Tajae Sharpe turned in a double-double, but the play of Greg Davis was a big key. He had to huge blocked shots early, and even more importantly, Davis sank threes to end the first half, and the third quarter to give the Chiefs the lead and momentum going into the next period. Each of his treys answered strong charges by the Vikings to either tie the game at 19-19 late in the second, and pull within one at 31-30 late in the third.

Another key was P-Way's ability to make free throws late in the game. The Chiefs were almost automatic from the charity stripe down the stretch, which helped them pull away for a comfortable 52-43 win over the Vikings. Piscataway is a deeper team, but both squads have a good deal of size, and are athletic. When Ahr is on its game, they're the better team offensively, but the Chiefs are more solid defensively. While they may not necessarily win pretty, the Chiefs get the "W" thanks in large part to a tough, physical defense that has been the program's trademark since Guy Jensen took over in 2005.

Piscataway gets our nod to advance to its third GMCT Championship in the last five years. However, if Ahr is able to get off to a good start offensively, that could give the Trojans the confidence they need to hang around long enough to pull off the upset.

GMC Hoops Pick: Piscataway