We've just archived the summaries on several scrimmages that we covered in the pre-season, the three games seen at the 2006 Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall University on December 17th, the Freshmen and JV Games of the Week, Freshmen and JV Roundups, blog entries, and all the summaries for the month of December, 2006, and the first week of January, 2007 in the summaries archive.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 20, 2007
Fifth Week Of Action

Vikings Fall To Elizabeth In Overtime For First Loss, 70-65

By Greg Machos
January 20, 2007

ELIZABETH, NJ--The first game GMC Hoops took in at the Coalition to House the Homeless showcase in the Dunn Center was between two familiar foes. While the Vikings of South Brunswick, and the Minutemen of Elizabeth, which hail from Union County, and the highly competitive, Watchung Conference, don't play each other regularly during the regular season, they did see plenty of each other during the summer at the Elizabeth Summer League. The teams met three times. Twice during the regular season, and splitting both as they ended the ten game Tuesday/Thursday Division schedule tied for first, and in the Championship Game of the post season tournament with Elizabeth taking that matchup, and the title. In a game that was strikingly similar to that Summer League Championship, Elizabeth, which has a very young squad with only five seniors on a thirteen man roster, jumped out to a 14-8 lead, and increased that margin to eleven early on in the fourth only to see the previously undefeated team from the GMC make a furious 15-4 rally over a span of nearly five minutes to tie the game up at 55-55 with only 2:40 left in regulation.

Neither team was able to pull out the win in regulation so there was overtime, and in the extra session, the Minutemen pulled away with a 12-7 showing including a pivotal 6-0 run in the final minute to hand South Brunswick its first defeat of the season, 70-65. Senior 6'0" guard, Curtis Myers led the way for Elizabeth with a 9 of 14 shooting effort from the floor, and 4 of 6 at the foul line for 22 points along with 9 rebounds, and 5 steals. Fellow senior guard, Cliff Collimon, went 4 of 7 from the field including two threes while converting all five of his foul shot attempts for 15 points along with 2 rebounds, 2 charges, and a steal. Khaseem Greene, who is a standout football player at the school, chipped in with 5 of 10 shooting and four of four at the line for 14 points as well as four rebounds, an assist, steal, and blocked shot. Greene came up with a steal and a layup with 6.6 left in overtime to put the icing on the cake. Senior, Taron Lanier, gave the hometown crowd a bit of worry when he missed a pair of foul shots with 13.77 seconds remaining in the overtime, but he still came up with three field goals including a driving layup with 1:04 left in the extra session to help seal the tough win.

Junior 6'2" forward, Will Flenory, drilled a couple threes out of his six shot attempts for all six of his points while collecting a rebound and a steal, and sophomore guard, Raymond Graham, who made a field goal and two clutch foul shots with 24.12 seconds to play in overtime to make it a two possession game at 68-63, ended up with four points, four rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Sophomore forward, James Frazier added two points while junior forward, James Mansfield rounded out the scoring for the Minutemen with one of two at the line for a point. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger, South Brunswick had four players in double figures and another with nine points. Leading the way was senior guard, Martin Soaries, who made 6 of 9 shots from the floor including a three pointer and one of two at the line for 14 points as well as 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal. Devon Young (5 of 10 FGs, a three pointer, and 1 of 4 FTs for 12 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal, and a charge) and junior Arman Wilson (5 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 4 from the line for 12 points, 2 assists, a rebound, and a steal) chipped in with 12 points each. Twin brother Malcolm Soaries added 11 points on 5 of 8 field goals including a three pointer while also picking up three rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Ray Dasant helped out as well with nine points on three of four shooting from the field including a trey, and a perfect two of two at the foul line along with two blocks, a rebound, and an assist. Mike Sobers came off the bench to score four points on two of five shooting as well as a rebound, a steal, and a block. Brian Morgan rounded out the scoring for the Vikings with a three pointer in his only field goal attempt along with three assists, a rebound, and a steal. Vineesh Manchanda (0 of 1 FG, four rebounds, and a steal), a senior center, also played for the Vikes, but did not score. As you were reading this article up to this point, you probably could observe that South Brunswick shot the ball very well. As a matter of fact, the Vikings made 27 of 46 from the floor including five three pointers for a torrid 58.7 percent. However, South Brunswick shot itself in the foot with poor foul shooting (6 of 14 for 42.9 percent), and 24 turnovers. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, which shot 25 of 52 from the field for 48.1 percent, was much more successful at the charity stripe by going 16 of 24 for 66.7 percent while committing fewer turnovers with 19.

In other statistical areas, Elizabeth also had advantages in rebounding (23-17), steals (11-7), charges (2-1), and turnovers (19-24). Meanwhile, SBHS had more threes (5-4), assists (17-11),and blocks (6-1). Both teams scored in double figures in three of the four periods in regulation, but the Minutemen registered one more double digit frame in the extra session to pull out the win. Just a note to add before moving forward with the story, especially for Elizabeth fans, who may be viewing this site for the first or second time, the statistics are probably not 100 percent accurate. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm quite off in a couple areas. This was my fourth of five games on the day, and I had also spent some time traveling between South Amboy, Sayreville, and Lincroft before I stopped by at Dunn. This was all after working the night before so I wasn't on my game. The first quarter saw South Brunswick shoot nearly 67 percent from the field with a 4 of 6 showing, but took no foul shots, and committed eight turnovers as a trend that became the theme on this night began to take hold. Meanwhile, the hometown Minutemen made just 4 of 13 field goals for 30.8 percent, but had a three pointer, made three of four foul shots, and only turned the ball over four times.

The first three or so minutes of the contest was close as Elizabeth gained an early 5-4 edge thanks to one of two at the line by Myers, and then on the missed second free throw, an offensive rebound and putback by Green to give the Minutemen a slim lead at the 4:58 mark of the opening quarter. EHS would get another score to push its lead up to three as South Brunswick second year head coach, Chris Balent, called for time. Following the timeout, things became even more grim for the Vikes as senior point guard, Malcolm Soaries picked up his second foul, and Myers again went to the line to net both for a 9-4 lead. The Minutemen then finished the period with five of the last nine points to take a 14-8 lead into the second. At the beginning of the new frame, Collimon helped Elizabeth pick up where it left off with a pair at the charity stripe for a 16-8 advantage with 7:42 still remaining in the first half. Martin Soaries would give the Vikings some new life with a three pointer to pull SBHS within five at 16-11, but the GMC squad had to call a 30 second timeout at the 6:20 mark to avoid a five second call.

Following the stoppage, Elizabeth scored six of the next ten points including a three pointer by Flenory for a 22-15 lead at the 4:48 mark when EHS head coach, Donald Stewart called for time. Scoring for South Brunswick during this stretch were Young and Sobers. After the Minutemen timeout, the Vikes put together their best run of the half with a 9-4 burst over a span over 3:31 to pull within two at 26-24 before Manchanda picked up his second foul, and putting the smaller Viking squad in a tough spot. Lanier then closed out the first half scoring with an offensive rebound and putback to make it 28-24 at the intermission. In the second period, the Vikings, which were 11 of 19 overall from the field for 57.8 percent, made 7 of 13 shots including two threes, and committed just three turnovers while Elizabeth, which ended up 10 of 24 from the floor including two threes for 41.7 percent in the first half, shot 6 of 11 including a three while making both free throw attempts, and only committing five miscues in the second period. SBHS had eleven turnovers in the first half while the Minutemen had nine. The third quarter saw the home team once again pull ahead with a 21-16 showing for a nine point, 49-40 lead going into the final period.

Things did have the appearance of promise at the start of the second half as the Vikes reeled off the first five points including a layup by Dasant for a 29-28 lead, but Manchanda's third foul put an end to the solid start, and Greene knocked in a pair of foul shots at the 6:24 mark to retake the lead at 30-29. Those free throws and more importantly, Manchanda picking up his third personal, gave Elizabeth an opening that it took full advantage of. The Minutemen outscored the Vikings 19-11 the rest of the way including a 12-5 spurt over a span of 2:11 to take a 40-34 lead with 4:13 to go in the stanza. Collimon highlighted the run with a steal for a layup as he was fouled for a conventional three point play at the 6:13 mark. Malcolm Soaries and Arman Wilson accounted for the South Brunswick scoring with a three pointer and a field goal respectively. Over the next 2:46, EHS outscored SB by a 6-4 margin including another pair of free throws by Greene that preceeded a Viking turnover at the 1:27 mark with the Minutemen in front now, 46-38. Mansfield then made one of two free throws for a nine point advantage before Wilson, who played his best game of the three SBHS games seen by this web site so far in 2006-07, put together a nice move for a layup after receiving an assist from Young to make it 47-40 at the 53.33 second mark.

Once again though, Lanier would score on an offensive rebound and putback to end a period as his shot in the key went in as time ran out in the third for a 49-40 home team edge. In the fourth, Elizabeth, pushed the lead to double digits for the first, and only time in the contest at 51-40 before South Brunswick showed why it is the top team in the GMC right now with a 16-4 tear over a span of 4:48 to tie the game up at 55-55 with just 2:40 left in regulation. The resilient fourth quarter run was sparked by a three point play by Wilson off an assist by Morgan at the 7:08 mark to make it 51-43. Martin Soaries then followed that up with a score of his own at the 6:34 mark prompting Stewart and his staff to call a timeout with the score now 51-45. Now, at this piont, there started to be a mixup with the scoreboard. After Young picked up his fourth personal for the Vikes, and Frazier missed both of his foul shot attempts at the 6:13 mark, Brian Morgan got his only points of the game on a three pointer to make the score, 51-48. However, the scoreboard read, 51-49 with around six minutes to play in the fourth.

Elizabeth would go on a 4-0 mini-run over the next minute to give itself some breathing room at 55-49, but Wilson made one of two at the line to cut the lead to five at the 5:00 mark. Then, Martin Soaries would score on a putback to make it 55-51, and on a subsequent possession, Young drew a charge on Greene with 4:14 to play in regulation. However, South Brunswick couldn't take advantage of the turnover as Malcolm Soaries came up empty in two attempts at the foul line with exactly four minutes to go. Undeterred, the Vikings continued to climb uphill to catch EHS with the next four points including a baseline jumper from the right side by Sobers off an assist by Young to knot the game at 55-55 with 2:40 to play Following an Elizabeth timeout, Myers scored a basket as he was fouled for a three point play to give the Minutemen a 58-55 advantage at the 2:24 mark, but it was short lived as South Brunswick tied it back up a little more than a minute later as Malcolm Soaries struck for a trey off another assist by Young to tie the game again at 58-58 with 1:19 to play in the fourth as Elizabeth again called for time.

On the very next possession following the stoppage, Elizabeth was assessed a five second violation, and a golden opportunity presented itself to the Vikings with 1:03 to play. Following a timeout by the Vikes at the 57.14 mark, and another at the 50.81 mark to avoid a five second call of their own, the Vikings went in to take the lead, and executed the play well, but Wilson made his only real mistake of the game when he misfired on a layup attempt with 25 seconds left. Now, with a chance to win the game itself, Elizabeth came down for a scoring chance, but never got the opportunity to take it as Malcolm Soaries stole the ball, and fired a last second desperation shot that was off the mark as the two teams went to overtime. In the extra session, Elizabeth would pull away with a 12-7 showing including a pivotal 8-1 spurt over a 1:36 span to put the Vikings away, and hand them their first loss of the season. With the defeat, South Brunswick falls to 13-1 overall on the season, and will head back into conference play with less burden to worry about come GMCT time. Meanwhihle, Elizabeth moves up to 9-5 on the year.

Guvs Stumble In Overtime For Fifth Straight Loss, 86-81

By Greg Machos
January 20, 2007

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ--Nearly two weeks ago, GMC Hoops had traveled to New Brunswick to watch two surprising teams go at it in a battle for first place in the GMC Gold. St. Peter's and South Amboy were off to their best starts in a number of years, and it didn't appear that neither team would be struggling to qualify for the state tournament, but with exactly two weeks to go before that cutoff date, it seems that is not the case. After being held to its lowest point total all season in a 47-34 loss to the Cards, the Governors of South Amboy lost three more in a row for a four game losing streak entering Saturday afternoon's contest with Jonathan Dayton Regional of Springfield. The game had been originally scheduled for Thursday night, but was moved to Saturday, which was great news for the web site since it was looking to see some games after being out of action since Monday. The last time we saw the Bulldogs in action was over the holidays, and they were really struggling with two tough losses in the 2006 Cardinal Classic inlcuding a 58-38 defeat to Spotswood to begin their season at 0-5.

However, this was a much different Dayton team, which had won four of its last eight since then including a two point win at Bound Brook on January 11th. South Amboy had defeated the Crusaders in its first game of the season with an 86-79 overtime victory on the road. So, in essence, we had two teams here that were going in opposite directions. While that might have been the case, the two squads combined for a thrilling and entertaining game that saw a total of 167 points scored in regulation and overtime. From the 4:36 mark of second period on, there was no lead bigger than seven points by either team, and there were a total of eight lead changes and two ties over the final 17:11 of the contest. The game featured seven players scoring in double figures including four for Dayton and three for South Amboy. David Steinman had a team high 24 points for the Bulldogs on seven field goals, three treys, and a foul shot while teammate Chris Muckle chipped in with 19 points on three field goals, three trifectas, and four free throws. Steinman had five of his points in overtime to win the game.

Meanwhile, for South Amboy, Mark Simko, a junior transfer from Sayreville, pumped in a game high 30 points on nine field goals and four treys. Simko, who also added seven assists from the third quarter on, caught fire in the final 6:30 of regulation with four field goals and three treys for an explosive 17 points to will his team to overtime. Larry Lenahan also chipped in with another fine peformance of 19 points on nine field goals and a free throw. Brian Seres, who fouled out with 53.7 seconds remaining in the extra session ended up with 13 points on three field goals, a three pointer, and four from the line. Paul Tylek helped out down low with eight points on four field goals while Colin Krzyzanowski added seven on three field goals and a foul shot, and John Festini rounded out the scoring with four points on a trey and a free throw. For the game, Dayton connected on 28 field goal attempts, seven threes, and nine foul shots while South Amboy countered with 28 field goals of its own, six threes, and seven from the foul line. The extra trifecta and two free throws by the Bulldogs were the difference. After combining for 66 points in the first half, both squads really picked things up in the final two periods with a combined total of 82 points including 44 by the hometown Guvs.

Arriving at the 4:36 mark of the second quarter, Dayton was already on top by a 22-18 score. The Bulldogs then made one of two free throws for a five point lead. South Amboy responded quickly as Mike DeJoy ended the brief drought by both teams with an assist on a John Festini trey for a 23-21 Bulldog lead with 4:25 to go before the break. Dayton would retailiate on a Steinman jumper at the 4:05 mark to push the lead back to four at 25-21 with 4:05 left in the second. Mark Simko, who scored 24 of his 30 points over the final 24:36 including overtime, got himself going with a jumper to put his team back within two at 25-23 with 3:26 remaining in the half. Nearly thirty seconds later, Dayton got a three pointer to increase its lead again to five before South Amboy scored on the very next possession to make it a 28-25 game with 2:42 to play in the second. The Bulldogs continued to make the lead fluctuate to either between two and four points, or three and five points by converting a layup at the 2:11 mark for a 30-25 lead.

However, the Guvs refused to go away despite having their share of problems controlling Dayton on the offensive boards as Seres passed off to Simko for a three point bomb from the left side to close the gap to 30-28 at the 1:35 mark. Unfortunately, to the chagrin of head coach, George Krzyzanowski, who recently had his scoring record at Cardinal McCarrick broken by Vince Rosario, Dayton reeled off six of the last eight points of regulation to make the score, 36-30 at the break. The Bulldogs actually put together a 23-16 second period showing to overtake South Amboy after the Governors jumped out to a 14-13 first quarter lead. The second half would be even more fast paced then the first with Dayton getting an early score to open the third quarter for a 38-31 lead, and then South Amboy rallying to the tune of a 7-0 spurt to pull to within one at 38-37 as the Bulldogs called timeout at the 6:20 mark of the third. Simko handed out assists on all three scores that included layups by Lenahan and Tylek and a three pointer from Seres.

After the Dayton stoppage, neither team would score for about a minute or so before Seres forced a steal, and then sped quickly down the floor to score a finger roll layup to give the Guvs their first lead since the early second quarter at 39-38 with 5:11 to go in the third. The Bulldogs, which hail from the Mountain Valley Conference and Union County, responded with a 5-0 run over the next 52 seconds including a three point play that capped the rally for a 43-39 lead. South Amboy continued to linger around as Colin Krzyzanowski passed off to Tylek for a layup that made it a two point game again at 43-41, but Dayton would score the next five points to build another seven point lead at 48-41. Chris Muckle highlighted the flurry with a three pointer from the left side that made it 48-41 with 3:03 to play in the third. The Guvs once again fought back though with a 12-7 effort over the final 3:03 to pull within two points going into the fourth period. Larry Lenahan started the late rally with a basket as he was fouled, but missed the bonus free throw. Although the junior forward got the offensive rebound off his own miss, he misfired on the putback attempt so the score remained at 48-43 at the 2:49 mark.

Brian Seres then followed that up with a pair of free throws less than thirty seconds later to bring the lead back down to five after a Dayton score, and Lenahan pulled the Guvs to within four of the visitors with an offensive rebound and putback off of a Brian Seres miss to make it 51-47 at the 1:47 mark. Simko made it a two point game again when he shot a jumper from the right wing that rolled in at the 1:10 mark, and he followed that with an assist on another Lenahan layup to answer an earlier Bulldog score to make it 53-51 with 47.8 seconds to play in the frame. Dayton would get another score at the other end to continue vacillating the lead between two and four before Seres came back down and connected on a running hook shot off a feed by Simko to make it 55-53 in favor of the Springfield school heading into the last period of regulation. Things would turn bleak though for the Governors early on in the fourth as Dayton put together an 11-6 run over the first 4:10 to make it a three possession game again at 66-59 with under four minutes remaining. The Bulldogs managed to put this run together on two three pointers, three of four at the line, and a field goal.

Seemingly on the ropes, South Amboy put together a frantic finish with a 15-8 spurt with all points coming courtesy of Simko, who made three treys and three field goals over the final 3:50 to force the game into overtime tied at 74-74. It started off innocuously with a three pointer from the junior guard at about the 3:30 mark to make it a four point, 66-62 game. After Dayton missed a pair of free throws at the 3:14 mark, South Amboy put together a nice inbounds play with Seres throwing out a pass to the top of the key for Simko, who fired away for another three to pull the Guvs to within one at 66-65 with 2:25 remaining in the fourth. With the partisan hometown crowd getting into a frenzy, the Bulldogs brought the ball up on the very next offensive possession, and had the ball poked away by Simko into the hands of junior forward, Steve Poltritczky, who quickly flicked it upcourt to Simko for the layin and a 67-66 South Amboy lead with 2:07 left in regulation. Dayton would recapture the lead on a subsequent possession to make the score 68-67 with under a minute to play. Once again though, it was Simko to the rescue with a short jumper from the left baseline to put the Guvs back out in front, 69-68 with 1:36 left.

The Bulldogs tried to put the game away with the next four points over a 36 second span to take a 72-69 lead with exactly a minute to go, but after the second score, Simko came right down and fired away again from beyond the top of the key as Dayton defenders watched their one possession lead vanished just like that. Now, with about forty-five seconds remaining in regulation, the game was all tied again at 72-72. In a wild last half minute, Dayton would call for time at the 30.1 second mark to set up a final play, and it would work out well because with about 10.8 to go, the Bulldogs scored a layup to take a 74-72 lead. However, like Rasputin, South Amboy wouldn't go away as they got the ball into the frontcourt, and eventually called timeout with 6.6 seconds to play in the fourth. The Guvs set up a sideline play that had Seres pass the ball inbounds from in front of the South Amboy bench to Simko for a short baseline jumper that he had patented as a Sayreville freshman that went in as time was running out. The Bulldogs tried to get off a last second heave, but it was way off, and we were on to extra time.

In the overtime, the school from Springfield pulled out the win with a 12-7 showing much to the dismay of the South Amboy faithful. Muckle opened the extra period scoring with a three pointer to make it 77-74 just ten seconds in, and then after a Lenahan score following an offensive rebound and assist by Simko at the 3:31 mark, Dayton scored on a turnaround jumper for a 79-76 lead with 2:59 to play. However, the biggest play of the contest would come at the 2:10 mark. With it still a one possession game, South Amboy had the ball, and a chance to tie when a pass was inbounded toward the Guv backcourt. Unaware that a Bulldog player was hustling for the ball, Simko let it fall in the Governor end, and then it was stolen for a layup that made it 81-76. Colin Krzyzanowski scored a three pointer off an assist by Simko to make it a two point game again at 81-79 at the 1:56 mark, but Dayton responded with a score of its own to make it a two possession game again at 83-79 with a little more than a minute to play. The Bulldogs pushed the lead back to five at 84-79 one on of two at the free throw stripe with 27.7 to go, but Lenahan kept South Ambooy's faint hopes alive with a steal and soft one handed jumper to make it a one possession game again at 84-81.

In the end though, Dayton would pull out the win as Muckle connected on a pair of free throws with 9.6 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a hard fought, 86-81 victory. South Amboy has now dropped five in a row, and has fallen to .500 to put themselves in jeopardy of not qualifying for the state tournament. The Guvs are now 6-6 overall on the season, and will have to travel to Piscataway Vo-Tech on Tuesday for a tough division matchup against the Raiders. Meanwhile, Dayton moves up to 5-9 with its fifth win in its last nine games.

Fourth Quarter Showing Propels Bombers Past Knights, 38-31

By Greg Machos
January 20, 2007

PARLIN, NJ--In a game where scoring was at a minimum, the Sayreville Bombers used a 13-7 fourth period showing to pull away from a 25-24 third quarter lead to defeat the Old Bridge Knights, 38-31 in The Battle of Route 9 at The Bomb Shelter on Saturday afternoon. Sayreville's fourth quarter effort was highlighted by a 9-1 spurt over the first 3:15 to take a 34-25 lead with less than five minutes to go. Old Bridge, which is currently ranked fourth in scoring defense, but next to last in scoring offense, was limited to single digits in three of the four periods while Sayreville scored in double digits in two of the four frames, and outscored the visiting Knights in each of the last two periods for the win. Ricky Harding led the way for the Bombers, which has had all of its games decided by an average of just under two points per contest, with 12 points on two field goals, two threes, and two charity shots while teammate and senior center, Kofi Genfi chipped in with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Harding ignited the decisive fourth quarter spurt with a three pointer and a field goal, and then capped the run with a nice assist off penetration to James DeMild for a layup to give the home team the nine point advantage. Genfi chipped in with four fourth quarter points all on free throws including a pair at the 5:39 mark, and two more to seal the win at the 51 second mark for a 36-29 lead. The only senior starter on the roster for the Bombers, Genfi also made a couple key blocks, and got a huge steal off Justin Zimmerlink with 1:41 to go that prevented Old Bridge from cutting into a six point lead late. In total, six different players got in the book for Sayreville as DeMild ended up with just four points on two field goals while sophomore guard, LaVone Graham also added four points on two field goals. Junior Ray Rodriguez helped out with six points on two field goals and two foul shots while sophomore guard, Paul De La Costa rounded out the Bomber scoring with a field goal for two points.

Meanwhile, for Old Bridge, junior guard, Quinton Crawford led all scorers with 17 points on five field goals, two threes, and five foul shots including a one of two effort at the charity stripe with 5:34 left, and another at the 3:57 mark. As a matter of fact, Crawford, who had three of his team's seven final period points, went three of six at the line over the last five and a half minutes of the contest. Freshman, Joe Reyes, who scored two field goals on layups for four points, ended up with six total for the game. Crawford (54.8 percent of team scoring) and Reyes accounted for 23 of the 31 Old Bridge points, or 74.2 percent of the offense including all seven points in the fourth. Sayreville got its 38 points on ten field goals, two threes, and twelve from the free throw line while Old Bridge accumulated its 31 on just eight field goals, three treys, and six foul shots. The Bombers, which have had ten of their fourteen games decided by eight points or less including six losses by four or less, were leading by only one point with 33 seconds left in the third period, and that's how the score remained going into the fourth.

With the game hanging in the balance to start the final frame, Sayreville opened things up at the 7:03 mark with a three pointer by Harding that was set up nicely by a kickout from Genfi, who was triple teamed by Old Bridge defenders. The Bombers then produced a stop on defense as a player drew a charge on Reyes with 6:30 to play. On the next Bomber possession, Harding, who had seven points in the last period, clicked again on a jumper at the 6:13 mark to increase the lead to 30-24. After a Knights timeout several seconds later, Sayreville made it an eight point advantage on a couple free throws from Genfi. Old Bridge finally got on the board nearly two and a half minutes into the period as Crawford netted one of two at the foul line to make it 32-25. However, on a subsequent possession, Harding, dribbled around to the left side, penetrated into the key from the wing, and handed off to DeMild for an easy layup for a commanding, 34-25 lead with 4:45 remaining against an Old Bridge team that has struggled to get points all season long. Crawford got one of those points back for the Knights with another one of two showing at the free throw stripe, and then Reyes quickly followed that up with a layup to make it a six point game after Graham missed a front end of a one and one at the other end with just under four minutes left.

Sayreville, which went just 6 of 13 from the free throw line for 46.2 percent in the fourth including two of its first seven attempts, gave the Knights a number of chances to pull closer, but Old Bridge wasn't able to cash in as neither team scored for a span of 2:21. Crawford finally broke the ice with his third one of two showing at the line in the frame to cut the lead to five at 34-29 with only 1:26 remaining. However, that would be as close as the Knights would get as Genfi blocked a shot attempt by Zimmerlink, who grabbed an offensive rebound off Crawford's missed second free throw, and a few moments later, Harding swiped a steal off Zimmerlink. Genfi then clinched the game with two foul shots at the 51 second mark, and following a Reyes basket with 45 seconds to go, Harding, who was just two of six from the line in the stanza, made both at the 23 second mark to round out the 38-31 final score. With the win, Sayreville moves up to 4-10 overall on the season, and 3-6 in conference play while Old Bridge drops to 3-11 overall, and 2-8 in the GMC.

St. Patrick's Cruises Past St. Joe's Behind Fisher, 78-58

By Greg Machos
January 20, 2007

ELIZABETH, NJ--In the nightcap of this five game stretch known as GMC Hoops Super Saturday, St. Joseph's of Metuchen came up to the Dunn Center in Elizabeth to take on St. Patrick's of Elizabeth in the final game of a tripleheader known as the Coalition to House the Homeless Classic. The Celtics, the second ranked team in the state behind the likes of St. Anthony's of Jersey City, came into the game sporting a 12-1 record while fifth ranked St. Joseph's, which had won seven straight games after losing its first three to start the season, had hit another down cycle with three defeats in its last four games although they were to the likes of the perennial powerhouse Friars from Jersey City, fourth ranked East Brunswick, and top ranked South Brunswick. St. Pat's features two top college prospects in foward Jeff Robinson and guard, Corey Fisher. Robinson would foul out at the 5:28 mark of the third period, but it wouldn't matter of the Celtics had more than enough to handle St. Joseph's. Led by Fisher, who made 8 of 13 shots from the floor including three trifectas in addition to a pair of free throws for a game high 21 points, St. Patrick's jumped out to a 23-10 first quarter lead, and never looked back in 78-58 victory over the Falcons.

For the game, St. Pat's made exactly 50 percent of its shots by going 29 of 58 from the field including seven three pointers. The Celtics also converted on 13 of 17 from the free throw line while making quite a few turnovers with 22. On the other side of the ledger, St. Joseph's made 23 turnovers while shooting 24 of 59 from the floor for 40.7 percent while connecting on nine of ten from the foul line for 90 percent. Both squads scored double digits in each of the periods, but St. Patrick's had two twenty point plus quarters while the Falcons scored just ten in the opening period, and thirteen in the second as the Celtics took a 41-23 lead going into the locker room. Besides Fisher, who also collected six assists, three rebounds, and a steal, Dexter Strickland came up with a solid game for St. Pat's. The lanky 6'3" sophomore guard clicked on five of eleven shot attempts including three from long range, and added 3 of 5 at the foul line for a total of 16 points along with three rebounds, an assist, steal, and a block. Robinson chipped in with 13 points on 5 of 8 from the field, and a perfect 3 of 3 at the foul line while also collecting four rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.

Also helping out for the Celtics, which had eight players get into the scoring column, were 6'6" sophomore forward, Paris Bennett (3 of 6 FGs and 2 of 2 FTs for 8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals), Brad Haugabrook (3 of 4 FGs and 2 of 2 FTs for 8 points, 3 steals, and 2 assists), junior guard, Jermel Jenkins (2 of 3 FGs including a trey, and 1 of 2 FTs for 6 points, 2 assists, a rebound, and a steal), Jamin Shumate (2 of 4 FGs for 4 points, a rebound, and an assist), and Kevin Boyle Jr. (1 of 5 FGs for 2 points, an assist, and a steal). Lawrence Eaddy (0 of 3 FGs and four rebounds), freshman Wendy Joseph (0 of 1 FG), and Dean Kowalski also played, but didnn't score. Meanwhile, for the Falcons, which had ten different players get into the scorebook, junior forward, Paul Konopacki led the way with a team high 17 points on 8 of 15 from the floor and 1 of 1 at the line while also collecting three rebounds, three steals, two assists, and a block. Lamar Fisher (4 of 7 FGs for 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists), Steve Rennard (3 of 8 FGs and 2 of 3 FTs for 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 charges), and sophomore reserve forward, Gerard Lewis (2 of 4 FGs and 4 of 4 FTs) each added eight points.

Rounding out the scoring for the Falcons were Kyan Hines (2 of 5 FGs for 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block), Taurin Wheeler (2 of 3 FGs for 4 points, 4 assists, a steal, and a charge), Ian Acampado (1 of 2 FGs including a three for his only points, and an assist), Darrell Carroll (1 of 5 FGs for 2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 charges), Andrew Colon (1 of 5 FGs for 2 points, 3 rebounds, and a steal) and Steve Brandenburg (0 of 1 FG and 2 of 2 FTs for 2 points and 2 rebounds). Nick Marquis (0 of 3 FGs, a rebound, and an assist), Nikko Vastola (0 of 1 FG and two rebounds), and Andrew Sheehy (a rebound) also played, but didn't score. The Celtics came out blazing in the first period as they went 9 of 14 from the floor including two threes, and made 3 of 3 from the line for its 23 points despite six turnovers. Meanwhile, the Elizabeth based school's defense limited the Falcons to just 5 of 13 shooting, and forced four turnovers. Corey Fisher led the opening quarter assault with 4 of 6 field goals including a three pointer and 2 of 2 free throws to account for nearly half of St. Pat's first quarter points while also picking up two assists, a steal, and a rebound.

Robinson, who later scored off an assist by Fisher, helped fueled a 13-4 spurt over a 2:54 span to open the game with an offensive rebound and a putback as he was fouled for a traditional three point play that made the score, 7-2 at the 5:56 mark. Fisher then followed that up with a three point play of his own off an assist by Haugabrook for a 10-2 at the 5:44 mark. The senior 6'1" guard then handed out an assist as he passed off to the right corner where Strickland took the ball, and fired in a three pointer to make it a nine point Celtic lead with a little more than five minutes left in the first. Fisher and his teammates continued to keep the pressure on by scoring six of the next ten points for a 19-8 lead. The Villanova bound standout scored all six points on a three pointer, and then a steal for a layup as he was fouled for a conventional three point play with 3:46 to go in the period. With Rennard, picking up his second foul at the 1:29 mark of the first, St. Pat's continued to go to work with four of the last six points in the stanza including a move by Fisher that brought the house down to give the Celtics a thirteen point advantage going into the second. In that quarter, St. Joe's was again 5 of 13 from the floor including a three pointer, and also made both foul shots attempted, but St. Pat's made 6 of 14 shot attempts, and 5 of 8 shots at the line for an 18-13 edge, and a 41-23 halftime lead.

St. Joseph's actually started the second on a good note with five of the first seven points of the stanza before Strickland made one of two free throws to make it 26-15 at the 4:20 mark. St. Patrick's then went up by fourteen as the Celts got a bucket, and then a free throw from Robinson to make it 29-15 at the 3:26 mark. The senior forward didn't get a chance to record the second free throw due to a lane violation. After Falcon head coach, Dave Turco called a 30 second timeout at the 3:18 mark, St. Pat's closed the half with a 12-8 run as Fisher ended up with one of two field goals shooting wise, and handed out two assists to help his team build an eighteen point lead at the break. The Celtic triumvirate of Fisher, Robinson, and Strickland accounted for 34 of their team's 41 points, or about 83 percent of the offense while Konopacki, Lamar Fisher, and Lewis made up 16 of the 23 points scored by St. Joe's in the first half, or approximately, 70 percent of their team's scoring. Konopacki, who played agressively despite missing some layup opportunities for the Falcons, went 4 of 7 in the first half for eight points along with two rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot.

The athletic junior forward, who also stars on the volleyball team during the spring, made four of eight shots in the third period including three of five in a 5:36 stretch that saw St. Joseph's go on its best run of the game with a 15-8 showing to make things interesting at 51-38 with 2:24 left in the third. However, St. Patrick's wouldn't let the Falcons get any closer by finishing the period with a 6-4 run to take a 57-42 lead going into the fourth, and then closed out the contest with a 21-16 fourth quarter effort to get the twenty point win. With the victory, the Celtics improve their record to 13-1 on the season while St. Joseph's will return to GMC competition only a game above .500 at 8-7 with just two weeks left before the state tournament cutoff.

St. Augustine's Proves To Be Too Much For Metuchen, 75-45

By Greg Machos
January 20, 2007

LINCROFT, NJ--In the third of five games seen by GMC Hoops on this Super Saturday, the Bulldogs bit off a little more than they could chew in St. Augustine's, which was ranked fifteenth in the Star-Ledger Top 20 earlier in the week. Metuchen did have a 12-8 lead with 3:52 to go in the first period, but the Hermits, which was last seen by this site in the state tournament last year against another Blue Division team, Bishop Ahr, went on a 14-3 tear to end the opening period, and then put together a 21-10 effort in the second for a 35-13 surge over the final 11:52 of the half to take a 43-25 lead into the intermission. Things didn't get much better in the third quarter for the Bulldogs either as they only managed to score six points in the entire period while the Richland school added another fifteen for a commanding, 58-31 lead.

The end result was a 75-45 rout of the Bulldogs as 6'7" junior, Eugene Teague collected a double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds to lead all scorers. Teague made nine of sixteen shots from the field and three of five at the line for all his points while also picking up two assists, a steal and a block on top of his boad work. Mike Shaughnessey, a 6'2" sophomore guard, chipped in with two field goals in three attempts including a three pointer for five points on the day while grabbing four rebounds, and handing out two assists. Senior, Andrew Kirey started the game, and made a three pointer to open the game's scoring, but left with only three pointers after getting injured at the 7:01 mark of the first period. Senior guard, Mike Hullings also helped out with three points on a trey as well as three assists and two steals. Junior Josh Thompson added picked up 12 points on four points, a three pointer, and a foul shot, and Jack Crawford made four shots and a free throw for nine points. Sophomore, Pete D'Andrea was the third Hermit player to score in double figures with 11 points on five field goals and a free throw.

Senior Sean Carr (two field goals for four points), junior Alexi Colon (a free throw), sophomore Bill Giberson (two field goals for four points), and Chapman (a field goal for two points) rounded out the scoring for St. Augustine Prep. Meanwhile, for Metuchen, DeJuan Miller was one of only a few bright spots for the Bulldogs with 18 points on six field goals and six free throws while picking up four steals, two blocks, and two rebounds. Senior guard, Lamar Nichols chipped in with 12 points on four field goals including a three pointer and also three free throws while collecting six rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal. Jon Brown (two field goals including a three pointer) and Corey Preston (a three pointer and two foul shots) each added five. Sebastian Szynwelski (a field goal and a free throw for three points) and Phil Lewis (a field goal for two points) rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs. For the game, Metuchen shot 15 of 62 from the field including three trifectas for 24.2 percent while going 12 of 20 at the foul line for 60 percent. On the other side of the ledger, the Hermits connected on 32 of 55 from the floor including four threes for a scorching 58.2 percent while making 7 of 12 at the foul line for 58.3 percent.

The only thing that St. Augustine's did poorly was take care of the basketball. The Hermits had 23 turnovers on the game while Metuchen only had 14. The South Jersey powerhouse had more rebounds (44-21), assists (21-9), charges (1-0), and threes (4-3). Both teams each had seven steals while the Bulldogs actually garnered edges in blocks (5-4). The Hermits scored in double figures in each quarter including two twenty plus point periods in the first half while Metuchen managed to score in double digits in three of the four frames. The game was pretty much decided in the latter portion of the first quarter, and the entire second quarter, but for a while anyway, the Bulldogs appeared to be poised to at least cause the Hermits some trouble. The Blue Division team, which is looking to make its third consecutive state tournament appearance, did a good job of not letting St. Augustine's size advantage control things. Over the first 4:08 of the opening period, Metuchen scored 12 of the game's first 20 points including a 7-0 spurt and a 5-2 run for a four point lead as legendary coach, Paul Rodio called timeout to settle his Hermit squad down.

After Kirey nailed a high arching three to begin the game, Miller scored Metuchen's first points on a layup from Brown, and then the senior Bulldog point guard followed that up with a three pointer as he was fouled, but missed the bonus free throw for a rare four point play to make it 5-3 with less than a minute and fifteen seconds gone by in the period. St. Augustine's, which made three turnoverss in the first 1:45 of the contest, fell behind by four as Brown passed off to Miller for a layup to make it 7-3 at the 5:37 mark. Shaugnessy then buried a trey of his own off an assist by Thompson to cut the Bullldog advantage to 7-6 at the 5:23 mark. Metuchen then picked up five of the next seven points on a three pointer from beyond the top of the key and a later field goal by Nichols for a 12-8 lead with just under four minutes to go in the first. However, after the Hermit timeout, the South Jersey squad took complete control with a 9-0 run capped by a steal and a layup by Gilberson and highlighted by three field goals and one of two foul shots by Teague for a 17-12 lead as Metuchen called timeout at the 1:42 mark.

The stoppage was unable to prevent the inevitable as St. Augustine Prep closed out the quarter with five of the last eight points including a three point play by D'Andrea off an assist by Thompson with six seconds left in the stanza for a 22-13. Miller ended the period scoring with an aggressive drive down the floor for a layup to make it 22-15 going into the second. The Bulldogs were 6 of 17 from the floor including two threes, and made one of four from the line while the Hermits made 9 of 17 shots including two threes, and netted two of four from the line for its 22 points. The second quarter saw things get out of hand as the Cape-Atlantic Conference squad did slightly better from the field with a 9 of 16 showing and went 2 of 2 at the line while Metuchen made only 2 of 13 shots and 6 of 7 at the line. A large portion of the Hermit damage inflicted in the second was during a 14-4 run that made the score, 36-19. From there, the Bulldogs wouldn't threaten as the Hermits moved up to 12-1 overall on the season while Metuchen dropped to 8-6.

LEAP Academy Rolls Behind Double-Double From Gilliam, 69-50

LINCROFT, NJ--Prior to the start of the Metuchen and St. Augustine's Prep battle in the Showcase Classic at Christian Brothers Academy, GMC Hoops managed to take in the final minutes of LEAP Academy's win over Living Faith Christian Academy. LEAP, which reached the Championship Game of the Group I State Tournament, where it lost handily to state power Bloomfield Tech, 73-51, lost a key player from last year's championship team in Lance James, but they still have Chauncey Gilliam, who contributed in a losing effort to the Spartans with 12 points including three treys, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, and an assist. Gilliam is now the focus of many as he has already verbally committed to attend Albany next fall.

LEAP, which is based in Camden County, jumped on to the basketball scene last season with 25-6 overall record that included wins over South Jersey power, Burlington City in the South Jersey Group I Championship, and Bordentown, a team that rallied to beat Metuchen in a memorable Central Jersey Group I title game, in the state semifinals. It was only the second appearance ever in the state tournament for the charter school. This season, LEAP is off to an 8-3 start including a recent loss to Bloomfield Tech in a rematch of last year's state championship. Amongst the wins this year by the school was a recent victory over Somerville on January 9th (66-53), and Create Charter of Jersey City back in December (91-61). In addition to the loss against Bloomfield Tech, which is now 13-1, the Lancers lost to Plainfield of Union County and the Watchung Conference, 97-79, on January 12th.

Meanwhile, Living Faith Christian Academy, based out of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is ranked sixth in the Prep Schools Top Ten according to the latest Star-Ledger rankings. Ahead of them in the polls are St. Benedict's, St. Benedict's Prep, Blair, Hun, and Lawrenceville. St. Benedict's and Hun were seen earlier this year by this web site in the 2006 Tip-Off Classic at Seton Hall Unviersity. Living Faith defeated Father Judge of Philadelphia back on December 29th (48-38), and lost to second ranked St. Patrick's of Elizabeth twice on December 16th (77-63) and January 6th (70-55). Unfortunately though, this game turned out to be no contest as LEAP outscored Living Faith in each period for the 69-50 win. Gilliam recorded a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead the charge for the Lancers. Arriving for the Metuchen game, GMC Hoops sat down in the gym with under four minutes to play, and LEAP was comfortably in front, 59-41. The Lancers outscored Living Faith by a 10-9 margin the rest of the way including a pair of free throws at the 29 second mark for a nineteen point lead. The Cherry Hill school had scored a few moments earlier to cut the deficit to 67-50 on a field goal.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 19, 2007
Fifth Week Of Action

Strong Second Half Gets Ahr Back On Track, 75-56

By Greg Machos
January 19, 2007

NORTH EDISON, NJ--Senior forward, Corey Francisco pulled in a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead sixth ranked Bishop Ahr to a 75-56 victory over Highland Park in another game that was broadcasted on WCTC. The Trojans, which entered the game at 7-3 following a last second upset loss on the road at Middlesex on Tuesday, also got five steals from the school's brand new all time leading scorer, and eleven points on four field goals and three free throws from junior forward, Jordan Madsen. Francisco got his 26 on five field goals, four three pointers, and four foul shots while Ahr as a team made 20 field goals, six threes, and seventeen foul shots for its 75 points. On the other side of the ledger, Highland Park, which entered the game with victories in each of its last two contests, made eleven field goals, nine three pointers, and seven free throws for its 56 points.

The Owls, which were led by senior guard, Bryan Graciano with a team high 17 points including four three pointers, trailed at one point 11-0 a little more than halfway through the first period before rallying to pull within four at halftime. However, BGA, which has now won six of its last seven games, shut the visitors down in the second half with a 40-25 effort that included holding HP to just nine points in the third quarter. For the game, Bishop Ahr outscored Highland Park in three of the four periods of play, and scored double digit points in each frame. In a game that saw both teams have trouble converting opportunities, and committing turnovers, Bishop Ahr used a variety of zone presses and traps in the opening half. At first, it appeared that the strategy would be a huge success as the Trojans scored five points in the first minute or so, and then got a pair of free throws from junior forward, Martese Street (four field goals and two free throws for ten points) at the 6:32 mark to make the score, 7-0.

Neither team would score over the next 1:58 as Ahr failed to convert on a 2-on-1 fastbreak opportunity as Street traveled with 4:45 to go in the period. Shortly afterward, however, junior point guard, Billy Rooney (two field goals for four points), picked up a steal and dished out an assist on a Zack Widdoss (two field goals and two free throws for six points) layup that make it 9-0 in favor of the home team wiith 4:34 to play in the frame. With Highland Park staying in its man-to-man defense, the senior forward scored another basket at the 3:50 mark to stretch the Ahr advantage to 11-0. The Owls wouldn't get on the scoreboard until the 3:36 mark when Alfred Matias (three field goals, two threes, and a foul shot for 13 points) connected for his team's first field goal to make it 11-2. Jake Rainwater (two field goals and a foul shot for five points) followed that up a little more than a minute later with one of two free throws that trimmed the deficit to eight. Matias then cut the BGA lead to five when he scored on a putback off a Graciano miss while being fouled for a three point play with two minutes left in the quarter.

Sensing the game was turning against them, the Trojans demonstrated some urgency, and finished the period with a 9-5 run for a nine point, 20-11 lead going into the second. Mike Williamson (two threes and two free throws for eight points) sparked the late flurry with an assist on a Street layup that made it 13-6 at the 1:50 mark. Widdoss sank two foul shots to push the lead back to seven following a score by Rainwater at the 1:35 mark. Rooney increased the lead to nine again with a steal and a layup at the 1:07 mark, and then following a Graciano three, Francisco buried a deep trifecta in the waning moments of the period to maintain the nine point advantage. Widdoss scored all six of his points on the game in the opening period while Street added four to account for 50 percent of the Trojan first period offense. After settling down and regaining their composure in the last half of the first, Highland Park got back into the contest with its best quarter of the game in the second.

Winning the period by a 20-15 margin, the Owls rallied to pull within four at 35-31 going into the locker room. While holding Francisco to just six points on three shots over the first 11:36 of the contest, Highland Park, which qualified for the state tournament for the first time in three seasons last year, scored ten of the first twelve points in the stanza over a 3:03 span to cut the Ahr lead to just one at 22-21 with just under five minutes left in the half. Antoine Ingram ignited the run with his only points of the game on a three pointer off an assist by Kirkland Davidson (one field goal for two points) at the 7:03 mark that made the score, 20-14. Graciano followed that score with one of his own on a floater that went in at the 6:05 mark to pull HP within four. Following a pair of free throws by Williamson at the 5:23 mark that pushed the Trojan advantage back to six, Davidson scored a layup off a 2-on-1 break for his only points of the game that made it 22-18 with 5:08 to play in the half. A little more than ten seconds later, Graciano capped the 10-2 tear with a three pointer that drew the Owls to within a point at 22-21 with less than five minutes to play before halftime.

However, that would be as close as the Owls would get in this one as Ahr closed the half by stemmng the tide with a 13-10 run. Dan Hurley (four free throws for four points) started the effort with a pair of free throws at the 3:24 mark to provide the Trojans with some much needed breathing room, and BGA was on its way. Ahr, which has a tough upcoming schedule next week with contests on the road at Metuchen and Cardinal McCarrick, went into the break with a 35-31 lead. In the third quarter, the Trojans changed tactics defensively, and it helped a great deal in slowing Highland Park down. Bishop Ahr went to a 2-3 zone, and the Owls began to have problems offensively. Despite collapsing and double teaming Francisco on the defensive end, HP was outscored by eight points by Ahr over the first 5:15 of the second half to give the home team a twelve point lead. Junior swingman, Keviin Uszenski (two field goals for four points) then made a fifteen footer for his first field goal of the game to give the Trojans a 49-35 lead with two minutes left in the third. Street got his final points of the game as he took in a Francisco pass and scored a basket while being fouled by Matias, but he missed the bonus free throw, and the score stood at 51-35 with 1:05 remaining in the period.

Rob Rubenstein (two field goals and two free throws for six points) got a score and Matias followed that up with a three pointer at about the tend second mark to make it a 51-40 Bishop Ahr lead going into the fourth. The Owls 5-0 mini-run at the end of the third quarter, gave them hope after BGA had outscored them by a 2 to 1 margin after HP closed to within one at 22-21 midway through the second. In the fourth, Ahr put the game away with a 24-16 showing. Uszenski began the scoring with a jumper to make it a 53-40 Trojan lead, and then Madsen added a pair of free throws to push the margin up to fifteen at 55-40. Wesley Hedden (field goal and a three pointer for five points) got a layup to pull the deficit back down to thirteen again at 55-42, but the home team was not to be denied on this night as it closed out the contest with a 20-14 showing the rest of the way for the 75-56 victory.

With the victory, the Trojans are now 8-3 overall, 7-2 in conference play, and 6-2 in the GMC Blue while Highland Park drops to 4-8 overall, 2-6 in conference, and 2-6 in divisional play. Check out the remaining schedule of games to be broadcasted this season on WCTC, and don't forget that you can list to live broadcasts of high school games streamed over the internet by going to the radio station's home page, and clicking on the Listen Live button. There is also a blog entry in the GMC Hoops Blogosphere on this game courtesy of our Bishop Ahr Volunteer.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 18, 2007
Fifth Week Of Action

South Brunswick Pulls Away Late To Beat St. Joe's, 59-49

By Greg Machos
January 18, 2007

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ--In a game broadcasted by WCTC, the South Brunswick Vikings reamined undefeated as they broke away from a 44-44 tie early on in the fourth quarter with a 15-5 tear to close the game for a 59-49 victory over fifth ranked St. Joseph's on Thursday night. Sparked by a three point play from senior reserve, Mike Sobers (two field goals and a free throw for five points), SBHS managed to survive its closest GMC contest to date this season. The Falcons, which lost to South Brunswick on opening night by a 61-47 score, has lost both of its contests with the Vikes by an average margin of twelve points. St. Joe's has now lost three of its last four games after winning seven straight although the three defeats have come against the likes of state perennial power, St. Anthony's of Jersey City, South Brunswick, and fourth ranked East Brunswick.

The Vikings got a game high seventeen points including twelve in the first half by senior guard, Martin Soaries (game high 21 points on six field goals, two threes, and three free throws). The senior guard, who netted two three pointers in the first half, scored seven points in the opening quarter when South Brunswick jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead midway through the period, and ended up with an 18-11 advantage going into the second quarter. St. Joseph's didn't get on the board until after head coach, Dave Turco, called for a timeout at about the 4:30 mark. Following the stoppage, Lamar Fisher (two field goals and six free throws for ten points) put the Falcons on the board with a pair of free throws at the 4:10 mark to make the score, 9-2. Devon Young (five field goals and three foul shots for 13 points along with 9 rebounds), who chipped in with nine points in the opening two periods, scored a bucket as he was fouled by Kyan Hines (three field goals and a foul shot for seven points), and then hit the bonus free throw for a conventional three point play to make the lead double digits at 12-2 with 3:58 to play in the quarter.

Steve Rennard (a field goal and two threes for eight points), who has improved steadily as the season has progressed, connected on a three pointer for his first field goal of the game to bring the deficit back down to seven at 12-5 with 3:42 left in the frame. A little more than forty seconds later, Malcolm Soaries scored to push the lead back to 14-5 at exactly the three minute mark. About fifteeen seconds later, St. Joseph's quickly responded with a sixteen foot shot from senior Darrell Caroll (three field goals and three foul shots for nine points) to make the score, 14-7 in favor of SBHS. After going scoreless for almost half of the opening frame, the Falcons persisted and began to chip away at the Viking lead. When South Brunswick forward, Ray Dasant (didn't score), picked up his second foul of the game at the 2:20 mark, the Falcons got another score to pull within five. Senior forward, Kyan Hines, who scored three points in the first half, made a layup at the two minute mark for a 14-9 South Brunswick lead. Arman Wilson (two field goals and four free throws for eight points), who had six first half points, got his first field goal of the game to push the margin back to seven at 16-9 at the 1:45 mark.

Rennard then retailiated for St. Joe's with a bankshot to pull his Falcons back to within five at 16-11 with 1:22 remaining in the stanza. South Brunswick would close out the period scoring, however, as Martin Soaries shot a floater that went in at the 20 second mark for the 18-11 lead going into the second period. In that frame, St. Joseph's earned the quarter edge, 15-14, but actually had a 15-10 showing at one point before SBHS closed the half with a 4-0 run in the final 36.6 on a pair of free throws by Wilson, and a jumper by Sobers, who has brought a lot of enthusiasm off the bench for the Vikings in recent games. For the half, five Viking players accounted for all the team's points while eight Falcons got into the scoring ledger for St. Joseph's. Young and Martin Soaries combined for 63.6 percent of the Viking offense while Rennard, Carroll, and Fisher made up nearly 60 percent of the Falcon offense. Defenses took over in the third as this game featured two of the top scoring defenses in the entire conference.

In the third, both teams combined for the lowest single quarter oof tthe game as the Falcons pulled to within seven on a 10-9 showing. At the end of the third period, St. Joe's had a chance again to get within four, but missed a 35 footer at the buzzer so the score remained, 42-35 entering the final frame. Kyan Hines opened the fourth with an offensive rebound and putback off of a Darrell Carroll miss to make the score, 42-37. Not too long after that, Mike Sobers got called for a foul, and Lamar Fisher cashed in by making both ends of the one and one to get the Falcons to within three at 42-39 at the 7:15 mark. Following a missed front end of a one and one by martin Soaries, Fisher made another trip to the charity stripe, and converted one of two for a 42-20 South Brunswick lead. St. Joe's then scored four of the next six points to cap a 9-2 quarter opening rally to tie the game at 44-44. But, that is where the Falcons hit a wall as South Brunswick pulled away.

The Vikings did what all good teams do in these circumstances, and that was to find a way to win as Sobers came with one of his biggest plays of the season on a clutch three point play to ignite the Vikings final assault for the win. With the victory, the Vikes are now 13-0 overall, 9-0 in conference play, and 8-0 in the rough and tumble GMC Red while St. Joseph's drops to 8-6 overall, 5-4 in conference, and 9-4 in divisional play. Check out the remaining schedule of games to be broadcasted this season on WCTC, and don't forget that you can list to live broadcasts of high school games streamed over the internet by going to the radio station's home page, and clicking on the Listen Live button.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 15, 2007
Fifth Week Of Action

Roselle Park Continues Recent Mastery Over Dunellen, 61-57

By Greg Machos
January 15, 2007

DUNELLEN, NJ--For the third straight time in two years, the Panthers of Roselle Park defeated Dunellen in Boys Basketball competition. The victory was only the second of the season for the team from Union County and the Mountain Valley Conference although the school suffered some very close defeats including a 59-53 loss to Metuchen over the holidays in the consolation game of the 2006 Roselle Park Holiday Tournament. The Panthers had a 20-9 showing in the second quarter including an 18-6 tear that turned a 15-12 deficit into a 30-21 halftime lead. Remick Garcia led the way with a game high 16 points on three field goals, three trifectas, and a free throw while 7'0" senior center, John Marciano chipped in with 11 points on five of eight field goals, and one of two at the line along with 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal. Steven Tansey also had eleven while Kevin Petruzelli chipped in with nine for the victors, which defeated the Destroyers twice last season.

While both teams each had 18 turnovers and Dunellen held a 35-29 edge in rebounding, the Destroyers were only 23 of 68 from the floor including three treys for 33.8 percent, and 8 of 14 at the line for 57.1 percent. Meanwhile, Roselle Park was 19 of 53 from the floor including four threes for 35.8 percent and went to the foul line 36 times making 19 for a percentage of 52.8 percent. Both teams won two quarters apiece, but RPHS won the game on the strength of its solid second period. Other statistical areas were quite even with Roselle Park gaining edges in threes (4-3), blocks (5-4), charges (1-0), and assists (16-15). Dunellen ended up going into the bonus and double bonus rather early in the second half, and that helped the Panthers gain the edge in the free throw line, which was the biggest discrepancy between the two squads. The Destroyers had several players foul out including junior T.J. Wenzel (1 of 5 FGs and 2 of 4 FTs for 4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and an assist) at the 2:24 mark of the fourth and Aldrin Nubla (a three pointer for three points and a rebound) at the 13.0 second mark. Meanwhile, another Dunellen player left the game for different reasons, and his departure may have significant consequences for the two time defending GMC Gold Champs the rest of the season.

With 3:36 to go in the game, and Roselle Park holding a 48-44 lead, junior point guard, Jim Schleppenbach (3 of 13 FGs and 2 of 4 FTs for eight points, eight assists, two rebounds, and a steal), went down with a knee injury as teammate Lim Beltran (6 of 16 FGs and 2 of 4 FTs for 14 points along with 10 rebounds, two assists, and a steal), who collected a double-double, went in for a layup that made it a two point game. Schleppenbach had to be carried off the floor by DHS personnel, and didn't return. Marciano also fouled out for the Panthers at the 36.7 second mark in a wild game that even had some spookiness to it when the lights went out at The Faber with 1:43 remaining, and the Panthers ahead by six. Mike Bartilotti chipped in for the losers, which had won nine straight entering the game, with 5 of 17 shooting and 2 of 3 from the foul line for 12 points while collecting 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. The Destroyers, which pulled off a couple of surprising upsets over Monroe at home, and a Governor Livingston team that defeated Rahway recently during their streak, also had 12 points from Rutgers Prep transfer Keith Lefchuck, who made 5 of 13 field goals including two threes to go along with six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Brock Mundy rounded out the Dunellen effort with 2 of 3 field goals for four points along with four rebounds.

Over the first 10:11 of the contest, there were six lead changes and five ties. When Roselle Park took the lead, it held its biggest advantage at 43-30 with about four minutes to go in the third. Dunellen closed the gap with a 6-0 run towards the end of the third to pull within seven at 43-36, but Garcia connected on a huge three pointer to give the Panthers a double digit lead going into the fourth and final period. Roselle Park increased the lead to 48-36 early in the fourth as Garcia and another RPHS player made one of two at the charity stripe, but Dunellen rallied back. The Destroyers went on a 10-0 run over a span of 3:04 to pull within two at 48-46. But, after Marciano returned, and Schleppenbach left with his injury, the Panthers reasserted their control to the tune of a 7-0 spurt over a 1:35 span to take a 55-46 lead with just over two minutes to play in the contest. Getting a sense of urgency, Dunellen made one final push to get back into the contest. Nubla took a pass from Bartilotti in the right corner and knocked in a three pointer to ignite a 9-2 burst over a minute and twenty-five second span to pull within two on a Mike Bartilotti three point play at the 36.7 second mark that made the score, 57-55.

With Marciano fouling out on the three point play by Bartilotti, Roselle Park called timeout ten seconds later. Following the stoppage, Roselle Park inbounded the ball and tried to just run out the clock. Getting desperate, Dunellen began to take chances, and failed to go after the ball on a foul in their own backcourt. The officials then called an intentional foul, and the Panthers netted both foul shots for a 59-55 lead, and on top of that, Roselle Park got the ball out of bounds. Shortly after inbounding the basketball, another RPHS player was fouled, and subsequently made a pair at the line for a 61-55 lead with 13 seconds left. The Destroyers got a basket in the waning seconds, but it was too late as Roselle Park won, 61-57. In the opening quarter, Dunellen grabbed a 12-10 lead as both teams struggled from the floor. The home team was only 5 of 16 from the floor for 31.3 percent while the visitors were slightly worse at 5 of 18 for 27.8 percent. Both teams combined for nine turnovers in the frame with Roselle Park making slightly more (5-4). The difference in the stanza were two early free throws by Schleppenbach to gave the Destroyers an early 2-0 lead.

The second period is where things came together for Roselle Park, and went wrong for Dunellen. The Panthers tied the game up early in the period at 12-12 before Beltran scored a layup off a Bartilotti assist, and then the senior forward made one of two at the charity stripe to give the Destroyers a 15-12 lead with 7:03 left in the half. But, after Lefchuck picked up his second foul at the 6:20 mark, Roselle Park made two straight threes to take the lead. One came at the 6:03 mark to tie things up at 15-15, and then the other followed shortly afterward to give RPHS an 18-15 advantage with 5:49 left before the break. Dunellen would pull within one on a Bartilotti layup at the 5:25 mark, but Roselle Park answered with three straight points capped by one of two free throws at the 3:34 mark that resulted from Wenzel's second foul of the game to make it 21-17. Those three points began a 12-2 spurt to end the half including one of two free throws at the 2:38 mark following Brock Mundy's second foul, and two foul shots at the 1:05 mark resulting from Schleppenbach's second foul. For the quarter, the Destroyers shot just 4 of 15 from the field for 26.7 percent while Roselle Park was much better at 7 of 13 for 53.8 percent.

With the loss, Dunellen drops to 10-3 overall on the season including a 3-2 mark in non-conference play. Meanwhile, Roselle Park evens its record against the GMC to 1-1 while moving up to 2-9 on the year. The Panthers, which were knocked out of state playoff contention with a recent loss against David Brearley of Kenilworth on the road last week, will play another GMC team in several weeks when it hosts South Amboy, another team in the wacky world of the Gold Division.

Colonia Defeats South Plainfield On Two Quarter Ending Surges, 55-43

By Greg Machos
January 15, 2007

COLONIA, NJ--It was a key divisional showdown for both teams. Up to this point in the season, Colonia had gone through the GMC White schedule undefeated at 6-0 while South Plainfield had become one of the biggest surprises in the conference so far in 2006-07. The Tigers came in to CHS on Martin Luther King Day for this rare Monday matinee with a 5-1 record in divisional play, and a 7-1 mark in the GMC to go along with its 7-3 record. The only defeats suffered by SPHS were on opening night to Monroe (48-47), and in the John "Butch" Kowal Tournament to Westfield (53-39) and Scotch Plains (50-46). Meanwhile, Colonia has suffered its two losses to Moore Catholic (36-28) and St. Joseph's (55-53) by a combined total of ten points with one game going to overtime. To many that may have seen this game, it may not have appeared as close as the 55-43 Colonia win, but the Patriots got the twelve point victory by virtue of two quarter ending blitzes that combined for a 36-7 advantage.

In the first period, South Plainfield scored five of the first seven points in the opening 1:34, but Colonia closed out the period with a 17-2 surge over the last 5:26 to take a 19-7 lead going into the second. Then, after South Plainfield outscored the home team 12-8 in the second frame to trail, 27-19 at the intermission, and again scored five of the first seven points to start the third for a 29-24 CHS lead, the Patriots ended the stanza with a 19-5 outburst to take a commanding 48-29 advantage going into the fourth. Take those two runs out, and the Tigers actually outscored the Pats by a 36-19 margin. Joe LaSala led three different Patriot players in double figures with 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field and 4 of 4 from the foul line while also collecting three steals, two assists, two rebounds, a block, and a charge. Senior center, Kevin Edmonds, went five of ten from the floor including two three pointers for 12 points along with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Sophomore guard, J.J. D'Amico went 5 of 7 from the field and one of two at the line for 11 points to go with a rebound and an assist. D'Amico keyed the first quarter blitz with a 4 of 4 shooting effort while LaSala chipped in with three of four shooting to give Colonia a 19-7 lead.

Once again though, it was all made possible by the solid play at point by junior, Brandon Hall. Although he only made two of four shots from the floor, and one of three at the line for five points, Hall orchestrated the offense quite well despite the 20 team turnovers in the contest as he handed out six assists while picking up two steals and a rebound. Mike Salvador (1 of 5 FGs and 3 of 4 FTs for five points, two assists, a rebound, and a charge) and Jeff Mentzel (2 of 2 FTs for two points and four rebounds) rounded out the scoring for Colonia while Sal McClain (a rebound and a steal) and Branden Wagner (0 of 1 FG) also played, but didn't score. For South Plainfield, both senior guard, Shamai Santiago, and senior forward, Opie Muse, led the way in a losing effort with 11 points each. Santiago got his eleven on 5 of 9 field goals along with an assist and a steal while Muse got his eleven points on four of nine field goals and three of five at the line along with four rebounds and two blocks. Freshman forward, Dontae Johnson, made four of seven shots from the field and both of his foul shots for ten points along with four rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

Outside of those three Tiger players, which went a collective 13 of 25 from the floor for 52 percent and 5 of 7 at the line for 71 percent to account for 74.4 percent of the offense, South Plainfield was a paltry 2 of 25 for eight percent, and 7 of 10 at the foul line for 70 percent. Another key problem for SPHS was turnovers. Although Colonia had its share of turnover problems, the Tigers made 23 miscues, which contributed to the first and third quarter surges by the home team. Junior Benny Gibson and sophomore Mike Burton each went 0 of 6 from the floor, but made three of four at the line for three points while Gibson collected three rebounds, three steals, and two assists and Burton picked up two assists, a rebound, and a steal. Senior forward, Kyle Matthews chipped in with three points of his own on a jumper and one of two free throws while also adding a rebound and a block. Fellow senior, Danny Hubner chipped in with one of four field goals for two points along with two rebounds and a steal to round out the SP scoring. Also playing, but not getting into the scoring column were Danny McCreesh (0 of 3 FGs and two rebounds), Chris Pollin (0 of 3 FGs, four rebounds, an assist, and a steal), and Dondray Hardin (0 of 1 FG).

For the contest, Colonia as a team was 20 of 45 from the floor including two threes for 44.4 percent while South Plainfield was 15 of 50 from the field including a three for 30 percent. Foul shooting was much closer with the Patriots going 13 of 18 for 72.2 percent while the Tigers were 12 of 17 for 70.6 percent. Colonia held big advantages in assists (18-10) and charges (5-0) while holding edges in threes (2-1), steals (8-7), turnovers (20-23), and rebounds (23-20). South Plainfield had the edge in blocks (5-4). Although Colonia won the game, the Pats scored in single digits in two of the four quarters while SP scored in double figures in three of the four periods. Both teams won two periods apiece, but Colonia won theirs by bigger margins. With the exception of the shooting, assists, and charges, the game was statistically quite close, which was another reason for perhaps feeling that this game could have been different. The problems were that the Tigers had too many turnovers, and not enough people stepping up outside of Santiago, Muse, and Johnson to make shots. Outside of Colonia's top three scorers in this game (LaSala, Edmonds, and D'Amico), the other Patriot starters and reserves made 5 of 17 shots and 8 of 11 at the foul line for 18 points or 32.7 of the Patriot offense.

The game opened with Colonia drawing first blood on a layup by LaSala off an assist from Edmonds to make it a 2-0 game. South Plainfield answered though with a three point play by Muse on an offensive rebound and putback as he was fouled at the 5:59 mark. Leading now 3-2, the Tigers increased its lead with another offensive rebound and putback, but this time it was from Danny Hubner for his only field goal and points of the contest to make the score 5-2 with 5:26 remaining in the first. At that point, Colonia began to make its first major assault of the game. Prior to taking a timeout at the 5:06 mark, the Patriots got another score from LaSala off an assist by Hall to make it 5-4. Following the stoppage, Colonia took the lead for good on two nice jump shots by D'Amico, which were nicely set up by Hall for an 8-5 Patriot lead. D'Amico made two more from the outside that coerced SPHS coach, Bill Schulte to call for time, and drew compliments from his fellow teammates in the Colonia huddle as Colonia now lead, 12-5 with 2:57 left in the first. Emerging from the timeout, SP got back on track for the time being with a pair of free throws at the 2:18 mark by Benny Gibson that made the score, 12-7.

However, Colonia, which shot 9 of 14 from the floor in the first period, ended the frame with a 7-0 spurt as D'Amico and LaSala accounted for 14 of the 19 CHS points in the quarter. Meanwhile, the Tigers were limited to just 2 of 12 field goals for 16.7 percent, and committed six turnovers. The second period saw SPHS regain some of its composure and chip away at the lead with a 12-8 showing to make it an eight point Colonia lead at the break. Over the first 1:16 of the second, Santiago made a jumper and handed out an assist on a layup by Johnson to key a 4-0 run that made the score, 19-11 Colonia with 6:44 left in the half. A little less than thirty seconds later, Colonia got its double digit lead back on a pair of free throws by Mentzel for a 21-11 score, and then a bit more than thirty seconds after that, Salvador made two of his own at the charity stripe for a 23-13 lead after Johnson scored at the other end for SP on a layup. Johnson, who scored six of his ten points in the frame, got another score after a Colonia timeout, as the freshman grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the putback attempt for two foul shots to make it an eight point game at 23-15 with 4:01 remaining in the half.

The Patriots pushed their advantage back to a dozen on a layup by Hall at the 3:42 mark, and another by LaSala at about the 2:15 mark for a 27-15 lead as South Plainfield called for time with 1:48 to play in the half. However, the Tigers responded with two free throws from Burton at the 1:27 mark, and then a score from Santiago late in the period for the 27-19 Patriot lead at the intermission. SPHS was 6 of 24 for 25 percent from the floor while CHS was 11 of 22 for 50 percent. Colonia also had eleven first half assists to South Plainfield's three. Other than that, the statistics were fairly even to this point in the contest. The third started out as exactly as promising as the first did for SP, but ended up in the same horrifc way for the Tigers. South Plainfield opened the second half with four of the first six points scored within the first two minutes of the third, and then got one of two foul shots from Muse at the 5:59 mark to pull within 29-24. Johnson and Santiago got the baskets for SPHS. The visitors couldn't get any closer though as the Pats effectively put the game away with the second major outburst of the matchup.

Over the final six or so minutes of the third, Colonia embarked on a final attack that consisted of two free throws by Usuwa at the 4:05 mark, a three point by Edmonds from Hall at the 3:30 mark, a charge by Usuwa moments later, and scores by Usuwa and hall to make it a 42-28 lead with less than two and a half minutes left in the frame. While all of this was transpiring, a South Plainfield fan was ejected from the gym as parents and fans in the Tiger cheering section got into a dispute with Police and CHS personnel. The Patriots scored six more points for a twenty point, 48-28 lead before Muse made one of two foul shots at the 1:38 mark to end the Colonia surge. The Pats ended up with a 21-10 showing in the third to take a 48-29 lead going into the fourth. From there it was just a matter of time before Colonia would emerge victorious. Slowing down the game some in the fourth, the home team was outscored, 14-7 by a Tiger team that refused to quite in spite of the odds to round out the final, 55-43 score. With the victory, Colonia is still perfect in the White Division with a 7-0 record while moving up to 10-2 overall. South Plainfield drops to 7-4 on the season, and 5-2 in divisional play.

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