The GMC Summaries Page will be updated soon with all the articles from games seen so far this year.

GMC Hoops Summaries--December 23, 2011
Week One--Gold/Blue Crossover Clash

Grant And Soulias Lead Spotswood Past Dunellen, 56-37

By Greg Machos
December 23, 2011

SPOTSWOOD, NJ--The schedule was a quiet one around the Greater Middlesex Conference on this Friday before Christmas, but you couldn't tell that to the fans of Spotswood and Dunellen. Both student sections were out in full force for the only game in town between the Chargers and the Destroyers. Spotswood's student section, which is highly touted, and even showed up for the Championship Game of the Monroe Sports Center Summer League, had a lot more reason to chant, jump up and down, and cheer about.

Junior guard Dalonte Grant fired in 24 points including five threes while teammate Tommy Soulias overcame a slow start to chip in with 17 points including four threes to lead Spotswood to its first victory of the season, 56-37. St. Joseph's transfer, Jake Dadika did a great job running the show for the Chargers by pushing the ball to the basket, and kicking out to both Grant and Soulias for open threes. Dadika, who had 8 points himself along with 6 assists, also knocked in a pair of treys as the Chargers outscored Dunellen by a margin of 33-12 in points scored from beyond the arc. Both teams combined for 15 three pointers as Spotswood tallied up 59 percent of its scoring from long distance.

Sean Gibney and Dylan Hoski both led the Destroyers in a losing cause with 11 points each while Kevin Puckett chipped in with five. Overall, Spotswood had more field goals (19-11), but only had an 8-7 in two pointers while Dunellen also had an 11-7 edge in points scored from the foul line despite only shooting 52 percent from the charity stripe, and scoring only two points from there in the second half. The Chargers outscored their foes in each period, but really couldn't shake the Destroyers until the very end of the third when Grant connected on a three pointer as time was running out for a 42-32 lead.

Spotswood opened the fourth with another three from Soulias for a 45-32 lead, and after Gibney hit his third and final three of the game and a putback by Orville Thompson, the Chargers went on a 9-0 run to finish off the win. Grant scored 18 of his points during the middle two periods as he sank all five of his threes including a unconventional four point play at the 5:28 mark for a 19-13 lead. Soulias didn't score until the 6:40 mark of the second period when he put in a follow off his own miss. The senior continued to shoot though, and he was rewarded for his persistence. Dadika made the first two treys of the game for Spotswood as he scored all eight of his points in the first half. The trio of Grant, Soulias, and Dadika accounted for 88 percent of the Charger offense in the contest.

The first period was a slow one for both teams with Spotswood taking a 9-7 lead. Grant scored on a layup to open the game at the 6:57 mark, and after Casey Wenzel made one of two from the line for Dunellen, Dadika connected on a three from the left wing at the 5:50 mark for a 5-1 lead. The Destroyers, which had only one field goal in the opening frame, but made 5 of 8 from the line scratched and clawed its way back to a tie at the 3:09 mark before Dadika struck again for three from the top of the key for an 8-5 lead with 2:35 to go in the frame. Dunellen, which was already in the bonus by the 1:52 mark of the first, got two more free throws from Wenzel while Ike Ejikeme added a one of two showing from the charity stripe to give the home team a two point lead heading into the second.

The Chargers opened up the second with two free throws by Grant just three second into the period for an 11-7 lead, but Dunellen battled back again to tie things up at 11-11 after Hoski scored on a layup at the 7:35 mark, and Wenzel made two foul shots at the 7:07 mark. Over the next 2:58 though, Spotswood took charge with a 9-2 spurt highlighted by Soulias' first points of the game, a layup by Jamal Lewis (6 points) at the 6:08 mark, and Grant's four point play for a 22-13 lead wtih 4:09 remaining in the half. The Chargers would lead by nine on a couple more occasions before halftime, but each time, Dunellen would find a way to stay in the contest thanks to Kevin Puckett, who scored all five of his points in the period including two free throws at the 1:33 mark, and a three pointer from the left corner with 20.3 seconds to go in the half for a 28-22 Spotswood lead at the intermission.

The beginning of the third saw Spotswood seemingly take command of the contest with an 11-2 spurt over the first 4:38 of the frame for a 39-24 lead. The Chargers opened the second half scoring with a layup by Soulias off a dish from Dadika at the 6:37 mark. Then, after Hoski pulled Dunellen back to within six on a score down low, Soulias hit a three pointer from the left wing at the 4:25 mark, and Grant struck for back to back threes at the 3:51 and 3:22 marks to cap the spurt. However, the Destroyers refused to fold thanks to Gibney, who replied with a three from the left wing at the 3:06 mark, and another trey at the 1:28 mark following a layup by Hoski at the 2:39 mark for an 8-0 run to pull within seven at 39-32 . Unfortunately for the DHS faithful in attendance, their Destroyers would get no closer than ten after that.

Grant connected on a three from the left corner to end the third, and Soulias netted a trey from the right wing to open the fourth for a 13 point lead. Gibney, who scored nine of his points in the second half, gave Dunellen some home for a while with a trey followed by a putback from Orville Thompson to narrow the deficit to 47-37 at the 5:45 mark, but the Chargers finished the game on a 9-0 run as Grant got two baskets, Soulias added another three, and Lewis scored a layup. With the victory, Spotswood improved to 1-1 while Dunellen fell to 2-2. The Chargers and Destroyers will be in action over the holidays with Spotswood playing in the Bound Brook Crusader Classic and DHS competing in the Shello/Santy Tournament. Read the play-by-play from the contest.

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