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GMC Hoops Summaries--Sunday, July 11, 2004
Eastern Invitational Basketball Team Camp

Tough Day For GMC Teams At Eastern

Sunday, July 11th, 2004 will go down as an historic moment in the history of the GMC Hoops web site as we made our first ever appearance at the Eastern Invitational Basketball Camp at the College of New Jersey in Ewing to cover the team camp, and focus on the three Greater Middlesex Conference Schools participating in the camp: Cardinal McCarrick, South Brunswick, and St. Joseph's.

After a solid beginning for the GMC with two wins by Cardinal McCarrick and South Brunswick in their opening round games against Gwynn Park A of Maryland, and Staples of Connecticut respectively in the American Division tournament, all three GMC schools struggled as they dropped four straight games that we saw before leaving TCNJ late in the afternoon on Sunday. First, after finding our way around the camp, we settled down to watch St. Joseph's open up their National Division tournament play against Blake a school located in Silver Springs, Maryland.

Things were tough from the get go for the Falcons as Blake jumped out on top, 4-0 as St. Joseph's called for time with 14:10 remaining in the first half. Out of the timeout, St. Joseph's, which only had three field goals in the entire sixteen minute long first half, continued to struggle to get points until the 12:10 mark when soon to be junior, Kenny Widgeon, who has shown tremendous improvement, and had 8 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and an assist in the game, notched two free throws.

As a matter of fact, free throws were about the only bright spot for the Falcons as they went 6 of 6 for the game at the charity stripe. Four players including Sean Baptiste, Widgeon, Nigel Robinson, and Kavan Brandon combined for 11 of the team's first half turnovers, which were a ton. Robinson committed six of those turnovers as Blake's pressure, quickness, and athleticism overwhelmed the undermanned St. Joe's squad, which was without several players including Andrew Bynum, who was supposed to be arriving later in the day from a camp in Indiana.

St. Joseph's, which didn't get its first field goal of the game until the 8:59 mark when Robinson, who had the best game for the Falcons with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals including a perfect heave from near half court for a three pointer to end the game, got a steal and a layup to cut the deficit to 6-4, and force the team from Maryland to call timeout. Blake was then able to increase the lead to 10-4 before Robinson came up with a rebound and an assist on a basket by Baptiste (10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist), his first of the game, at the 6:50 mark of the first half.

However, after St. Joseph's pulled to within two at 10-8 on two free throws by Robinson, Blake went on a 5-0 run capped by a three point play to make the score 15-8 with 5:50 left in the first half. Continuing to be rattled by Blake's pressure, St. Joseph's had to use a timeout to try and settle things down after a 4-2 run by the Maryland school increased the lead to 19-10. Coming out of the timeout, St. Joe's went into a 2-3 zone, but it didn't really make much of a difference as Blake closed the half with a 5-2 spurt for a 24-12 halftime lead.

In the second half, Blake increased its lead to 16 on a 12-8 run to open the scoring despite the Falcons looking much better, and more in sync on offense. After St. Joseph's scored the next two baskets to pull within 36-24, Blake went on an 8-2 run to make the score 44-26 with only 4:30 remaining. The Falcons, who continued to play much more improved in the second half, put together a 16-6 surge to end the game as Robinson first capped a 6-0 run with a spin move to make it 44-32 with about two minutes left. Then, he closed the game with a just about perfectly planned shot from halfcourt as time expired to round out the 50-42 final.

Kavan Brandon, who did not play in the second game against Bishop O'Connell in the consolation bracket, chipped in for the losers with two points, three rebounds, and two steals. Against O'Connell, the Falcons played much better. They did a solid job distributing the basketball, Robinson, Baptiste, and Widgeon, were firing on all cylinders, and the Falcons hung tough against a bigger Bishop O'Connell team. The Falcons jumped out to a 5-2 lead with 14:47 left on the clock in the first half before Bishop O'Connell took the lead with a 4-0 run to make it 6-5 with 13:37 to go in the half.

The next 3:17 saw the Falcons go on an 11-4 tear that was capped by an off balanced score underneath by Baptiste, who had 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists on the game, for a three point play to make it 16-10 with 10:20 to go in the half. Bishop O'Connell would respond though with a 10-4 spurt capped by a steal and a layup to tie the score at 20-20. O'Connell then took the lead, 22-20 on a layup with 5:50 to go before intermission.

However, that lead didn't last long as the Falcons mounted a 7-2 run capped by a three pointer by Robinson, who had another solid game scoring with 20 points along with 3 assists and 2 rebounds despite six more turnovers, and an assist by Baptiste for a layup to make it 27-24 as Bishop O'Connell called for time with 3:46 remaining in the opening half. O'Connell came out of the timeout with a nice basket on a three pointer to tie the score up at 27-27, but Sean Baptiste came back down immediately, and nailed a three pointer as he was fouled for a four point play after hitting the free throw to make it 31-27 in favor of the Falcons with 3:10 to play in the first half.

Bishop O'Connell would close the half with a 8-5 run including a three pointer with 1:23 to go to make it a 36-35 game in favor of St. Joseph's at the break. However, the opening of the second half would be marred by scoreboard problems that created plenty of confusion. While the Falcons did indeed have the lead, 36-35 at the half according to our notes, the scoreboard read, O'Connell up 36-34 at the start of the second. Several minutes of the second half would go by before the Falcon coaching staff recognized the problem at held up the game.

After the problem was settled, and the team's got back down to business, the Falcons seemed to be ready to go as they went on a 6-0 run to open the scoring of the final half for a 42-35 lead as Robinson canned another three pointer. Bishop O'Connell would rally back though, and make up those six points with a 10-4 spurt to cut the lead back down to one at 46-45 with 11:11 to go. Ten seconds later, O'Connell would take its first lead since the 5:50 mark of the first half on a steal and layup for a three point play to make it 48-46 with 11:01 remaining.

The Falcons would quickly take the lead back on a three pointer to make the score 49-48 with 10:41 to play. But, O'Connell would take the lead right back on the next possession with a three point play off an offensive rebound and putback to make it 51-49 with 10:31 left despite an O'Connell player being injured on the play and stopping the game for several minutes. When play resumed, O'Connell maintained its lead despite the Falcons hanging tough with a 6-5 run to cut the deficit to one at 56-55 with only 7:20 to go.

However, that would be as close as the Falcons would get despite Kenny Widgeon's efforts to take over the game, Widgeon, who ended up with a solid game with 16 points, four rebounds, a steal, and a block, put his offense in high gear as his improved shooting touch got him a number of big shots in the second half. Bishop O'Connell closed the game with a 19-13 edge over the final 7:20 of the contest to shape the final, 75-68 score.

Following that, we took a break to get some stuff at the store, and boy did we need it as it was a bit hot for a while yesterday. However, after guzzling down a couple 32 oz. bottles of Gatorade, we were revived and ready for the final two games we were covering in the afternoon. South Brunswick was taking a Truman, and Cardinal McCarrick was taking on Montgomery, a team that reached the Quarterfinal round of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament, where it lost to GMC Tournament finalist, Colonia. The Cougars, which has come a long way since being a Group I school and member of the Colonial Valley Conference back in the late 1980s, are now a member of the Skyland Conference, and play in the Delaware Division against the bigger schools.

As the Vikings were getting outmatched by Truman, 56-34, Cardinal McCarrick struggled to develop any sort of consistent offensive flow as they were plagued by turnovers, and poor shooting. Despite getting 10 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and only one turnover from soon to be senior Kevin Olivieri, Montgomery went on a 7-0 run early in the first half to break away from a 6-4 game to make it 13-4, and they never were really threatened after that although McCarrick did get the lead to eight at the start of the second half, 28-20 before the Cougars went on a decisive 14-0 surge for an insurrmountable 42-20 lead with 10:45 remaining in the game.

After that, McCarrick closed the game with a 13-7 run to shape the final 49-33 score. Despite having some problems handling the ball inside, big man Jayvee Obaze had some good moments with two points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block while soon to be junior, Matt Wisneski, chipped in with four points. The Eagles, which have been playing at the Linden Summer League, where they are currently 3-3 including a win over Linden, just couldn't get things going on offense as Donnie Reid, who only had a steal, and soon to be sophomore guard, Vincente Rosario, only combined for two points on the game.

On a positive note, it was good to see Donnie Reid on the floor after his recent foot injury. He seems to have put on a bit more weight, which is hopefully going to help him develop a bit more of a post game to compliment his patented shooting. Meanwhile, back to the other late game, Nick Fazio continued to be a bright spot for the Vikings despite the loss to a much more talented a deeper Truman team. South Brunswick was also without several key players including soon to be senior center, Dan Stonkus, who continues to have quite a busy summer himself.

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