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GMC Hoops Summaries--December 23, 2009
Week One--Red/White Crossover Clash

Rogers And Gadsden Lead Raiders To Easy Victory Over Eagles, 57-39

By Greg Machos
December 23, 2009

NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ--The holiday season got going early for GMC Hoops as it traveled to see the hometown Raiders in action against neighborhood rival, Edison in an afternoon game. This game pitted two teams going in opposite directions early on this season as North Brunswick entered the game at 2-0 following victories over Carteret (57-40) and New Brunswick (60-59) while Edison was soundly defeated in its opener at East Brunswick (66-37) and lost to Old Bridge in its home opener (65-52).

In all fairness to the Eagles though, they are playing with a much different team than they ended up with last season. After going 6-17 in the 2008-09 campaign, EHS lost Erik Janz and Steve Migliore to graduation and several players transferred including Anthony Green (Piscataway), Will Thomas (Cardinal McCarrick), and Mohammed Ali (Cardinal McCarrick). The trio were part of a future that looked bright for Edison. Charlie Mohr, and is current roster are doing their best to forget about that, and try to compete as best they can.

Meanwhile, North Brunswick has a good group of players returning including senior Mark Gibson, junior Tait Pirkle, and sophomores Dion Rogers and Dillon Salva. In addition, sophomore forward Chance Gadsden provides solid play on the interior along with reserve Jarrett Phelps. The Raiders played very well at the East Brunswick Team Camp this past summer including an overtime victory over Immaculata. Head coach, Ed Breheney, one of the Deans of coaching in the GMC, is also stressing improvement on the defensive end.

Defense played a role early on in this contest too. The Raiders came out blazing with a 10-0 spurt over the first 5:13 of the contest, and took a 15-2 first quarter lead, and never looked back in a 57-39 victory. North Brunswick led by as many as 27 in the second half before Edison finished strong with a 16-7 fourth quarter showing to make the game more respectable. Rogers led the Raiders with a team high 13 points despite some struggles from the field. He also collected 5 assists, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, and a block. Gadsden also performed well making 5 of 7 shots for 10 points along with 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, an assist, and a steal.

Gibson chipped in with 9 points, which all came in the first half of play while Phelps added 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting and 5 rebounds along with a block and an assist. Salva (3 of 4 FGs for 6 points, 6 rebounds, and an assist) and senior Troy Brown (5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, a block, and an assist) helped round out the scoring for North Brunswick. Sophomore Greg Grippo was a bright spot for the Eagles in this loss. Grippo, one of four returning players from last year's team, connected on 7 of 17 overall from the floor including two three pointers, and made 3 of 4 from the line for a game high 19 points along with 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, and an assist.

For the game, North Brunswick shot 24 of 55 from the floor including 4 of 17 from three point range while making 5 of 8 from the foul line. Meanwhile, the Raiders limited the Eagles to just 13 of 50 from the floor including 5 of 18 from long distance. Edison fared a bit better than the home team at the line by going 8 of 10 from the charity stripe. In other statistical areas, North Brunswick got the edge in turnovers (15-16), total rebounds (39-24), offensive rebounds (13-10), assists (12-5), steals (8-7), and blocks (6-3). Neither team drew a charge. The Raiders outscored Edison in three of the four periods including a 34-11 effort over the first two frames.

Despite going 6 of 18 from the floor in the opening period, North Brunswick was able to take a huge early lead thanks to its defense, which limited Edison to just one field goal in 11 attempts. The Raiders got on the board thanks to an offensive rebound and follow by Gadsden followed by a three pointer from senior guard, Mike Curran (3 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist) for a 5-0 lead at the 5:00 mark. Over the next 2:13, NBTHS expanded the lead to 10-0 as Rogers, the younger brother of former standout, Brandon Rogers, swiped a steal for a layup, and Brown made one of two from the line. Brown then capped the opening period barrage with a three point play at the 10.3 second mark for a 15-2 lead heading into the second.

The Raiders picked up where they left off in the first with a 9-3 run over the first 2:48 of the second to take a commanding 24-5 advantage. Highlighting the run again was Rogers with a steal for a layup attempt that drew a foul and produced two free throws while Gibson added a three pointer from the left side to open the period scoring, and Brown capped the spurt with a baseline jumper from the right side at the 5:12 mark. Edison tried its best to battle back with a 6-5 showing over the next several minutes, but North Brunswick wouldn't relent as it finished out the first half with the final five points including a putback by Phelps off a Brown miss for a 34-11 lead going into the intermission.

At the half, North Brunswick was shooting 13 of 29 from the floor following a solid 7 of 11 performance in the second period. The Raiders also limited the Eagles to just 5 of 20 from the field while forcing eight turnovers. Another key statistic was rebounding as the home team dominated the boards with a 21-6 effort over the first two periods. Rogers and Gibson spearheaded the NBTHS onslaught in the first half with 9 points each while the sophomore collected 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 rebounds, and a block, and the senior picked up a rebound and an assist. The Eagles came out fighting to start the third, but the Raiders squelched the rebellion to ultimately increase its margin heading into the fourth.

Edison opened the second half with a 5-4 run over the first 3:37 including a three pointer by Grippo, who had 15 points in the second half, and a jumper by Yamir Caroo (8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and an assist), who scored all eight of his points over the final two periods, to trim the deficit slightly to 38-16. Following a North Brunswick timeout, the Raiders scored four of the next six points including a drive for a layup by Phelps and an offensive rebound and putback by Gadsden to take a 42-18 lead at the 3:03 mark. The led grew to 46-20 following an Edison timeout as NBTHS put together another 4-2 mini-run including an offensive rebound and follow by Salva at the 1:37 mark.

The Raiders then took its biggest lead of the game by scoring four of the next seven points to close out the third for a 50-23 score. EHS then made the score cosmetically better with a 16-7 showing in the fourth including two threes on back to back possessions by Caroo, and two free throws by sophomore guard, Kevin Luckenbach to round out the final 57-39 score. With the victory, North Brunswick heads into the holiday tournament portion of the season still unbeaten at 3-0 overall and in conference play while Edison falls to 0-3 overall and in the GMC.

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