Coming soon will be more summaries from varsity games as well as Freshmen and JV Roundups.

GMC Hoops Summaries--December 18, 2009
Freshman Game Of The Week--Opening Night

Rosa And Rodriguez Lead Perth Amboy Past P-Way, 54-41

By Greg Machos
December 18, 2009

PERTH AMBOY, NJ--The future looks pretty bright for both Piscataway and Perth Amboy. Perhaps a bit more for Amboy after Friday's freshmen contest, which was the first of a GMC Hoops Tripleheader that involved also the JV and Varsity games. The Little Panthers of Perth Amboy High School are part of a freshmen class that varsity head coach, Edwin Santana, is really excited about. One frosh is already getting minutes at the JV and varsity level in Hamilton Capellan. Many of these youngsters got valuable experience playing in the Colonia JV Summer League over the summer.

At Colonia, the Amboy youngsters went 6-3 in the regular season, and earned the fourth seed in the playoffs. The post-season wasn't so kind as Perth Amboy let a 40-31 lead with 8:23 remaining in the second half get away in a 43-42 loss in the Quarterfinal round to one of the two Colonia squads competing in the league. Meanwhile, Piscataway, the defending Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament Champions, has another talented group led by the likes of Marcus Freeney and Clarence Morris. Freeney is the younger brother of Rodney and Rob Jr. Rodney Freeney, who now plays at Division III Montclair State University, is the current all time leading scorer at P-Way, and the first 1,000 point scorer at Middlesex County College.

On this day, Perth Amboy was the better of the two teams. The Little Panthers jumped out to a 17-7 first quarter lead, and after a 6-0 P-Way run to close within 17-13, ended the half with an 9-4 effort to take a 26-17 lead into the locker room. Amboy then extended the lead to 39-25 with a 13-8 showing in the third quarter, and were never threatened after that as it led by as many as 19 in the fourth before ending up with a 54-41 victory. Fernando Rosa led the way for the Little Panthers with a game high 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the floor to go along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Point guard, Jonathan Rodriguez chipped in with 10 points on the scoring end while coming up big on the defensive end with 8 steals.

Rodriguez also picked up 6 rebounds and 5 assists while Carlos Morales made 3 of 6 shots from the floor including a three and one of two from the line for 8 points along with 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist. Guillermo Novo made 3 of 4 shots for 6 points along with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Julian Smith contributed with 4 points, 8 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. David Rodgers was 2 of 3 from the floor for 4 points along with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Alejandro Herrera rounded out the scoring with 4 points. Clarence Morris led Piscataway with 11 points on four field goals and a three pointer. Freeney added four points on two field goals in the loss.

Both teams had a great number of turnovers, but that can be expected at the freshmen level. Amboy committed 22 miscues, but forced 23. The Little Panthers came out firing in the first period by going 8 of 14 from the floor. Arriving with almost a minute gone by in the first quarter, GMC Hoops sat down to see Perth Amboy out in front by a score of 4-0. The home team, which went 6 of 12 from the line, made one of two from the charity stripe at the 5:34 mark. Amboy added another basket for a 7-0 lead before Morris got the Little Chiefs on the board as he got a basket while being fouled at the 4:30 mark. He missed the bonus free throw, and then Novo scored on a layup off an assist by Rodriguez for a 9-2 lead as P-Way coach, Brian Tuskan, called timeout with 4:14 to go in the period.

Following the stoppage, Amboy went up even more on an offensive rebound and putback for an 11-2 lead before Morris struck for his only three pointer of the game, which banked in to make the score, 11-5 at the 3:19 mark. On a subsequent Little Panthers possession, Novo passed to Rosa for a layup and a 13-5 lead with 2:25 to go in the opening period. Forty-eight seconds later, Rosa handed out an assist on a layup down low by Rodgers for a 15-5 lead at the 1:37 mark. P-Way then got a jumper at the 1:08 mark for a 15-7 score. Amboy then closed out the opening period with a field goal for the 17-7 lead. The second period saw the Little Chiefs outscored the home team by a 10-9 margin to close the gap slightly.

Freeney opened up the scoring with a jumper from the right wing to make the score, 17-9 at the 7:15 mark. The Little Chiefs drew closer as Freeney got a rebound and an assist on a layup by Morris that made the score, 17-11 with 6:18 to go in the half. Following an Amboy timeout, Morris came up with a block on a shot by Rodriguez after he swiped a steal. P-Way got another score for a 6-0 run that pulled it within four before Morales came up with a three point play at the 5:13 mark to give the Little Panthers some breathing room at 20-13. Rosa then added a layup while being fouled, but missed the bonus free throw for a 22-13 lead with 5:01 to go in the half. On the next Piscataway possession, Morris put together a nice move for a layup from the left side that made the score 22-15 in favor of Amboy at the 4:30 mark.

Following a P-Way timeout at the 4:02 mark, there was a lull in the scoring until the Little Chiefs got to within five on a jumper in the key for a 22-17 score with 2:03 to go in the half. However, the Little Panthers closed out the half with a 4-0 run for a 26-17 lead at the intermission. Rosa led Amboy with 11 points while Morris paced P-Way with 7. In the second half, Perth Amboy maintained control by first getting off to a quick start, and then keeping Piscataway at bay the rest of the way. Over the first 1:28 of the third quarter, the Little Panthers scored four unanswered points to take a 30-17 lead before the Little Chiefs put together some good teamwork that produced a layup, and made the score, 30-19.

Both teams got four points over the next 5:05 before P-Way had a chance to cut the lead to single digits. However, with 1:09 to go in the period, Morris missed both free throw attempts. Then, Rosa came up with a steal for a layup at the 1:02 mark, and then repeated the feat eleven seconds later for 36-25 lead. Amboy got a stroke of luck when Morales threw up a turnaround jumper for a three pointer as time expired that gave the Little Panthers a 39-25 lead entering the final period. Perth Amboy then put the game away with four straight points to open the final period including a layup by Rodriguez at the 7:20 mark. Rosa then gave Perth Amboy its largest lead of the game with a three pointer from the right side at the 5:56 mark to make the score, 46-27.

Piscataway went on a 6-0 run including a layup by Morris over the next 2:43 to make things interesting at 46-33, but couldn't get any closer as Amboy won 54-41. With the victory, the Little Panthers opened up the season at 1-0 while Piscataway started off at 0-1.

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