Check out last year's articles in the GMC Summaries section.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 10, 2012
Week Four--Red Division Clash

Second Quarter Surge Lifts Knights Past Stevens, 60-46

By Greg Machos
January 10, 2012

OLD BRIDGE, NJ--After defeating non-conference foe Union on Monday, the Old Bridge Knights were looking to keep the good momentum going when it took on J.P. Stevens in a Red Division Clash on Tuesday afternoon. The Hawks defeated the Knights twice last season so OBHS was also looking to return the favor. The Hawks jumped out to a 9-5 lead with 1:20 to go in the first period on a three by John Maxham.

From that point until the end of the first half, the Knights outscored the visitors by a margin of 27-7 to take a 32-16 lead at the intermission. From there, Old Bridge increased its lead to as much as 22 points in the second half en route to a 60-46 victory. Isaiah Velez led the way with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds while Tyler Drews chipped in with 12 points. Sultan Aminu, who pumped in 37 points in the win over Union, added 11 points while Chris Conrad contributed with 10 points.

J.P. Stevens got a game high of 17 points from Brandon Ahmed while Marvin Crawford scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Sky Harris added 9 points. Old Bridge outscored the Hawks in two of the four quarters with the third quarter ending up in a 12-12 tie. Old Bridge outscored the Hawks by a margin of 12-3 from three point range and 14-9 from the foul line. Both teams each had 17 field goals. Velez and Conrad scored 8 points in the first half while Drews added 7 and Aminu scored 6. Conrad had all 8 of his first half points including two threes in the second quarter.

The game started out as nip and tuck in the first period with five lead changes and a tie. However, in the second, Old Bridge took off with a 22-7 showing in the period. Velez opened the scoring with a layup at the 7:48 mark. After Ahmed sank a jumper from the right baseline to pull the Hawks into one, Velez scored on a putback at the 6:37 mark, Conrad connected on a triple from the right corner with 6:18 to go in the half, Velez scored on a layup at the 5:46 mark, Aminu swiped a steal and scored on a layup off the break at the 5:28 mark, and Aminu scored on a layup off a pass from Drews at the 5:04 mark for a 23-11 lead.

Ahmed connected on another jumper to close the gap to ten points, but then Conrad netted another three, and Jordan Marerro scored on a layin for a 28-13 lead. Stevens, which went without a field goal over the final 4:12 of the half, got three points from Harris on 3 of 4 from the foul line, but Drews got a layup at the 1:33 mark, and Conrad got a basket for a 32-16 lead at the break. The Knights then opened the second half with the first five points including a layup from Aminu at the 7:45 mark, one of two from the line by Aminu at the 7:06 mark, and putback by Velez at the 7:03 mark for a 37-16 lead. The Hawks ended the period with a 12-7 run including six points from Ahmed, four from Crawford, and two by Harris to close the gap a bit to 44-28 entering the fourth.

The Knights put the game out of reach early in the final period with a 9-3 run including a three from the left wing by Marerro at the 7:46 mark, a bank shot off a spin move by Velez at the 6:09 mark, a layup from the left low block by Velez with 5:38 to play, and two free throws by Conrad with 4:37 remaining for a 53-31 lead. JPS then ended the game with a 15-7 spurt to make the game more respectable. Crawford had eight of his points during the final 4:12 of the contest. With the victory, Old Bridge won its second straight and improved to 3-6 overall on the season. Most importantly though, the Knights got their first win in division play this season while Stevens dropped to 4-6 overall including a 1-5 mark in the GMC Red. View the play-by-play and video highlights from the contest in the blog.

RETURN TO THE GMC HOOPS HOME PAGE

If you are finished checking the GMC Boys Basketball Summaries, and would like to see other parts of the website.  Click below to return to the home page.

• Return to the GMC Hoops Homepage

If you have any questions about, or any suggestions for this website, please feel free to either fill out our guestbook, or contact me at gmachos@gmchoops.com.