Summaries section to be updated with 2011-12 game articles soon.

GMC Hoops Summaries--December 22, 2011
JV Game Of The Week--Week One

Seraji And McLeod Guide St. Joe's Past East Brunswick, 67-60

By Greg Machos
December 22, 2011

METUCHEN, NJ--The second game of the GMC Hoops Freshmen, JV, and Varsity tripleheader at the Bird Cage was quite an appetizer for the nightcap between top ranked St. Joseph's and third ranked East Brunswick. The Junior Bears went undefeated last season including a victory over St. Joe's in the semifinals of the East Brunswick JV Tournament. Meanwhile, this year's Junior Falcons squad won the Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament last year as ninth graders.

Over the last 10 years, St. Joe's JV team has reached the Final Four of the EB tournament eight times including three finals appearances with two titles. Meanwhile, EB has reached the Elite Eight nine times with three final fours, and two championships. Both teams expect to be back in the semis at EB this coming February. So, this could be the first of three matchups this season between the two JV squads, and this opening round was quite a contest. There were seven lead changes and four ties in the game while neither team had a lead bigger than ten points.

However, after trailing East Brunswick 38-33 with 7:20 to go in the third after a three by Carl Taylor and a short jumper by Owen Summerer, St. Joseph's rallied with a 13-5 tear the rest of the period to take a 46-43 lead, and then opened the fourth with an 8-2 run to take a 54-45 lead en route to a 67-60 victory. The decisive 21-7 surge by the Junior Falcons took place over a span of 11:21, and featured 9 points by sophomore Owen McLeod, and 8 points from fellow classmate Rob Seraji while Matt Olivo added a layup at the 3:59 mark to cap the surge.

Seraji turned in a tremendous effort on both sides of the ball before going out of the game at the 7:32 mark of the fourth with a shoulder injury. McLeod, who scored 12 points in the last 9:57, took over from there though with nine of those points in the fourth along with an assist on a layup from Brandon Bielak for a 58-49 lead with two minutes remaining. Seraji led the Falcons with 19 points including five threes while McCleod chipped in with 17 points. Seraji also picked up four steals and a deflection. Brandon Bielak also scored in double figures for St. Joseph's with 12 points. Mike Cintron scored all six of his points in the second period when the Junior Falcons turned a 15-10 deficit into a 33-31 lead.

Pat McMullen didn't get on the board until the 5:15 mark of the second period, but ended up with all 13 of his points over the rest of the first half for EB. Summerer also added 13 points while frontcourt mate Mike Manne chipped in with 7 points. Joey Genco came off the bench to score 9 points on three treys coming in the final 9:32 of the contest while fellow sophomores Carl Taylor and Anthony Belgrave chipped in with 7 and 4 points respectively. Alex Fitzgerald contributed with 5 points while Al Johnson scored the first bucket of the game for the Junior Bears. Mohammed Kebbay (5 points), Mike Allen (4 points), Olivo (2 points), and Matt Woody (2 points) also scored for St. Joseph's.

The game began with both teams putting together runs in the first period. The Junior Bears opened the game with a 7-0 run on a basket off the opening tip by Johnson, a three pointer by Fitzgerald at the 7:01 mark, and then two free throws by Summerer at the 6:22 mark. St. Joseph's responded with the next eight points over a span of 4:14 to take an 8-7 lead. Allen, who scored all four of his points during this stretch, started the run with a layup off a pass from Seraji at the 5:16 mark to get the Junior Falcons on the board. Bielak then hit a three from the right wing off a pass from Olivo at the 3:32 mark, McLeod made one of two from the line with 2:55 to go in the period, and Allen capped the rally with two free throws at the 2:08 mark.

East Brunswick then closed out the first period with the last six points for a 13-8 lead as Belgrave made two free throws at the 2:01 mark, Fitzgerald got the ball to Manne for a layup at the 1:31 mark, and then Fitzgerald made a pair of foul shots with 41.3 seconds left for a five point lead. The second period saw St. Joseph's bench take over with a 17-4 tear over a span of 4:31 to take the biggest lead of the half at 27-19. Cintron sparked the rally with a baseline drive from the left side for a reverse layup at the six minute mark. Seraji, who scored 11 of his points in the period, hit the first of three from long distance on a shot from the right wing to tie the game at 15-15 with 5:38 to go in the half. After McMullen put the Junior Bears back in front with his first points of the game, Seraji struck again with a three from the left side for an 18-17 edge at the 4:30 mark.

Cintron then followed that up with a score for a 20-17 lead as EB called for time. Following the timeout, McMullen hit a foul line jumper at the 3:51 mark to pull the Junior Bears within one, but St. Joe's replied with seven unanswered points including a Seraji three from the right wing at the 3:25 mark, a layup by Woody from the left side at the 3:10 mark, and Bielak sank a pair of free throws with 2:45 remaining in the half for the 27-19 advantage. East Brunswick battled back though with 14-6 spurt over the last 2:32 of the first half as McMullen, who sparked the rally with a triple, scored nine points while Manne chipped in with five. EB picked up where it left off at the end of the second half to start the third with the first five points including a three pointer from the left side of the top of the key by Taylor at the 7:39 mark, and a short pull-up jumper by Summerer at the 7:20 mark for a 38-33 advantage.

However, St. Joseph's outscored the visitors by a 34-22 margin the rest of the way for the victory. Bielak sparked the decisive surge with a layup from the right low block at the 6:23 mark before Seraji scored eight straight points including a steal for a layup at the 4:21 mark, a three from the left wing at the 3:56 mark, and another trey from the left corner for a 43-38 lead. McLeod helped the Junior Falcons maintain a five point lead while Summerer, who had 7 points in the third, scored the last five points of the period for the Junior Bears. Despite Seraji going down with his injury early in the fourth, St.. Joe's managed to outscore East Brunswick by a 21-17 margin to keep the Junior Bears from getting any closer than five points, and come away with the seven point victory to remain undefeated at 3-0 on the young season.

Both JV teams will be playing over the holidays with East Brunswick competing in the Brunswick Classic while St. Joe's will be competing in the Monsignor Farrell Christmas Tournament in Staten Island.

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