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

Junior Chiefs Handle Perth Amboy Behind Williamson, 58-40

By Greg Machos
December 18, 2009

PERTH AMBOY, NJ--For the first time in nearly two years, GMC Hoops covered a JV Game of the Week. Prior to the start of the varsity game between sixth ranked Piscataway and Perth Amboy, the JV squads of both schools went at it. The Junior Chiefs, which reached the semifinals of the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament last season returns the likes of juniors Brandon Williamson and Brian Wong along with a sophomore class that was 18-1 as freshmen and won the Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tourney. Meanwhile, Perth Amboy was upset in the preliminary round last year by Carteret (48-43) in the JV tournament while its freshmen were defeated in the round of 16 by Piscataway.

In this contest, P-Way jumped out to an early 17-9 lead and actually led 27-11 at one point in the first half before Perth Amboy scored six unanswered points to close out the second period, and trail 27-17 at the break. However, the Junior Panthers were unable to get any closer as Piscataway outscored them by a combined margin of 31-23 the rest of the way for the 58-40 victory. Leading the way for the Junior Chiefs was Williamson, who made 5 of 10 shots, and clicked on his only free throw for a team high 11 points along with 3 steals, 2 assists, a rebound, and a charge. For the Junior Panthers were led by Christian Henriquez, who had a team high 8 points along with 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

For the game, Piscataway connected on 19 of 44 shots for 43 percent including 3 of 9 from beyond the arc while making 11 of 20 from the foul line for 55 percent. On the other hand, Perth Amboy was limited to 12 of 48 shooting from the floor including 2 of 11 from long distance while making 10 of 17 from the foul line. The Junior Panthers had a slight edge in turnovers (20-21), and actually outrebounded P-Way on the offensive boards (16-11), but the Junior Chiefs had the overall rebounding edge (33-31) along with more assists (12-8), steals (9-6), blocks (6-4), and charges (3-0). P-Way outscored Amboy in every quarter except the third where the Junior Panthers held a slight 12-11 edge.

Piscataway broke away from an early stalemate with a 7-2 spurt that included an offensive rebound and putback at the 6:31 mark, and a three pointer from the right wing at the 4:29 mark. Alfredo Taveras (5 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a steal) put the Chiefs to within two again with his only three of the game, and only points of the first half that made the score, 9-7 at the 3:55 mark. Following a 30 second timeout by Amboy, the Junior Chiefs closed the period with an 8-2 run including a layup by Williamson, and another three pointer along with one of two from the foul line at the 11 second mark for the 17-9 lead after one. In the second, P-Way came out strong with a 10-2 spurt for its biggest lead of the half before Perth Amboy rallied to make it closer at the half.

The Junior Chiefs got the first four points of the period for a 21-9 lead when Perth Amboy's coach, Lou Horowitz called for time at the 5:08 mark. The timeout didn't seem to be the tonic as both teams exchanged baskets over the next 42 seconds before Williamson drew a charge on Stephen Baker (1 point, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks) with 4:26 to play in the half. P-Way added two more scores including a layup and the foul, but missed the bonus free throw so the score remained at 27-11 with 1:39 to go in the half. The Junior Panthers then closed out the half with six straight points including two layups by big man, Brian Herrera (6 points and 4 rebounds), and a layup by Henriquez for a 27-17 Piscataway lead at the intermission.

Looking at the halftime statistics, the Junior Chiefs were 11 of 28 from the floor for 39 percent including 3 of 7 from downtown while the Junior Panthers were 8 of 31 from the field including 1 of 5 from deep. Piscataway was only 2 of 5 from the line while Amboy didn't even take a free throw attempt in the first half. P-Way committed fewer turnovers (6-8), grabbed more offensive rebounds (8-7) and total rebounds (18-14), swiped more steals (4-2), blocked more shots (4-2), and took more charges (2-0). Perth Amboy had a slight edge in assists (6-5). Breaking down the Junior Panther scoring, Henriquez had 6 points while Herrera added 4, and Taveras chipped in with 3. Freshman Hamilton Capellan and Angel Torres each had two points. Williamson made up a balanced P-Way scoring attack with 4 points.

The third quarter started right where it left off for Piscataway as the Junior Chiefs got one of two from the line by Wong at the 7:32 mark, and then a layup at the 6:40 mark for a 30-17 lead. Taveras got his final points of the game when he converted a layup off a steal, but the Chiefs still led by a dozen after another one of two showing from the line at the 5:17 mark. Six seconds later, P-Way got another score on a traditional three point play for a 34-19 lead. The Junior Chiefs led by 17 at one point before Amboy rallied with an 8-0 run that included 3 of 4 from the line by Capellan, one of two free throws by Baker, and two free throws by Torres that cut the deficit to nine at 36-27 with 1:20 to go in the period. Williamson then got a layup to put P-Way back up by double digits at the 43 second mark before Jorge Jimenez closed out the third quarter scoring with an offensive rebound and follow off a Taveras miss to make it a 38-29 game heading into the fourth.

In the fourth and final period, the Junior Chiefs started out fast again with four straight points on layups including one by Wong for a 42-29 lead with 6:40 left. Despite two missed free throws at the 6:16 mark, Piscataway increased its lead to fourteen when Williamson converted a conventional three point play to answer an earlier Amboy score for a 45-31 lead at the 6:01 mark. P-Way then scored five of the next 7 points for a 50-33 lead before the Junior Panthers responded with a 6-1 run to pull within 50-39 with 2:37 to go. However, the Junior Chiefs closed out the game with an 8-1 run to round out the final 58-40 score. With the victory, Piscataway starts the season at 1-0 while Perth Amboy begins at 0-1.