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GMC Hoops Summaries--January 3, 2008
Regular Season Resumes--Early Season GMC Red Showdown

P-Way Stifles Stevens To Take Sole Possession Of First Place, 51-30

By Greg Machos
January 3, 2008

NORTH EDISON, NJ--For a program like J.P. Stevens to turnaround its fortunes, and become a contender, it has to go through what all good programs endure, and that is some bumps in the road, or lessons to learn from. Thursday night was such a lesson as the Piscataway Chiefs, ranked first in the GMC Hoops Top Ten, provided a clinic on how to win championships with defense. In a game that had been a much anticipated showdown since both teams had gotten off to great starts, and pulled off some surprises along the way, the Chiefs made it no contest by not allowing the Hawks to score a field goal in the first, and limiting them to just 2 of 22 shooting from the field in the first half. Then, in the second half, J.P. Stevens, which actually went 8 of 11 at the line in the first half to stay within some sort of striking distance at the break, 22-12, rallied with a 13-7 showing over the first 7:14 of the third for a 29-25 Piscataway lead. However, James White personally scored the final four points of the period to spark a 10-0 run over a 5:33 span to essentially put the game out of reach at 39-25 with 4:47 left as the Chiefs came away with another impressive win, 51-30.

With the exception of much of the third period, P-Way dominated the game as their defense fed off the support of their throng of fans that traveled a couple towns over from Chiefs Country. Piscataway Hoops site runner, Dennis Wells led the congregation of Chief fans with the now trademark "P" chant that has become a fixture early on this 2007-08 season. The Stevens crowd didn't have much to say for two quarters although the Pep Band, which has become commonplace at home games since the 2004-05 season at least, tried to pump some life from time to time. It wasn't until the third quarter when Stevens began to gradually made a run that the hometown crowd started to get into the game in earnest with chants of "Defense." This game was eerily similar to a matchup played nearly a year ago just up the road in North Edison at Bishop Ahr. Last season, on February 3rd, the Trojans hosted Piscataway in a key late season crossover showdown prior to the GMCT. In that game, the Chiefs held Bishop Ahr to just five points in the entire first half, and led 22-5 as late as 5:30 left in the third quarter. At the time, BGA was one of the highest scoring teams in the conference. P-Way eventually went on to win the game, 52-45.

Both of these teams had come in playing impressively to start the season. Piscataway dominated Immaculata on the first day of the 2007 Vaughn Stapleton Classic in Bridgewater, 47-32, losing to another Central Jersey and Group IV power in Bridgewater the next day in overtime, and then three days later, battered a Seton Hall Prep team that may be down, but was still a Top 20 team in New Jersey. Meanwhile, J.P. Stevens defeated St. Joseph's on December 20th, 53-40, and then after defeating Holmdel in the first round of the 2007 John "Butch" Kowal Tournament at Rahway High School, the Hawks knocked off another Top 20 New Jersey team in Scotch Plains (49-41). Stevens did lose though in the Championship Game to the host school, Rahway, 60-57. Prior to the start of this game, JPS was off to the best start in recent memory, and perhaps in school history (they were still looking into that prior to the game). However, the seeds of success had been sown a couple years earlier with what is now a fine crop of juniors led by Kenny Bland, Myles Reuben, Nick Pol, and Tahir Swinton. Two years ago, this group of juniors went undefeated in conference play as freshmen, and only lost one game the entire season, and that was to North Hunterdon. The then Little Hawks defeated fourth seeded Colonia in the semifinals of the 2006 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament (50-40), and then handily won over second seeded Bishop Ahr in the Championship, 60-36.

For the game, Piscataway shot very well going 22 of 42 from the floor for 52.4 percent, but only made 7 of 18 from the foul line for 38.9 percent. Meanwhile, the Hawks struggled mightily going 9 of 41 overall from the floor for 22 percent including 1 of 10 from long distance despite shooting much better in the second half (7 of 19 FG for 36.8 percent). The Hawks gave themselves some life with an 11 of 17 effort at the line for 64.7 percent. While JPS turned the ball over 23 times, the Hawks also forced the Chiefs to commit 24 miscues, which was another reason the home team managed to stay in the game entering the fourth quarter. Rebounds were actually even at 27-27 while the Hawks had more blocks (1-0) and charges (2-1). The Chiefs held the edge in assists (13-6) and steals (13-6). Piscataway scored in double figures in each quarter while the Hawks only managed to do that in the middle two periods. As a matter of fact, in the first and fourth quarters of play, the Hawks only managed to get one field goal while scoring seven points total in the two periods that essentially were the difference (P-Way outscored JPS 29-7). In the contest, the Chiefs were led by senior forward, J.D. Griggs, who scored a game high 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor, and 5 of 7 from the foul line while also picking up 4 rebounds, 4 steals, a block, and an assist. Fellow senior frontcourt mate, Omar Smith chipped in with 11 points on 5 of 8 shooting plus a free throw while also picking up 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Meanwhile for Stevens, both Kenny Bland and Myles Reuben led the way in a losing cause with a team high 11 points on the night. Reuben had the better shooting night of the two with a 4 of 11 effort from the floor including a three pointer while making 2 of 3 foul shots. Bland ended up going 3 of 11 from the field, and 5 of 10 from the foul line. Reuben also collected 5 rebounds, a block, assist, and a steal while Bland picked up 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a block, and a steal. You can view more individual statistics from this game in the GMC Hoops Game Stats section. The first half was total domination by the Chiefs. In the first quarter, Stevens had four turnovers in just the first three minutes of action while being held scoreless for the final 7:40 after Darnell Sorrell, who was fouled on a putback attempt, opened the game with two free throws for a 2-0 JPS lead. The Hawks actually went 0 of 10 from the field in the first period including 0 of 3 from beyond the arc, and ended up making nine turnovers in the frame. On the other hand, Piscataway made 5 of 9 shots from the floor, and their only foul shot attempt in the period. Following Sorrell's free throws, the Chiefs scored eleven unanswered points the rest of the frame including an offensive rebound and follow by Tristian Benjamin at the 6:25 mark, and then a three point play by Griggs at the 5:32 mark for a 5-2 lead.

Following J.P. Stevens fourth turnover of the contest at the 4:59 mark of the first, Benjamin struck again with a foul line jumper off an assist by Brian Waluk for a 7-2 lead with 4:07 left in the opening period. Nearly two minutes later, after Stevens, which at this point had gone 0 of 5 from the floor, and made six turnovers, called a 30 second timeout at the 2:50 mark, Benjamin put P-Way up by seven with a drive from the left side for a layup, and a 9-2 lead at the 2:15 mark. The Chiefs then got another score to close out the first quarter with an 11-2 lead. In the second, the stifiling Piscataway defense continued its stranglehold over the Stevens offense as the Hawks were without its first field goal of the game until the 3:02 mark of the period on a Bland putback that made the score, 20-8 in favor of the Chiefs. JPS ended up going just 2 of 12 from the floor in the period while P-Way shot the ball well again by going 5 of 10 from the field. The visitors from the central part of Middlesex County made it a 20-4 tear over a span of 12:18 in the opening half thanks to a 9-4 run to begin the second. The Chiefs scored the first points of the period with a field goal for a 13-2 lead before Bland tried to get his team going with a one of two effort at the line with 7:22 to play in the first half for a 13-3 P-Way lead. A little while later, Bland got the ball again, drove to the basket, and drew another foul that resulted in one more one of two effort at the charity stripe for a 13-4 Chief lead at exactly the 7:00 mark of the second. A bit over a minute after that, the Hawks got into the bonus, and had a chance to cut into the deficit even more, but Reuben missed the front end of a one and one at the 5:57 mark as the score remained 13-4, and the Hawks were still looking for their first field goal of the game.

White would then make one of two at the line to bring the lead back up to double digits again for the Chiefs with the score now 14-4 at the 4:50 mark. On the missed second free throw, Nick Pol was fouled at the 4:47 mark, and that resulted in a pair at the line from the sophomore guard to make the score, 14-6 in favor of P-Way. However, the Chiefs then reeled off six consecutive points including layup by Smith, and a putback by sophomore forward, Wayne Newsome for a 20-6 lead as the Hawks again called for time to try and regroup at the 3:41 mark. An example of J.P. Stevens first half futility was shortly before Newsome's basket and the subsquent timeout when the Hawks came up empty at the other end by not cashing in on a couple of offensive rebounds. Following the timeout, Stevens closed out the first half with a 6-2 run including Bland's putback for the team's first field goal, and two free throws by Reuben at the 2:53 mark for a 20-10 P-Way lead as the Chiefs eventually led at the intermission, 22-12. Looking at the first half scoring, Piscataway had a balanced scoring attack led by Benjamin and Griggs with 6 points each while Smith chipped in with four. The Chief triumvirate combined to shoot 8 of 14 from the field for 57.1 percent, and account for 72.7 percent of the team's offense. Meanwhile, for the Hawks, Bland did his best to stand tall in the face of a very trying situation with 6 points, 5 rebounds, and a block.

Moving on to the first half statistics, P-Way shot a fiery 10 of 19 from the floor for 52.6 percent while Stevens was the aforementioned 2 of 22 for a paltry 9.1 percent. While the Chiefs were just 2 of 5 from the free throw line for 40 percent, the Hawks made up some much needed ground by going 72.7 percent from the charity stripe. Turnovers were even at 15 apiece while JPS actually had an edge on the boards (17-14), blocks (2-1), and charges (2-1). Steals and assists belonged to Piscataway though with 6-1 and 7-2 edges respectively. In the third quarter, Stevens 6-2 first half ending run gradually grew like a snowball coming downhill into a 19-9 tear to pull within four with under a minute to go. The Hawks outscored the Chiefs by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 over the first seven plus minutes of the second half, and you started to get the feeling that perhaps the North Edison school was going to pull off a miracleous comeback. Griggs began the second half with a field goal that made the score, 24-12 before Stevens got going with layups by Sorrell and Reuben to match its first half field goal output within the first three minutes of half number two. Griggs then ended the 4-0 JPS run with a couple of foul shots at the 4:53 mark for a 26-16 lead. Over the next 2:25, Stevens continued to chip away at the lead with four of the next six points before Smith passed to Griggs for a drive into traffic that drew a foul, and resulted in one of two from the line for a 29-20 lead with 2:28 to play in the third. On a subsequent Hawks possession, Reuben drove down the left side of the key for a layup that trimmed the deficit to seven at 29-22 with exactly two minutes left in the frame.

Thirty-six seconds afterward, Bland got on the board again with a putback at the 1:24 mark to pull the Hawks to within six at 29-24. The comeback attempt was fueled even further when Smith missed a one and one at the 1:16 mark, and then Reuben gave a nice entry pass to Bland, who drew a foul, and made one of two again at the line to close the gap to four at 29-25 with 46 seconds to go in the third. Enter White, who had been fairly quiet from an offensive standpoint up to this juncture of the game. The senior guard then hit a baseline jumper from the left side to give the Chiefs a six point lead at 31-25, and then followed that up with a pivotal steal for a layup to give his team an eight point lead entering the final quarter of action. Thirteen seconds into the fourth, Benjamin was fouled on the floor, and went to the line for a one and one, which he promptly missed. Griggs grabbed the offensive board, but missed on the putback that was rebounded by Smith for a follow that made the score, 35-25 at about the 7:40 mark. The Chiefs then got another two field goals for a 10-0 run to go up by fourteen at 39-25 before head coach, Guy Jensen called a 30 second timeout with 4:47 to play. The exclamation point on the contest came some two minutes later when Waluk dished to Griggs for a two handed jam, and the foul for a three point play that made the score, 44-28. From there, P-Way outscored JPS by a 7-2 margin for the 51-30 victory. With the win, Piscataway moves into sole possession of first place in the GMC Red with a 4-0 record while improving to 6-1 overall. Stevens, which lost its second straight, dropped to 6-2 overall, and 3-1 in divisional play.

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