Working on getting up to date on all the summaries for the 2011-12 season.

GMC Hoops Summaries--December 28, 2011
Holiday Tournaments--Keansburg Tourney

Herdman Fires South Amboy Past Henry Hudson, 57-45

By Greg Machos
December 28, 2011

KEANSBURG, NJ--Despite losing in the first round of the Keansburg Holiday Tournament to the host school on Tuesday, and having a roster that consists of five sophomores and a freshman, the South Amboy Governors have turned out to be one of the big surprises this young season. After winning only four games all of last year, the Guvs entered Wednesday's consolation game against Henry Hudson with a chance to capture its third win already this year. Sophomore point guard, Steve Herdman made sure that his team made another big step toward accomplishing a very important milestone.

Earning All Tournament honors, Herdman fired in a game high 22 points including six threes to lead South Amboy to a 57-45 victory over Henry Hudson. Five of those six threes came in a span of just 6:55 from the end of the second quarter to just a little bit beyond the midway point of the third to help the Guvs break away from a tenuous 23-21 lead to a 42-27 advantage. Fellow sophomore Dan Murphy was the other South Amboy player to score in double figures with 10 points including six in the fourth quarter when the Governors led by as many as 16 points.

Henry Hudson, which was led by Brian Farrell with 14 points in a losing cause, had seven players score in the contest while South Amboy had 11 different players get into the scoring column. Fueled by Herdman's shooting, the Guvs had an 18-6 edge in points scored from beyond the arc while the Admirals had more points from the foul line (12-9). South Amboy had more two point field goals (16-13). The Governors outscored the Admirals in each of the first three periods to take a 44-32 lead into the fourth frame. The Guvs had three big spurts in the game.

The first one game at the very beginning when South Amboy scored 11 of the first 12 points of the contest in just 3:18. Newcomer, Joe Fruncillo scored all four of his points during the initial run while Nick Kales (6 points) added a jumper at the 6:58 mark, and Herdman contributed with a layup from the left side at the 5:44 mark, and a three pointer from the right corner with 4:42 remaining in the period. On the ropes, Henry Hudson responded with a 14-4 tear over the next 4:21 to tie the game at 15-15. Highlighting the run were the only two threes of the game by the Admirals at the 3:15 mark, and the 1:07 mark. With the game now tied and Fruncillo now sitting on the bench with two fouls, Herdman stepped up with a jumper from inside the top of the key as the clock was running out in the first period for a 17-15 lead.

Despite some confusion with the official scoring early on in the second period, South Amboy managed to hang on to the lead going into the intermission. For over five minutes of the frame, the Admirals hung tough with their Middlesex County foe. Although South Amboy got scoring from three different players during the span, they were still clinging to a two point edge at the 2:45 mark. Herdman would come to the rescue though with a three pointer at the 2:09 mark for a 26-21 lead. Then, after Henry Hudson pulled within three on a layup with under a minute to go in the half, Kales was able to draw a foul and make both free throws with no time left on the clock for a 28-23 lead at the intermission. The 5-2 burst at the end of the burst half was only the beginning though.

The Guvs started the third period with 14 of the first 18 points to make it a 19-6 surge for a 15 point lead. Following a layup by the Admirals with 7:08 to go in the period, Murphy sparked the Guvs with a layup at the 6:30 mark. Herdman followed with a three pointer from the left wing at the 5:59 mark, another trey from the left wing at the 4:36 mark, and a triple from the right wing to cap the run at the 4:04 mark with the score 42-27. Following a Henry Hudson timeout, the Admirals tried to fight back by scoring five of the last seven points of the period to pull within a dozen entering the fourth. However, the Shore Conference squad wasn't able to get any closer than that the rest of the way.

Murphy scored six points over a span of 1:12 to key the final Guv run of 8-4 for a 55-39 lead at the 2:39 mark of the fourth. The sophomore forward got a layup at the 3:51 mark, a putback at the 2:53 mark, and another layup from the left low block to cap the run. Senior Robert Burns (5 points) also contributed in this final burst with a steal for an uncontested layin and a 49-35 lead with just under five minutes to go. The Guv reserves saw action the rest of the way with sophomore Julian Grachokowski wrapping up the win with one of two free throws at the 42 second mark. With the win, South Amboy improves to 3-2 on the season while Henry Hudson remains winless at 0-4.

The Guvs return to regular season action with a game on January 4th on the road against South River and three straight home games against Piscataway Tech on January 6th, Wall Township on January 7th, and Amboy Tech on January 11th. View the play-by-play from this contest.

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