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Guvs
Roll To First Holiday Title In Eight Seasons, 57-44 |
By Greg Machos
December 28, 2007SOUTH AMBOY, NJ--If there was any year for the Governors of South Amboy to their own holiday tournament, this was it. After reaching the Championship Game of the Tournament in 2004, the Guvs have been battling for third place in 2005 and 2006, and with mostly everybody returning for the 2007-08 campaign, the team seemed poised to finally get over the jump, and hoist the hometown holiday trophy. As mentioned many times over the recent months, South Amboy had put in a lot of work in the off-season with appearances at the 2007 Rebounds Spring League, 2007 Rebounds Summer League, and the 2007 Rebounds Fall League, and even more importantly, competing very well. Then, in the pre-season, the Governors were solid in a scrimmage against New Brunswick just days before the start of the new season. Entering the holidays, South Amboy was actually at .500 with a 2-2 mark. However, both wins came at the expense of GMC Gold Division opponents in Dunellen (69-50) in the season opener, and Piscataway Tech (70-40) while the team lost two contests out of conference against Bernards from the Skyland Conference (72-65), and Keyport from the Shore Conference (63-59). So, if the Guvs were to have any asiprations as far as the Central Jersey Group I Tournament was concerned, they were going to have to make a statement in their own tourney against non-conference and interdivisional foes.
In the opening round, South Amboy stomped all over a Henry Hudson team that had yet to win a game until it defeated South River (48-37) in the consolation round of the tourney. The Governors were then matched-up against another Class B Central foe from the Shore in Keansburg, a team that avenged last year's openning round holiday tournament loss to the Rams with a last minute, one point victory. The Titans seem to have perhaps their most talented and athletic team in all the years that I've been running this web site, and traveling over to South Amboy during the holidays, and Rebounds during the summer league season. Keansburg had a lot of size as well with the likes of Carl Williams, Josh Vital, Eric Yarbrough, and Frank Soleo in the lineup. Over the summer, the Titans competed in the Rebounds Summer League along with South Amboy, and the 2007 Rebounds Team Camp along with two GMC teams: Cardinal McCarrick and St. Joseph's. Keansburg competed as best they could against the likes of McCarrick, Neptune, Holmdel, Plainfield, and Point Pleasant Boro, but only ended up winless at 0-7. So far this young season, Keansburg had compiled a record of 2-3 after its last second win over South River in the first round. In that game, the Rams put together a 16-0 run to overcome a twelve point second quarter deficit, but junior Carl Williams propelled the Titans to the 56-55 victory on a 15 foot baseline jumper with three seconds to play.
Over the past several years, these two teams have developed quite a rivalry. Back in the 2004-05 season, the Guvs defeated the Titans in the opening round of the tourney (54-50), and then lost at home to Keansburg a month later during regular season play (64-55). The following year, in 2005-06, the Guvs and Titans played each other again twice with Keansburg winning both times including a opening round holiday tourney win (71-54) and in the regular season in Monmouth County (75-55). Last year, the two teams met in the tourney's Consolation Game with South Amboy coming out on top, 61-53. Then, they met again in the regular season two more times with Keansburg making a return visit to South Amboy for a 63-55 win on January 19th, and then the Guvs won the rubber match between the two schools in the opening round of the 2007 Central Jersey Group I Tournament with a 69-59 victory to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time at least since the GMC Hoops site was launched in 2000. For South Amboy, last season's state tourney run was the first one the school had since Nick Shaw was a senior, and Dan Nuzzie and Mario Choinski roamed the halls of the smallest school in the GMC in 2002. Prior to this season, when the beloved Governors from the Gateway City to the Shore qualified for the state tournament, it was the equivalent of a team winning the World Series, or the Super Bowl. It was a cause for major celebration. However, this year, there is a great deal of expectations, and now the Guvs are expected to go much farther as well as win the GMC Gold.
Meanwhile, Keansburg has built up quite a track record of state tourney appearances in recent years. In 2005, the Titans not only qualified, but defeated then eighth seeded Piscataway Tech in the opening round and top seeded Dunellen in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, Florence in the semifinals. After not qualifying in 2006, Keansburg, which went 12-15 overall in 2006-07, returned to state tourney play only to lose to South Amboy in round one. This game wouldn't be a contest though as South Amboy showed that it has improved quite a bit from last season when the two teams split their three games. According to the article written in the December 29th, Star-Ledger, the Guvs got a game high 22 points from Mark Simko on six field goals, a three pointer, and seven foul shots while senior forward, Larry Lenahan turned in a monster performance with an 18 point and 17 rebound double-double to boost them to a 57-44 victory over the Titans for the holiday tourney title. Lenahan made nine field goals for 18 points while 13 of his 17 rebounds were collected on the defensive side of the court. Sophomore Joe Charmello chipped in with three field goals and a trifecta for 9 points while Colin Krzyzanowski added 5 points on a field goal and a three. Steven Poltritzky rounded out the scoring for the Guvs with 3 points on a field goal and a foul shot. Matt Regan, Matt Richmond, John Zamitt, Oscar Cuello, Luke O'Connor all played, but didn't score.
On the other side of the scoring ledger, Carl Williams, a junior forward, led the way in a losing effort for the Titans. After being held to just 4 points and 4 rebounds in the first half, Williams collected 18 points and 14 boards to equal Simko for the game high in points, and have the game high in rebounds all to himself with 18. Williams collected his 22 points on nine field goals and four free throws to account for 50 percent of his team's offense in the game. Sophomore, Frank Soleo chipped in with 9 points on two field goals, a three pointer, and two foul shots while Josh Vital contributed with 6 points on three field goals. Rounding out the scoring for the Titans were Justin Manzo (two field goals for 4 points), Vincent Walters (a field goal for two points), and Imtenios with a free throw for a point. Also playing but not scoring were Eric Yarbrough, Michael Sheehan, and Anthony Valle. The hometown Governors came out charging in the first quarter with a 23-8 surge including an 11-2 tear to end the frame. By the time GMC Hoops arrived back at South Amboy Middle/High School after watching Perth Amboy Tech defeat Piscataway Tech for the NJTAC Holiday Tourney Championship, the Guvs were still ahead by a 28-13 margin with 4:53 to go in the first half. Twenty seconds later, Keansburg turned the ball over, but South Amboy returned the favor as Poltritzky was called for traveling at the 4:18 mark. The Titans, however, were unable to take advantage of its second chance because on their next possession, a battle for a loose ball ensued and the Guvs got hold of the ball, and called for time at the 3:49 mark.
The first score of the contest after the web site's arrival at the game didn't occur until the 3:09 mark when Simko scored on an offensive rebound and follow for a 30-13 lead. Soleo then had a drive through the middle for a layup that cut the South Amboy lead in half at 30-15 with 2:42 to play in the opening half. Nine seconds later though, Charmello came right back down the floor on a coast to coast layup that put the home team back up by seventeen at 32-15 with 2:33 left before the intermission. Keansburg would get another score before Simko made two from the charity stripe at the 1:47 mark for a 34-17 advantage. The Governors then closed out the first half scoring when Zammit registered an assist on a layup underneath by Lenahan at the 1:15 mark for a 36-17 halftime lead. The third quarter saw Keansburg outscore South Amboy with an 11-10 edge after being held to single digit scoring in each of the first two periods. At the start of the third period, Lenahan and the rest of the Guvs went right back to work as the senior forward got hold of the ball from Yarbrough, and then scored a layup for a 38-17 lead at the 7:23 mark. The two continued to battle one another as they grappled for another loose ball, and fell to the ground with Lenahan hitting his elbow, and having to leave the game momentarily at the 6:58 mark. Soleo had a chance to get Keansburg closer with 6:13 to go in the third, but after being fouled by Poltritzky, the sophomore missed the first free throw, and had a lane violation on the second. Then, Williams started to take over for the Titans. The junior got his first points of the second half on an offensive rebound and putback at the 5:46 mark for a 38-19 South Amboy lead.
Twelve seconds afterward, Poltritzky made one of two at the line for a 39-19 lead with 5:34 to go in the third, ut on the next Titan possession, Williams made both of his charity shots for a 39-21 South Amboy lead at the 5:13 mark. Almost thirty seconds after that, the Governors made it a twenty point lead again as Charmello picked up a steal, and raced the other way with it for a scoop shot on the drive that was off the mark, but put back in by Simko for a 41-21 lead at the 4:42 mark. Williams continued to do his best to keep the Titans fighting with five straight points including a three point play with 3:23 to go in the frame, and a putback at the 2:44 mark to close the gap to 41-26. Both teams then exchanged scores for a 43-28 Guv lead before Simko stepped up to the line with 1:36 to go in the period, and made one of two for a 44-28 advantage. A little more than a minute later, Simko had a chance to add to the lead, but failed to convert the front end of a one and one as South Amboy's free throw shooting woes from way back in the fall league continued. On the very next Titan possession though, Lenahan came up with a steal, which led to a Simko layup attempt that was missed before the senior forward cleaned up with a putback at the 12.1 mark for a 46-28 lead. Before the period ended, Williams went down with an injury at the 3.8 second mark, but eventually got up, and walked off on his own power. Leading by eighteen to start the fourth and final period of play, the Governors came out strong with a 9-2 run over the first four minutes of the stanza for a 55-30 lead.
Simko began the final assault with one of two free throws with 7:35 left for a 47-28 lead. Then, Williams, who was back out on the floor again after going down late in the third, scored on a putback of a missed jump shot for a 47-30 Guv lead at the 6:35 mark. Then, South Amboy reeled off eight straight points including a Simko layup off a rebound and outlet by Lenahan for a 49-30 lead with 5:40 remaining, and two free throws by Simko to make it a 51-30 game at the 5:16 mark. Trailing South Amboy by 25 with approximately four minutes to play, Keansburg, led by Williams did the best it could to make the final score more respectable with a 14-2 tear to close out the game as South Amboy emerged victorious with a 57-44 victory. With the win, South Amboy evened up its non-conference record at 2-2 while improving to 4-2 overall on the season. Keansburg fell to 2-4.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
South Amboy (4-2) |
23 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 57 |
Keansburg (2-4) |
8 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 44 |
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