For the sixth straight year, GMC Hoops is getting a jump on the regular season with coverage of some of the teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference in pre-season scrimmage action. To see what scrimmages we'll be covering, view the 2007-08 schedule.
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Edison
And Dunellen Duke It Out In Scrimmage |
By Greg Machos
December 8, 2007
DUNELLEN, NJ--For the second straight year, GMC Hoops took in a scrimmage between Edison and Dunellen. While it may be a peculiar to some why the Eagles of Edison traveled to the Faber Gymnasium to take on the hometown Destroyers, but it is not so to both head coaches, Bernie Buniak of DHS and Charlie Mohr of EHS, who coached together at Rahway before moving on. Mohr wound up taking an assistant coach position at Middlesex County College for a season under Matthew Shoban. Both teams figure to be somewhere around the GMC Hoops Top Ten during the course of the season. Edison is looking to improve on back to back ten win seasons with a combined record of 20-28 while Dunellen is looking to surprise many who figure South Amboy to win the GMC Gold in 2007-08. Last year's scrimmage was quite a close tussle as the much smaller school in Dunellen held its own with one of the larger schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference. This year's scrimmage had the same theme although Edison came out on top. Winning the first period 15-9, the fourth period 15-8, and the fifth period, 8-7, the Eagles garnered a 45-32 decision in the exhibition.
In the first quarter, Edison jumped out to a 10-2 lead thanks to pressure defense and trapping. Dunellen closed out the period with a 7-5 run, but EHS got the edge, 15-9. Walking down to The Faber from home in South Plainfield, I didn't arrive to the gym until the 4:34 mark of the second period with Dunellen leading 2-0. From that point on, the Eagles shot 11 of 24 for 45.8 percent including 2 of 6 from three point land for 33.3 percent. Meanwhile, Dunellen shot just 7 of 24 for 29.2 percent including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc for 60 percent. The Destroyers also held an advantage on the foul line going 6 of 7 for 85.7 percent while the Eagles were just 2 of 4 for 50 percent. The solid performance at the charity stripe by Dunellen was attributed to senior, T.J. Wenzel, who made took all the attempts for the home team. Wenzel, who stars as the football team's quarterback during the fall, ended up with 11 points over the 24:34 that was covered. The Destroyers also held edges in rebounding (16-13), assists (6-5), and blocks (1-0) while the Eagles had advantages in steals (4-3), charges (1-0), and turnovers (8-12). Edison also took care of its opportunities turning the 12 Destroyer miscues into 10 points, and getting six points out of its three offensive rebounds. The home team, on the other hand, could only score four points off the eight Eagle turnovers.
Picking up action midway through the second quarter, the Destroyers were already staked to a 2-0 lead at the 4:34 mark. A little more than a minute and fifteen seconds later, Edison tied things up as Frankie Perez score on a layup to make the score, 2-2 at the 3:15 mark. Perez struck again over a minute later as he swiped a steal, and went in for a layup that made the score, 4-2 while a Dunellen player went down with an injury that forced an official timeout at the 2:10 mark. Following the stoppage, the Destroyers eventually retook the lead as Jim Schleppenbach, who GMC Hoops last saw during the 2006-07 season against Roselle Park when he went down with a torn miniscus, passed to Luke Francisco on the right wing for a three pointer that made the score, 5-4 at the 1:23 mark. Quenta McDonald gave the Eagles the lead back with a three pointer of his own from the left wing for a 7-5 lead with 40 seconds remaining, but Wenzel closed out the period scoring with his own trey from the right wing for the 8-7 DHS edge in the period. Despite the low scoring, the quarter was close throughout, with neither team having a lead bigger than two points while there were five lead changes and one tie in the period. Statistically speaking, Dunellen was 3 of 8 from the floor for 37.5 percent including 2 of 4 from downtown for 50 percent while Edison was 3 of 6 from the field for 50 percent including 1 of 2 from beyond the arc for the same percentage. Each team had one turnover each in the final 4:34 of the period.
After the two JV teams went at it for a quarter (See details in the JV roundup), the varsity squads resumed action in the fourth quarter. Playing a ten minute period, Edison was first to get on the board with an offensive rebound and follow that drew a foul, and resulted in two free throws for a 2-0 lead at the 9:18 mark. Fifty-two seconds later, Edison scored again on a layup for a 4-0 lead at the 8:26 mark. Wenzel, who scored all eight points in the period including all six of his makes at the foul line, then went to work with a pair of free throws at the 8:10 mark for a 4-2 Edison lead, and tied things up at 4-4 on a rebound and subsequent drive up court for a layup attempt that resulted in a foul and two more foul shots at the 5:34 mark. Over the next 1:55, both teams exchanged field goals for a 6-6 tie, but Edison would go ahead as Barry Holmes canned a jumper from the right side for an 8-6 lead. Wenzel would respond though with another layup attempt, and foul that produced two more at the charity stripe for an 8-8 tie with 3:08 remaining in the period. Holmes, who ended up with 7 points in the 24:34 of action seen by GMC Hoops, drilled a three pointer from the top of the key that made the score, 11-8, and proved to be the difference as it ignited a 7-0 quarter ending run by the Eagles for the 15-8 win. EHS would get the final four points of the frame as McDonald connected on a foul line jumper at the 1:08 mark for a 13-8 lead, and then Holmes got a steal, and drove the length of the floor, spun in traffic, and scored the layup as he was fouled. However, the senior guard/forward, missed the bonus free throw so the period ended with Edison getting the 15-8 edge.
In the third, the Eagles wound up making 6 of 11 shots from the floor for 45.4 percent including 1 of 3 from three for 33.3 percent while connecting on 2 of 3 free throws, and only making two turnovers. On the other hand, Dunellen was just 1 of 5 from the field for 20 percent, but a perfect 6 of 6 at the line thanks to Wenzel. The Destroyers had seven turnovers in the period. The final period was just like the second only this time, the visiting Eagles got the one point, 8-7 edge in the frame. Edison made 3 of 7 shots from the floor in the fourth for 42.9 percent while Dunellen was just 3 of 11 from the floor including a three pointer for 27.3 percent. In addition, Wenzel lost some of his magic at the line when he missed the front end of a one and oen at the 53.8 second mark. Neither team scored for over three minutes before Nick Francisco, who had 3 points and 3 assists in our time there, passed to Schleppenbach, who saw some time off the bench, for a short jumper that rolled in to make the score, 2-0 at the 6:50 mark. Wenzel followed that up on the next Edison possession with a steal for a layup that gave the Destroyers their biggest lead of the scrimmage at 4-0 with 6:35 to play. Edison would tie things up though with an offensive rebound that was followed by a jumper, and then a Perez layup for a 4-4 tie at the 5:13 mark. The Eagles then took the lead on a jumper for a field goal that made it 6-4 at the 3:50 mark. Nick Francisco, a cousin of former Bishop Ahr standout, Corey Francisco, handed out another assist on a three pointer from the left wing for a 7-6 DHS edge at the 3:04 mark. Following a thirty second timeout by Dunellen at the 2:17 mark, Edison took the lead for good as Perez scored on a layup that put the Eagles in front 8-7 with 1:46 to play.
Dunellen would have several opportunities down the stretch to pull out the quarter victory, but Wenzel missed the front end of a one and one with under a minute to go, and despite getting the offensive rebound, his teammates couldn't score. A short time later, Dunellen committed an offensive foul to give the Eagles the ball at the 32.4 second mark. After getting the ball back, the Destroyers were called for a five second violation with 24.8 to play, and then Wenzel's last second drive to the basket for a layup, and subsequent putback couldn't go in as Edison hung on for the one point period edge. More analysis on this scrimmage is now available in the GMC Hoops Blogosphere.
Team |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Edison |
15 | 7 | 15 | 8 | 45 |
Dunellen |
9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 32 |
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