The summaries of all the games played in first week of the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest have not vanished, we have archived them. So, feel free to take a look if you have missed out on some of the action from earlier this year.

GMC Hoops Summaries--Wednesday, June 30, 2004
HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest--Week Two

Three Thrillers Down At Hawks As Rutgers Prep Now Only Unbeaten Left

Wednesday night, the fourth night of action at the 2nd Annual HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest in Perth Amboy was probably the best night of games so far this summer. Of the four match-ups, three of them were only decided by six points or less while the other was only a two point game at halftime before North Brunswick, led by a solid effort from Vinay Wunnava, who had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 assists, went on a 34-19 tear in the second half to cruise past winless Chatham, 52-35.

The first of the three close battles pitted St. Joseph's against Perth Amboy, which were again without Jermaine Clark and Marcus Carty. Nevertheless, the Panthers came to play and despite the presence of both Sean Baptiste and Falcon big man, Andrew Bynum, St. Joseph's had problems with their Red Division rival throughout the contest. In a tightly played first half, St. Joe's carried a 26-22 lead with 4:30 remaining in the first half before Perth Amboy came roaring back with a 6-0 spurt consisting of a three pointer by Cedric Parrish with 2:00 to go in the half, and a three point play by Juan Castillo with 1:08 to play before intermission to take a 28-26 lead.

St. Joseph's came back to tie the score at 28-28 with 35 seconds remaining on a bucket inside, and that's how the first half scoring ended. In the second half, Amboy started things off with a 9-2 burst capped by a three point play by Parrish for a 37-30 lead with 15:32 remaining. The Panthers then increased the lead to nine at 45-36 with an 8-6 stretch over a 2:57 span. However, the Falcons rallied with a 13-4 tear over the next 6:50 to tie the score at 49-49 with only 5:45 to play in the contest.

A few seconds later, Castillo, who helped the Panthers get nine three pointers on the night, gave Amboy a brief lead with two of three free throws to make the score 51-49 with 5:20 left. The Falcons quickly responded with a three pointer from Sean Baptiste for a 52-51 St. Joe's lead with 4:34 left. Amboy came back with a conventional three point play to make the score 54-52 in favor of the Panthers with 4:00 to go in regulation. But, the lead again didn't last long as Baptiste came back down the floor for a layup to tie things up again at 54-54 with 3:45 to play.

Then, the junior forward for St. Joe's, who had 29 points, 12 rebounds, a steal, block, and assist, gave the Falcons the lead with a 1 of 2 free throw trip at the line to make it 55-54 with two minutes left in the contest. Cedric Parrish, who played fearlessly in defeat with 21 points, nailed a three pointer to give Amboy the lead again at 57-55 at the 1:45 mark. But, Andrew Bynum, who had a nice easy dunk in the first half as well as 12 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks, a steal, and three assists, came back down the floor to tie the game up at 57-57 with 1:22 left. Then, Baptiste gave the lead to St. Joseph's for good, 58-57 with 0:55 left.

After missing the second free throw, Baptiste managed to get the rebound off of a loose ball, and then scored to give the Falcons a 60-57 lead with only 46 seconds to play. The Falcons then essentially put the game away with two more free throws at the 25 second mark. Although Amboy came back down to net a three pointer with 0:20 to play to cut the lead to three points at 62-60, the Falcons hung on for the 65-60 win.

In the first of the two nightcaps, North Hunterdon seemed to have Rutgers Prep on the verge of being knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 28-22 halftime lead. However, the Argonauts held the Lions to only 12 points in the second half as they went on a 24-12 surge for a 46-40 comeback victory to make Rutgers Prep the only remaining undefeated team at the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest. Mike Manning's 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists led the way for the Argonauts.

Rutgers Prep was the only remaining unbeaten team in the league because Woodbridge rallied back from an early first half deficit to take their first and only lead on one of two technical free throw shots by Casey Mack to pull out a huge 38-37 victory over Piscataway. The Chiefs seemed to be in firm control of this one early on as Brandon Wilkinson scored the first eight Piscataway points to pace his team to an 8-6 lead with 16:20 left before intermission.

The soon to be senior guard then notched his second three pointer of the half to cap an 11-0 run for a 19-6 lead with nine minutes or so left to play. Wilkinson collected 11 first half points. However, the Barrons, who have played suprisingly well so far this summer at Hawks and at the Colonia JV Summer League, turned the game around by first going on a 7-0 run capped by a three point basket to cut the lead to 19-13 with 6:50 to go in the opening half.

Woodbridge then crept closer with a 5-2 run over the next 2:57 to make the score 21-18 with 3:53 left in the first half. Both teams then scored three points each the rest of the half to make it Piscataway 24--Woodbridge 21 at the break. The start of the second half saw the Chiefs reassert themselves again with a three point play by Freeney with 15:40 to go in the game, and then got a fast break layup off a steal and assist by Freeney to make to cap the 7-1 run to make the score 31-22 with 14:44 left.

After Woodbridge called for time, the Barrons, who held Wilkinson to no points in the second half, climbed back into the contest with a 6-0 run that cut the Chief lead to 31-28 with an even ten minutes remaining. Over the next 5:23, the Barrons managed to trim another point off the lead to make it 35-33 with 4:37 left despite missing a number of free throws. The Barrons missed a chance to tie the game by once again going 0 of 2 at the charity stripe with 3:20 left as Piscataway clinged to a 35-33 lead.

Both teams then exchanged scores as Piscataway scored a basket and then Woodbridge responded with two free throws by Mack, who had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists, to make the score 37-35. The Chiefs held on to that lead with good offensive spacing on the offensive end, but the Barrons got smart, and used up some fouls to stop the clock, and eventually put the Chiefs in the bonus.

Then, with 0:30 left, soon to be junior, Ryan Shea, missed the front end of a one and one, and Woodbridge rebounded the ball, and Casey Mack was quickly fouled with 27 seconds left in regulation. Mack promptly tied contest with two free throws that made the score 37-37. Piscataway got the ball, and with eight seconds left called a timeout. After the timeout, the Chiefs set up for the inbounds, but couldn't inbound the ball, and called for time again. Only this time, they were out of timeouts, and were assessed a technical foul. Casey Mack then hit one of two technical free throws, and that gave the Barrons a huge comeback victory, 38-37. See the latest standings and scores.

Note: To all teams, parents, and fans: The SlamFest schedule is undergoing another change, there will be no games next Monday night July 5th because of the July 4th Holiday Weekend. These games have all been rescheduled to Tuesday, August 3rd. Details are available on the HawksBasketball web site. Meanwhile, some games originally scheduled for August 4th have been moved up to July 28th and August 2nd.

GMC Hoops Summaries--Monday, June 28, 2004
HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest--Week Two

Piscataway and Rutgers Prep Only Undefeated Teams Left At SlamFest

There is only one team that is left unbeaten in the 2004 Edition of the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest, and that is the Piscataway Chiefs. The Chiefs jumped out to an early 13-6 lead in the first half, and put the game away early in the second half with an 8-3 spurt for a 16 point lead as they rolled to a 50-30 win over North Brunswick in one of the nightcap games on Monday night in Perth Amboy.

In other action, Woodbridge, the other previously undefeated team, fell in a close, hard fought battle with Watchung Conference power, Plainfield, by the score of 61-55. As a result, Plainfield is now tied with the Barrons for third place at 2-1 with the Cardinals getting the edge on the tie break with the head to head victory. Moving into second place are the Argonauts of Rutgers Prep, which jumped out to a 16-1 lead with 3:35 left in the first half, and were never really threatened after that although Perth Amboy made things respectable in the end as they only lost by eleven, 46-35.

In the other early game, St. Joseph's had a full arsenal of players, and used them quite well with a very active defense that produced many turnovers as they went on a 51-23 tear from the 9:00 mark of the first half to win easily over Monroe, 68-36 to get their first win of the summer. Monroe remains winless at 0-3 while North Brunswick is yet to win a game at 0-2.

In the St. Joseph's-Monroe game, the Falcons of St. Joseph's jumped out to the early lead against the Falcons of Monroe with a 17-9 spurt in the game's first 9:15. Monroe tried to climb back into the game with a 4-0 run on a couple nice plays by A.J. Rudowitz to make the score 17-13, but St. Joseph's led by the likes of junior foward Sean Baptiste, who had a very nice all around game, and Shawn Harper, who put an exclamation point on the night with a jam that highlighted a 12-6 run to give St. Joe's a 60-32 lead with 5:35 left to play, came right back with a 4-0 run of their own, and never looked back after that.

Meanwhile, in the lower gym, Rutgers Prep used a very fast paced transition game led by Corey Wilburn to take a commanding 16-1 lead before Perth Amboy realized what was happening. However, the Panthers did try to make a game of it with a 7-4 run of their own to make it 20-8 late in the half, but the Argonauts created several quick turnovers that led to easy baskets, and led 26-8 at the half.

Then, in the second half, Rutgers Prep came out flying again with a 10-3 spurt that increased the lead to 36-13 as they used their lightning quickness to run Amboy right out of the game. From there, the Argonauts were never threatened although Amboy, which was without the services of Jermaine Clark and Marcus Carty, put together a 22-10 run to make the final score a much more respectable, 46-35. Rutgers Prep remains unbeaten at 2-0 on the summer.

Woodbridge continues to draw a lot of interest and curiosity this summer with their overall solid play. In addition to their 2-1 start at the SlamFest, the Barrons JV Squad put together quite a game against Franklin in their opener at the Colonia JV Summer League on Friday night, June 25th. Their varsity picked up where the JV left off, and played an absolutely superb game with an undermanned squad against defending league champion Plainfieild.

The Barrons jumped out to the early 7-6 lead with 13:43 to go in the first half despite giving up a couple offensive rebounds that turned into scores. Plainfield then asserted itself against a Woodbridge team that only had six players available for the game as it went on a 23-15 run over the next 12:47 to take a 29-22 lead with 0:56 seconds left before intermission. Woodbridge closed the half with a 4-2 run to make it a 31-26 ballgame at halftime.

In the second half, the game was still in Plainfield's control as they held a 14-11 advantage over the first 7:40 of the final period to maintain a 45-37 lead with 12:20 to go. However, Woodbridge made its move by hanging tough with fine defense, and being smart and patient on offense to tighten the game up. Over the next 8:40, the Barrons put together a 14-7 spurt that would pull them within one pont at 52-51 with only 3:40 left to play. However, Plainfield was able to pull away with a 6-0 run for a 58-51 lead with 0:57 to go, and held off a frantic charge by Woodbridge for the 61-55 victory.

With Woodbridge knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten, Piscataway was now the only team at the SlamFest with an unblemished record as it took on North Brunswick. The Chiefs got out in front early with a 13-6 spurt to open the game, and then increased the lead to nine with a 7-5 run that was capped by a coast to coast layup by junior guard, Rodney Freeney to make the score 20-11 with 4:15 to go in the opening half.

Piscataway, which has continued to be very active on the defensive end since they struggled in their opener against Chatham, closed the first half with a 5-3 edge for a 25-14 halftime lead. The second half saw Piscataway start out much like the first with an 8-3 spurt to take a 33-17 lead with 14:18 left to play. The Raiders of North Brunswick, who were without the services of Derek Scott, tried to climb back into the contest with a 6-4 run to make it a Piscataway 37-23 lead with 10:56 as North Brunswick called for time.

However, Piscataway came out of the timeout, and outplayed North Brunswick the rest of the way with a 13-7 run including a Kent Scriven layup with 2:55 remaining to make it 46-29, and a one handed slam by Allen Hairston from Freeney to cap the evening with 0:37 seconds left for the final score of 50-30 in favor of the Chiefs. See the latest standings and scores.

Note: To all teams, parents, and fans: The SlamFest schedule is undergoing another change, there will be no games next Monday night July 5th because of the July 4th Holiday Weekend. These games have all been rescheduled to Tuesday, August 3rd. Details are available on the HawksBasketball web site. Meanwhile, some games originally scheduled for August 4th have been moved up to July 28th and August 2nd.

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