The Summaries section will be updated with all the articles posted to date in 2011-12 soon.

GMC Hoops Summaries--January 26, 2012
Week Six--White Division Clash

Barrons Hold Off Sayreville As Hughes Gets 1,000th

By Greg Machos
January 26, 2012

SAYREVILLE, NJ—The Woodbridge Barrons enjoyed a little bit of history on Thursday night, and then won the game. Keith Hughes, a four year player at the school, and a Division I prospect, netted his 1,000th career point in the third quarter en route to a game high 25 points to lead the Barrons to a 65-58 victory over Sayreville in a GMC White Clash. The win was the seventh in the past ten games for Woodbridge, which began the season at 0-5.

It wasn't easy though. For a span of 11:16 of the contest, there were eight lead changes and three ties. The Barrons appeared to have control late thanks to a Hughes three pointer, and a conventional three point play by Kyle Anderson for a 54-45 lead with under two minutes remaining, but it the Bombers didn't give up. Thanks to the play of diminutive sophomore guard, Corey Taite, who had three of his four threes in the final 42 seconds of the contest, Sayreville went on a 13-7 spurt to close the gap to 61-58 with 18 seconds left.

Duquan Bailey (11 points) helped the Barrons pull the game out though. The junior guard, who went 8 of 8 from the line in the last 51 seconds of the contest, made two free throws with 16 seconds left and six seconds left to seal the hard fought victory. Bailey scored 9 of his 11 points from the foul line. Hughes tallied up his game high on eight field goals including three treys while sinking six foul shots. Fellow frontcourt mate, Kyle Pearson added 16 points on five field goals and six foul shots.

Taite wound up with 18 points to lead the Bombers in a losing cause. Trey Johnson chipped in with 13 points including six during a 1:48 span to close the gap to 48-45. Junior guard, Jon Bracero added 12 points including two threes. Bracero scored 10 of those points in the first four minutes of the second half when Sayreville took a 34-30 lead. Bryant Webb also contributed with 10 points. The Bombers had more two point field goals (16-15), and points from long distance (21-6), but Woodbridge outscored them in each of the final four periods, and enjoyed a distinct advantage in points scored at the foul line (26-5).

Sayreville jumped out to a 9-7 first quarter lead, and led 11-10 with 5:42 to go in the second period. Woodbridge tied the game when Anderson drew a foul, and made one of two from the line for an 11-11 tie at the 5:10 mark. After a Sayreville score, and Bailey made one of two from the line to close the gap to 13-12, Henderson knocked in a triple for a 16-12 Bombers lead. From that point until seconds to go in the first half, the Barrons took charge with a 12-4 run that included two free throws by Hughes, a floater by Anderson, a layup by Pearson, and a putback by junior Mika Graham for a 24-20 lead. Taite then ended the first half scoring when he drew a foul, and made two free throws with two seconds left in the frame for a 24-22 WHS lead at the intermission.

The game went back and forth for much of the third as the two teams wrestled with the lead until Woodbridge closed the period with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good. Bracero opened the second half scoring with a bucket at the 7;27 mark to tie the game at 24-24. Bailey then put the Barrons in front again with a floater for his only field goal of the game at about the 6:30 mark. Bracero gave the Bombers their first lead since the middle of the second quarter when he connected on a three from the right wing at the 6:16 mark, but then Hughes not only put Woodbridge back in front, but made history by draining a three from just to the right of the top of the key for a 29-27 lead at the 5:52 mark.

Bracero tied the game by scoring on a layup at the 4:31 mark, but Pearson put the Barrons back on top when he drew a foul on a drive from the right baseline, and made one of two for a 30-29 lead. Sayreville then scored the next five points as Bracero hit a triple from the left side off a baseline kickout from Taite at the 4:04 mark, and Webb took a baseball pass from Joe Saitta to take a 34-30 lead with 3:23 to go in the third. Following a Woodbridge timeout at the 3:19 mark, the Barrons spent the next 7:03 taking control of the contest with a 16-5 spurt that lasted until the middle of the fourth quarter.

During the span, Sayreville only had two field goals, which were a jumper by Cody Van Note at the 2:42 mark, and a three from Taite at the 7:02 mark of the fourth. Meanwhile, the Barrons got going thanks to a three point play by Pearson with 3:05 to go in the third. Pearson then followed that up with two more free throws at the 2:52 mark for a 35-34 lead. Following Van Note's basket, Bobby Marquez, who scored all four of his points during this stretch, drew a foul on a three point attempt, and made two free throws at the 2:26 mark for a 37-36 lead. The charity shots sparked a 6-0 burst to end the third as Hughes banked in a runner, and then banked in a turnaround jumper from the left side with 24 seconds left in the frame for a 41-36 lead heading into the fourth.

After Taite got his three in the first minute of the final stanza, Woodbridge went back to work by scoring the next five points to cap the run. Marquez gave the Barrons a four point cushion on a short jumper at the 6:43 mark, Pearson drew a foul and made one of two from the line at the 5:04 mark, and Hughes got a bucket with 4:16 remaining for a 46-39 lead. Like it did in its loss to Carteret back in December, Sayreville continued to battle though. The Bombers got layups from Johnson at the 3:38 mark, 3:07 mark, and 2:28 mark to pull within three. However, Hughes connected on another trey at the 2:16 mark and Anderson swiped a steal, drove the ball to the basket, and scored as he was fouled for a traditional three point play, and a nine point lead with 1:58 to go.

The Bombers still wouldn't go away though. Instead, they got a jumper from Webb at the 1:39 mark, a layup by Johnson with 56 seconds left, and threes from Taite on three consecutive possessions to make things interesting in the waning moments. However, Woodbridge held on and got the win. The game was the closest contest of the night in the GMC. All the other contests were decided by at least 11 points. Hughes is the first player to score 1,000 points at Woodbridge since Buck Jenkins and Adam McLaughlin did it back in 1989. He joins his father, Keith Hughes Sr., the all time leading scorer at Carteret as a rare father and son 1,000 point duo in Middlesex County history.

With the victory, the Barrons improve to 7-8 overall on the season including a 4-6 mark in the White Division. Meanwhile, Sayreville, which had upset Monroe last week, dropped to 4-11 overall and 3-7 in divisional play. View the play-by-play and video highlights from this contest in the blog.

RETURN TO THE GMC HOOPS HOME PAGE

If you are finished viewing the GMC Hoops Summaries, and would like to see other parts of the website.  Click below to return to the GMC Home Page.

Return to the GMC Hoops Home Page

If you have any questions about, or any suggestions for this website, please feel free to either fill out our guestbook, or contact me at gmachos@gmchoops.com.