Welcome to the GMC Hoops Notebook section on the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest. This is a new feature that we are presenting here on our web site in response to all the team camps and summer leagues that are being run. This is basically going to be a section, where we'll talk about some of the goings on in the league as well as some games or players that have stood out during the course of the season.

GMC HOOPS NOTEBOOK: JULY 29, 2005--HAWKSBASKETBALL SUMMER SLAM FEST

In terms of the number of teams competing this year in the HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest in Perth Amboy, the league got better with two teams added overall. Twelve teams competed in this year's league with South Plainfield, Franklin, J.F. Kennedy, Bishop Ahr, South Brunswick, South River and Edison this year. However, the league also lost five teams including Chatham and St. Joseph's, which had competed each of the previous two summers, Rutgers Prep, Monroe, and North Brunswick.

Monroe just finished participating in the 2005 Rebounds Summer Festival in Neptune while North Brunswick moved back to the Middlesex County College Summer League as well as joined the Bound Brook Recreation Summer League. No word on where Chatham and Rutgers Prep went. St. Joseph's only had a JV squad at the SlamFest last summer, and currently no info on where they are competing other than the fact that they have two squads playing in the Colonia JV Summer League. As far as the new teams go, three of them have new coaches, three moved in from other leagues, and another didn't compete in a varsity league last year.

Franklin, South Brunswick, and South Plainfield all have new coaches. At Franklin, Gary Feath stepped down after coaching the Warriors the past six seasons. During his tenure, Franklin compiled an 86-44 record, appeared in four Somerset County Tournament Championship Games, and won two SCT titles in 2002 and 2003. Also in 2003, Franklin won the Group III State Title, and then knocked off Roselle in the Tournament of Champions before bowing out against eventual winner, St. Patrick's of Elizabeth. Last year, Franklin played in the Linden Summer League, where they lost in the Quarterfinals of last year's tournament to the host school, 53-33.

At South Brunswick, Chris Balent is the new head man after Dave Turco resigned to take the head coaching position at St. Joseph's. Turco was 47-26 overall at South Brunswick, and 27-15 in GMC Red Division play. The Vikings under Turco and his brother Bob, who is now the Head Coach over in Monroe, also appeared in the state tournament each season, won the Red Division crown, and reached the GMCT Final Four as the tournament's top seed this past season before losing to fourth seeded St. Joseph's, 46-44 in a defensive war.

Prior to taking the head coaching position at SBHS, Balent was an assistant coach on the men's basketball team at The College of New Jersey in Ewing. He was the bench coach as well as the recruiting coordinator. Before that, Balent, who graduated from Dunellen, where he played basketball and baseball, was an assistant coach at Bound Brook. Last year, the Vikings participated in the Elizabeth Summer League, where they won the regular season crown, and reached the Championship Game of the Elizabeth Summer League Tournament before losing to Hillside, 50-42.

Meanwhile, in South Plainfield, Jeff Lubreski stepped down after nearly twenty years at the helm in Tigerland. Over that span, Lubreski, who was recently inducted into the NJSIAA Coaches Hall of Fame, compiled a 242-205 overall record, four division titles, two sectional titles, and two straight GMCT Championships. Lubreski has been replaced by longtime SPHS Girls Basketball Coach, Bill Schulte, who amassed a fine record himself at the school. In 21 campaigns, Schulte compiled a 308-165 mark with five appearances in the GMCT Girls Semifinals while winning the Central Jersey Group II crown in 1990.

Last year, South Plainfield competed in the Linden Summer League, and ended up being the ninth seed overall in the post-season tournament. The Tigers then lost to Cardinal McCarrick in the opening round by four, 39-35, in a tightly contested game. The year before, the Tigers actually competed in the first ever HawksBasketball Summer SlamFest, where they finished tied for third overall with a 7-3 record, and reached the Championship Game before losing to Plainfield, 64-40. South Plainfield got their revenge though in the fall as they defeated the Cardinals for their second straight Fall-Ball Classic Championship, 82-69.

The next three teams: Bishop Ahr, Edison, and South River played had varsity squads at Middlesex County College last summer, and decided to bring them into this league while putting JV teams at MCC this year. For Ahr and Edison, the move worked as despite the tougher competition, both the Trojans and the Eagles were able to make the playoffs. Bishop Ahr did one better by knocking off Franklin in the quarterfinals, 50-39. South River didn't qualify, but they still pulled off a surprise this summer by defeating then unbeaten South Plainfield, 42-28. The Tigers never recovered after that as they, and the Rams both finished 2-8 in the regular season.

The last new team, J.F. Kennedy didn't have its varsity team play in any leagues last summer as far as we know although they did play in some scrimmages including one against Carteret. The Junior Varsity played at the Colonia JV Summer League, and they're back there again this year. Like South Plainfield, JFK also played in the first Summer SlamFest two years ago, and ended up going sixth overall in the regular season with a 6-4 record, but forefeited their opening round game to Immaculata. Kennedy also didn't qualify for the playoffs, and ended the season 2-8.

Like last year, it was a very competitive league. With the exception of Plainfield, seven of the top eight teams were only separated by three games with Piscataway and North Hunterdon going 6-4, and Bishop Ahr, Edison, and Woodbridge, the defending league champ, all going 5-5. Plainfield, which has averaged 65 points per game this summer, and outscored their opponents by a bit more than 20 per game, went the entire season undefeated. The Cardinals have already reached the semifinals of the playoffs with a resounding 67-34 win over Woodbridge.

South Brunswick and Franklin took the next two slots with the Vikings claiming an 8-2 mark despite losing to Franklin head to head. The only two losses by the Vikes came at the hands of two of the top three teams in the league: Plainfield (45-38) and Franklin (54-49). Franklin, which finished 7-3 overall, eventually lost to Bishop Ahr in the playoffs. The only other team we have not mentioned is Perth Amboy, which lost Jermaine Clark and Marcus Carty from a team that didn't qualify for the state tournament. The Panthers ended up the summer also with a 2-8 mark, and didn't qualify for the playoffs.

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