2007 HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic–September 10, 2007

PLAINFIELD, NJ–In a shortened schedule, Franklin Township and Columbia of Maplewood came up winners on opening night of the 14th annual HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic at Plainfield High School. Originally scheduled to have four games on Monday night, HBA had to postpone two of them including the first game of the evening between Piscataway and Metuchen, and the third game of the night between two rivals from the Watchung Conference, Plainfield and Shabazz of Newark. The latter of the two was postponed to a later date due to the fact that the Shabazz coach had a death in the family, and was unable to get back in time.

Nevertheless, there were still two games played including a thrilling matchup between two rivals from the Skyland Conference’s Delaware East Division in Franklin and Hillsborough. The opening game of the night and the season went right down to the wire with the Franklin Warriors, coached by Ian Turnbull of the CJOETO Panthers, winning at the buzzer. Franklin could have itself a good year after going through a few down seasons recently. The Warriors went undefeated during the regular season at the Middlesex County College Summer League, but then lost to Sayreville in the semifinals of the playoffs.

In the final game of the night, and the only one covered by GMC Hoops, Columbia of Maplewood and the Iron Hills Conference took on Spotswood, one of the four GMC teams presently in the Fall-Ball Classic. The Cougars, which finished second to Plainfield in last year’s edition of the Fall-Ball Classic, jumped out to a commanding 35-15 lead at the half, and never really looked back as they outscored the Chargers by a 31-19 margin in the second half for a 66-34 victory. Starting the second half, Columbia picked up right where it left off with 19 of the first 26 points to take a 54-22 lead at the 11:29 mark.

The Cougars opened the scoring with an entry pass in the paint for a layup and a foul, but missed the bonus free throw for a 37-15 lead just 23 seconds into the new half. Spotswood got on the board less than a minute later as Pat Dwyer got the ball on the right side, took a couple dribbles out from the right low block, and banked in a shot to make it 37-17 with 18:42 remaining in the game. A little more than forty seconds after that, Cody Pace cut the Columbia lead even further with a three pointer to make it 37-20 with 18:01 to play. However, the Maplewood school responded with a three point play at the 17:31 mark, and then a three pointer from the right wing at the 17:08 mark for a 43-20 lead. Columbia didn’t stop there as Jameel Grace, the talented senior guard, cashed in with a layup off a Columbia steal of an errant pass by Dwyer for a 45-20 advantage with 16:15 to play, and then Grace swiped a steal, and handed out an assist on another Cougar layup for a 47-20 lead with 16:09 remaining.

The Chargers tried really hard to keep up with Columbia, but when the Cougars’ talent didn’t get the job done, the team’s hustle made up for it by doing such things as drawing a charge on a driving Spotswood player with exactly sixteen minutes left. The Cougars then made one of two free throws for a 48-22 lead, and added to that with a three pointer at the twelve minute mark for a 51-22 score. Thirty-one seconds later, Columbia got three points in a more conventional fashion as it got a layup while being fouled for a three point play, and a 54-22 lead with 11:29 left. Tyler Osofsky the younger brother of recent Spotswood graduate, Bryan Osofsky, scored three straight points on a running jumper from the right wing to make it 54-24 at the 11:00 mark, and then one of two from the line a half minute later to make it 54-25. Unfortunately though, Spotswood would never get any closer as Columbia rolled to the tune of a 66-34 win.

With the victory, Columbia, which is scheduled to have the night off on Wednesday, raised its record to 1-0 on the fall while Spotswood, which was originally scheduled to play A.L. Johnson of Clark on Wednesday night, dropped to 0-1. Speaking of the schedule, GMC Hoops had a chance to speak with Bob Gaydos, the director of the HawksBasketball Association, and he indicated that A.L. Johnson dropped out of the league as well as another team. However, he is hopeful that he can get North 13th Street Tech from Newark to compete in the league. Regardless, GMC Hoops plans to travel again to Plainfield High School on Wednesday night to catch the second night of action from the 2007 Fall-Ball Classic.

Team 1 2 Total
Columbia (1-0) 35 31 66
Spotswood (0-1) 15 19 34