PLAINFIELD, NJ–The second night of action at the 2007 HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic at Plainfield High School had a full slate of games including two at 6:30 PM, two at 7:30 PM, and one at 8:30 PM. GMC Hoops was there to cover four of the five games on the night including two involving the only three GMC schools in the league (Piscataway dropped out). At 6:30 PM on Court #2, Spotswood battled Franklin in a game that involved two teams that played in the only two contests on Monday night. Meanwhile, nearby on Court #1, host school Plainfield took on Roselle in a battle of two Union County schools. At 7:30 PM, Metuchen squared off against Woodbridge on Court #1 while Columbia took on Hillsborough on Court #2. In the finale at 8:30 PM, Watchung Hills faced off against Shabazz of Newark.
Franklin Pulls Away In Second Half To Top Spotswood, 52-36
After leading by only four at halftime, 22-18, the Franklin Warriors of Somerset County and the Delaware East Division of the Skyland Conference pulled away with a 30-18 showing in the second half for a 52-36 victory of Spotswood of the GMC’s Blue Division. The Chargers scoring game from just four players. Junior Ross Gerhart led the team with 17 points while fellow junior Pat Dwyer added seven along with sophomore James Pareti. Cody Pace chipped in with five while Tyler Osofsky did not play due to commitments to football. At the time of my arrival, Franklin was already well in control of things with a 50-31 lead with about five minutes remaining. Dwyer missed a pair of free throws with about 3:30 remaining, and then had a nice looking jumper roll out before knocking one down with about 2:30 left to make it 50-33.
Pareti then got the Chargers final points of the game as he got a basket and a foul for a three point play with about two minutes to play to make it 50-36. However, Spotswood was unable to get any closer. Franklin, which raised its record to 2-0 on the fall, finished the game off with a fast break layup that made the final score 52-36. The Warriors, which went undefeated during the regular season at the Middlesex County College Summer League before losing in the semifinals of the post-season tournament to Sayreville, are scheduled to play Hunterdon Central on Monday, September 17th at 7:30 PM, and then have an off day on Wednesday, September 19th. Meanwhile, Spotswood, which dropped to 0-2, have another full week of games with a GMC Blue showdown against Metuchen on September 17th at 6:30 PM, and then a game against Watchung Hills on September 19th at 7:30 PM.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin (2-0) | 22 | 30 | 52 |
| Spotswood (0-2) | 18 | 18 | 36 |
Plainfield Cruises Past Roselle On Strong Second Half, 71-46
In front of a small, but rather raucous partisan crowd, the Cardinals of Plainfield High School jumped out to a 33-20 halftime lead, and then edged the Roselle Rams by a 19-14 margin over the first 11:40 of the second half for a 52-34 lead with 8:20 remaining. PHS got another score over the next 1:20 for a 54-34 advantage with seven minutes to play. Nineteen seconds later, the Cardinals, which have reached the Final Four of the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV sectional in both 2006 and 2007, and have won the Fall-Ball Classic two years in a row, then made one of two at the line to spark an 8-3 spurt over the next 4:01 to take a 62-37 lead with 2:40 left.
Both teams scored nine points apiece down the stretch to shape the final 71-46 score. With the win, Plainfield raised its record to 1-0 while Roselle fell to 0-1. The Cardinals have a full schedule next week with a game versus Hillsborough at 6:30 PM on Monday, September 17th, and a key showdown with 2-0 Columbia on Wednesday, September 19th at 7:30 PM. Meanwhile, Roselle has two games next week as well with a tough matchup versus Shabazz of Newark on Monday at 7:30 PM, and a rematch of last year’s tough first round playoff loss against Woodbridge on Wednesday at 8:30 PM.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield (1-0) | 33 | 38 | 71 |
| Roselle (0-1) | 20 | 26 | 46 |
Columbia Wins Second Straight, 51-33
Fresh off its win over Spotswood on opening night, the Cougars from Maplewood, Essex County, and the Iron Hills Conference had some difficulties in the early going as they only led Hillsborough by six, 19-13 at the intermission. However, Columbia started the second half with a 12-2 spurt over the first five minutes to break out to a 31-15 lead, and cruised from there to a 51-33 victory over the Raiders from Somerset County and the Skyland Conference’s Delaware East Division.
With the victory, Columbia raised its record to 2-0 on the fall, and will have the night off on Monday, the 17th of September before taking on Plainfield on September 19th in what could be a battle of two undefeated 3-0 teams. Meanwhile, Hillsborough, which lost a tough one against conference rival Franklin on Monday night, dropped to 0-2. The Raiders schedule next week consists of two tough matchups versus Watchung Conference teams: Plainfield and Shabazz.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia (2-0) | 19 | 32 | 51 |
| Hillsborough (0-2) | 13 | 20 | 33 |
Bullock Leads Woodbridge Past Metuchen, 44-24
The Woodbridge Barrons are looking to improve on their very difficult season in 2006-07. With losses to graduation in 2006 that included current Rutgers football player, Shamar Graves, the Barrons, which made the state tournament for two consecutive years (2005 and 2006) by making tremendous runs late in January to qualify, only went 1-21 with the only victory coming against Monroe at home. There is talent in Woodbridge despite losing the likes of Deryk Lockett to graduation. Anthony Graham leads some talented seniors that also includes the likes of Kirk Zambrano, Cory Pinto, Ricky Ng, and Dave Silvasadder. Meanwhile, the program had a solid JV team that finished third in the 2006 Colonia JV Summer League regular season, and lost to Roselle in the post-season tournament Championship. Then, in the 2006-07 regular season, the Junior Barrons played in an epic and controversial overtime game at Sayreville, where Woodbridge lost 61-58. The Junior Barrons ended up earning the ninth seed in the 2007 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament, where they won their first round game over next door neighbor Perth Amboy before losing to eighth seeded East Brunswick in the second round.
Coming up from that JV squad are Gerard Bullock and Blair Dolphin, who also were varsity reserves in 2006-07. Bullock led the charge against Metuchen on Wednesday night. Making five field goals and two foul shots for 12 first half points to help Woodbridge rally from an early 8-4 deficit to take a 20-10 lead. The 16-2 outburst turned the entire game around as the Barrons ended up leading at halftime, 27-14, and then started the second half with a 12-4 spurt including and 8-0 run to take a commanding 39-18 lead. From there, Woodbridge never looked back in a 44-24 landslide victory over Metuchen. Besides Bullock’s twelve points, Graham added three field goals for six points while Ng chipped in with a field goal and 3 of 4 from the foul line for 5 points. The three combined for 23 of the team’s 27 first half points, or 85.2 percent of Woodbridge’s offense. Metuchen got off to a fast start as junior forward, Cody Preston scored each of the Bulldogs first two scores for a 4-0 lead, and then handed out an assist with a lob pass to Evan Carberry for a layup that made it 8-4 with 15:31 to play in the first half. However, Ng would score a layup on the very next Woodbridge possession, and the Bulldogs would be without a basket for 2:52 before Carberry scored on a drive from the left side into the key for a hook shot that banked in for a 12-10 Woodbridge lead with 12:39 to go before the intermission.
Carberry’s basket would actually be the last basket the Bulldogs would have for about 7:24 as Woodbridge scored twelve unanswered points for a 24-10 lead. The run included a Graham baseline drive for a layup at the 12:03 mark for a 14-10 advantage, a Bullock jumper from up near the top of the key at the 11:11 for a 16-10 advantage, a Graham steal for an unassisted layup at the 9:24 mark for an 18-10 lead, an offensive rebound and putback by Bullock at the 8:52 mark for a 20-10 edge, and then Bullock closed things out with two jumpers from the left wing at the 6:30 and 5:26 marks for a 24-10 lead. Bullock (8 points) and Graham (4 points) combined for all 12 points scored during the tear. Metuchen finally stopped the bleeding offensively with a score at about the 5:15 mark, but on the next Woodbridge possession, Graham scored on a layin over Akheem Greene for a 26-12 margin at the 4:57 mark, and Ng made one of two foul shots at the 3:43 mark before Carberry got the final points of the first half with a layup off a steal at the 3:00 mark to make it a 27-14 score at the half as neither team scored the rest of the way before the break.
The second half began with Woodbridge picking up right where it left off in the first half as Bullock handed out an assist on an Ng layup to make it 29-14 at the 19:06 mark, and then Bullock got on the board himself by cashing in on his own miss with an offensive rebound and putback to answer an earlier Metuchen score for a 31-16 lead ith 17:38 left in the contest. Ng misfired on both free throw attempts at the 16:09 mark, and the Bulldogs closed to within thirteen at the 15:45 mark on a foul line jumper that made it 31-18. However, that would be as close as MHS would get the rest of the way as the Barrons reeled off four points over a span of 2:43, and then forced a Metuchen turnover.
Although Woodbridge didn’t cash in on that miscue, it got a nice drive and assist by Graham for a layup to make it 37-18, and then Tim Weber got into the act with a steal and assist to Graham for an easy layup, and a 39-18 advantage with 11:44 to play. Neither team scored a lot of points after that as both teams combined for just 11 points over the remaining time in the second half with Metuchen garnering a 6-5 edge for the 44-24 Woodbridge win. The Barrons raised their record to 1-0, and will play two 8:30 PM games next week against Watchung Hills on Monday, and Roselle on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Metuchen dropped to 0-1, and will have two 6:30 PM games next week against Spotswood on Monday and Hunterdon Central on Wednesday.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbridge (1-0) | 27 | 17 | 44 |
| Metuchen (0-1) | 14 | 10 | 24 |