2007 HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic–September 26, 2007

PLAINFIELD, NJ–The third week of action at the 2007 HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic concluded on Wednesday night at Plainfield High School with five games including three covered by GMC Hoops. Originally, the web site scheduled to just watch the two games playing at 7:30 PM since they both involved GMC teams, but after learning that Plainfield was taking on undefeated Franklin, we decided to stay on watch that as well. The two games involving the GMC were between unbeaten Columbia and Metuchen on Court #1 while Woodbridge took on Spotswood at the same time over on Court #2. Also going on prior to the Columbia–Metuchen matchup was a game between Shabazz of Newark and the Watchung Conference, and Hunterdon Central of the Delaware West Division of the Skyland Conference.

The Red Devils, which won their first game of the fall on Monday night by virtue of a last second pair of free throws against long time rival from Somerset County, Hillsborough, fought hard, and made things interesting, but in the end, the Bulldogs were too much. With 1:34 remaining, Shabazz was leading by a score of 45-38, but Hunterdon Central made one of two free throws at the 1:30 mark and then got a layup with 1:09 to play for a 45-41 Bulldog lead. However, that would be a close as the Red Devils would get because Shabazz would get another three points for a seven point lead, and despite a layup at the 33.3 second mark that made it 48-43, and one of two free throws at the 6.5 second mark, it was too little, too late for HCHS in a 48-44 defeat. With the victory, Shabazz improved to 2-1 on the fall while Hunterdon Central dropped to 1-2. However, after Franklin dropped out of the Fall-Ball Classic, Hunterdon Central was awarded a win since the Red Devils had played the Warriors earlier this fall. So, now, HCHS is 2-1 as well. Next Monday night, both of these teams will be in action as Shabazz will face off against Spotswood at 6:30 PM while Hunterdon Central will take on Plainfield at 7:30 PM.

Columbia Pulls Away From Pesky Metuchen In Second Half, 58-41

In the beginning, it seemed like it was going to be another long night at the office for the Metuchen Bulldogs. Sparked by the shooting of 6’1″ senior guard, Kenny Rubenstein, who had 8 points on three field goals and 2 of 2 free throws in the first 8:27 of the contest, the Cougars went up 14-1. Senior forward, Yvon Raymond, who drew the eye of former Plainfield High School head coach, and current Felician coach, Del Harrison, chipped in with two field goals including an offensive rebound and putback at the 18:17 mark, and a steal for a one handed slam at the 14:20 mark. Jameel Grace orchestrated the early offensive blitz with four assists and at least two steals for Columbia, which entered the game as one of three undefeated teams in the league. Rubenstein knocked in a jumper from the right wing at the 15:56 mark, and again at the 13:22 mark. Then, after making a pair of free throws at the 12:50 mark, Rubenstein got his hands on the ball again thanks to a fine save by Grace that the shooting guard then promptly netted a jumper from the right wing with eleven and a half minutes left in the first half. Meanwhile, Metuchen turned the ball over three times within the first 1:43 of the game, and didn’t get its first field goal until the 10:43 mark when Codey Preston kicked out to Evan Carberry for a jumper to make it 14-3.

Carberry’s field goal sparked the Bulldogs to make a nice run the rest of the half as the Bulldogs ended up outscoring Columbia by a 19-11 margin to close the gap to five at 25-20 at the half. Highlighting the run, Mark Switzer helped MHS pull closer by dribbling to his left for a jumper from the right wing that made it a 16-7 second at the 8:11 mark. Preston then followed that a little more than a minute later with a dribble to the left, fake pass to Carberry, and a jumper for a 16-9 Columbia lead. The Bulldogs actually got as close as 23-19 with 1:46 in the first half, but the Cougars scored two of the last three points to lead by only five at the brief break. However, in the second half, after Metuchen climbed to within three with a score at the 19:33 mark, Columbia replied with a 17-7 tear over the next 8:03 to take a 42-29 lead, and were never really threatened after that. Raymond then capped the win with a crowd pleasing dunk at the 7:56 mark that made the score, 51-36, and then the Cougars pushed their lead up to nearly twenty with two more baskets for a 55-36 lead at the 6:37 mark as Metuchen called for time.

Following the timeout, the Bulldogs outscored the Cougars, 5-3 down the stretch as Elijah Sellers came up with an offensive rebound and followed with a jumper to open the late game run to make it 55-38 at the 6:07 mark. Metuchen then got another score to pull within fifteen at 55-40 before Akheem Greene fouled out at the 3:33 mark. Columbia then scored three of the last four points to round out the final, 58-41 score. Mike Crusco got into the scoring column late for the Bulldogs with one of two from the foul line with 15 seconds remaining. With the victory, the Cougars improve to 4-0, and remain tied with Watchung Hills for the lead in the 2007 Fall-Ball Classic. Meanwhile, Metuchen drops to 1-3. Next Monday night, Columbia will have the night off although the Cougars were originally scheduled to compete. When the schedules came out earlier this month, Columbia was slated to play Franklin on October 1st at 8:30 PM. However, Franklin is no longer in the league so, Columbia gets a bye. On the other hand, Metuchen will face off against Hillsborough at 6:30 PM.

Team 1 2 Total
Columbia (4-0) 25 33 58
Metuchen (1-3) 20 21 41

Woodbridge Overcomes Early Deficit To Defeat Spotswood, 42-32

In a battle between the only two other teams competing at Hawks from the GMC, Spotswood jumped out to an early 12-9 lead midway through the first half, but Woodbridge rallied with a 17-10 showing the rest of the way to take a four point, 26-22 lead at the break. Rich Ng led the charge for Woodbridge with 9 points on four field goals, and 1 of 2 free throws while Kirk Zambrana chipped in for the Barrons with 7 points on two field goals and 3 of 4 free throws, and diminutive point guard, Tim Weber added 6 points on three field goals. On the other side of the ledger for Spotswood, sophomore Tyler Osofsky led the way with four field goals for eight points while juniors Ross Gerhart (2 FGs) and Pat Dwyer (FG adn 2-2 FTs), and fellow soph Cody Pace (2 FGs) each chipped in with four points each. Sophomore Tom Pareti rounded out the Charger first half scoring with a field goal for two points. The second half saw scoring being held to a minimum as both teams combined to score as many points as the Barrons did in the first half alone. Woodbridge managed to pull away with a 16-12 showing for a ten point, 42-32 win.

In the second half, Ng again led the charge for the Barrons with two field goals and 2 of 2 at the line for six points, and a total for the game of 15 points that led all scorers. Helping out were Blair Dolphin, Dave Silvasadder, Kirk Zambrana, Edrise Pope-Wright, and Tim Weber with a field goal apiece for the remaining second half points for Woodbridge. Meanwhile, for the Chargers, Ross Gerhart added another four points with a 4 of 6 showing at the charity stripe while Dwyer chipped in with four of his own on one of two from the foul line and a three pointer at the 4:30 mark, and Osofsky added a field goal for a team high 10 points on the game. Gerhart and Dwyer both ended up with eight points on the night in the losing effort for Spotswood. For the game, Woodbridge made 18 field goals and 6 of 10 free throws for its 42 points while Spotswood connected on a three pointer, eleven field goals, and 7 of 10 shooting from the foul line for its 32 points. Spotswood opened the scoring in the second half with one of two from the charity stripe by Dwyer for a 26-23 Woodbridge lead with approximately nineteen minutes to play.

The Chargers had a chance to get closer when Gerhart grabbed the offensive rebound off the missed second foul shot by Dwyer, but couldn’t put it back in. The Barrons then got the ball, and put it in the hands of Ng, who drove to the basket for a teardrop shot that fell in for a 28-23 lead with 18:30 remaining. Osofsky got his final points of the game with a score at about the 18:00 mark to pull his team to within three again at 28-25. However, Woodbridge began to pull away with six of the next seven points in the subsequent five minutes as Weber fed Silvasadder with a skip pass along the baseline for a layup to make it 30-25 at the 17:30 mark, Dolphin, the younger brother of Jayson Dolphin, who played at St. Joseph’s several years ago, then fed Weber for a jumper that made it 32-26 at the 14:00 mark, and then Ng rounded out the run with a drive to the basket for a layup attempt and foul that resulted in a pair of free throws to make the score, 34-26 with thirteen minutes left. Although Gerhart made a pair at the foul line to trim the deficit to six again at the eleven minute mark, Woodbridge eventually went up by double digits thanks to a jumper by Dolphin off an assist by Mike Castillo with about 8:00 left, and then another score nearly a minute later to lead 38-28 with approximately 7:00 to go in the game.

Trailing by ten, and only manufacturing two field goals in the entire second half, Spotswood was unable to overcome the deficit, and Woodbridge closed out the game with the double digit win. With the victory, the Barrons improved to .500 again at 2-2 after the loss to Plainfield on Monday. Woodbridge’s two wins have both come at the expense of the two other GMC teams: Metuchen (44-24) and Spotswood (42-32). The two losses have come to Union County teams: Roselle (43-41) and Plainfield. On the other hand, Spotswood dropped originally to 1-4 on the fall, but due to the fact that Franklin dropped out of the league, the Chargers got a win added, and are now 2-3 on the fall. Next Monday, Woodbridge is off while Spotswood will have their hands full with Shabazz of Newark at 6:30 PM.

Team 1 2 Total
Woodbridge (2-2) 26 16 42
Spotswood (2-3) 22 10 32

Cardinals Knock Franklin From Ranks Of Unbeaten To Out Of League

Originally, GMC Hoops didn’t plan on watching the final game of the night, but when it was learned that the nightcap featured Plainfield against undefeated Franklin, well, minds were changed. In the end though, it probably would have been better to have gone home as scheduled since the game was really no contest as Plainfield played much better than it did against Columbia last week while Franklin disintegrated so badly under the Cardinal pressure that the Warriors became unglued to the point where not only they ended up losing the game, but also dropped out of the league. Over the first 7:18 of the contest, Franklin, a member of the tough and competitive Delaware East Division of the Skyland Conference, and a team that went undefeated during the regular season and reached the semifinals of the playoffs in the 2007 Middlesex County College Summer League, was able to match Plainfield score for score as the two teams fought to a 10-10 standoff with 12:42 left in the first half.

However, the Cardinals, which are the defending two time Fall-Ball Classic Champions, closed the half with a 27-14 surge to take a 37-24 lead, and never looked back as they won easily, 61-46. Anthony Baskerville, Isiah Epps, and Shaun Blackmon played key roles in the win while Blackmon’s brother Dominique got the crowd rolling and going home happy with a couple scores in the second half to put an exclamation point on the victory. While Franklin was undefeated going into action on Wednesday, the Warriors had played Hillsborough, and narrowly defeated the Raiders on opening night. Then, FHS defeated Spotswood in week two, and defeated Hunterdon Central by five, 35-30 on September 17th. Meanwhile, Plainfield had dominated an improved Roselle team in their first game, lost by one to another undefeated team at Hawks in Columbia, and then defeated Woodbridge earlier in the week. In this game though, you could see the Cards played with a purpose, and with something to prove. The game began with both teams scoring once within the first thirty seconds for a 2-2 tie at the 19:34 mark.

After Plainfield took the lead with one of two from the line at the 19:15 mark, the Cardinals pushed their advantage up to three with a layup at the 18:23 mark to make it 5-2. Forty seconds later, Isiah Epps did a penetration and kick out to Anthony Baskerville for a jumper from the right wing that was good for a 7-2 lead at the 17:43 mark. Following a smart timeout by Franklin coach, Ian Turnbull at the 17:40 mark, the Warriors got themselves going with a left baseline drive for a layup that made the score, 7-4. Franklin then got another score less than a half minute later, and suddenly it was a 7-6 game at the 17:06 mark. But, the Warriors couldn’t take the lead as Epps came up with a steal and assist on a layup that made the score, 9-6 with 16:11 to go in the first half. The Warriors retaliated with an offensive rebound and putback for the basket and the foul, but missed the bonus free throw for a 9-8 Plainfield lead. FHS then took its first and only lead of the game on a baseline jumper from the right side for a 10-9 lead at the 13:17 mark. From that point until the end of the first half, Plainfield dominated with a 28-14 surge including a Baskerville jumper at the 12:08 mark, and after the Warriors tied it at 12-12, a 7-2 spurt to take a 19-14 lead at the 8:05 mark when Franklin called for time.

The timeout didn’t seem to be the tonic as the Cards went up by seven nearly a minute later with a layup for a 21-14 lead, and after a couple Franklin scores, another basket for a 23-18 lead. Baskerville then went to the line at the 5:15 mark, and netted a pair for a 25-18 advantage. Franklin scored on an offensive rebound and jumper to make it 25-20, but the Cards got another layup for a seven point gap, and then Shaun Blackmon got fouled on an offensive rebound and putback attempt for two free throws that made the score, 27-20 with 2:58 to go in the half. Epps then got a score for himself on a layup that made the score, 31-20 with 1:51 left, and again at the 13 second mark, and Blackmon added another layup at the 1:23 mark to highlight a 12-4 tear to close the half for the thirteen point lead at the intermission. The second half saw Plainfield run off another four points to start out with a 41-24 lead before the Warriors showed some fight with six unanswered points to trim the deficit to 41-30 with 15:30 left. However, that would be as close as the Warriors would get as Plainfield went on a 20-10 surge over a span of 12:35 to take a 61-40 lead. Dominique Blackmon highlighted the run with a jumper at the 5:30 mark, and then a reverse layup off a turnover that got quite a reaction from the crowd including Watchung Conference web site runner, Terrence “T-Ball” Johnson, who fell to the ground in hysterics. Epps closed out the Cardinal scoring with a layup at the 2:55 mark.

During the course of the game, particularly toward the end, the Franklin players became obviously frustrated, and that frustration continued over after the game as well. Later on Monday night, GMC Hoops would learn from Ian Turnbull that Franklin was no longer in the league, and that was confirmed by league director Bob Gaydos the following day. As a result, Hillsborough, Spotswood, and Hunterdon Central were all awarded victories while Columbia got a day off on Monday night. As far as Plainfield goes, there season will continue with the Cardinals going up against Hunterdon Central on Monday night and arch rival, Shabazz on Wednesday night. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 PM. In another note: GMC Hoops will be traveling over to the 2007 Rebounds Fall League on Monday night, but will be back at PHS on Wednesday night.

Team 1 2 Total
Plainfield (3-1) 37 24 61
Franklin (4-1) 24 22 46