GMC Hoops Blogosphere

A Very Different Fall Hoops Season Around The GMC

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–There has been a different feel to this fall league season. Over the years, the fall has been increasingly popular for teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference, which tried to get ready for the upcoming basketball season.

In the past, there were leagues such as the Hawks Basketball Fall-Ball Classic, which ran for almost 15 straight years, and the recent TBSA Fall League, which went for three years straight. However, both of those leagues didn’t happen this year. For the second straight year, the HBA did not have a league, and TBSA, which is under new management, tried to put one together, but there was no interest.

Last year, there were 14 teams competing in the TBSA Fall League and at Rebounds. This year, there are only 10 teams playing in the Immaculata Fall League and the Hoop Group Headquarters Fall League. Five teams are playing at Immaculata including Cardinal McCarrick, Colonia, Middlesex, Monroe, and St. Joseph’s while another five are playing at Hoop Group including East Brunswick, South Amboy, South Brunswick, South River, and Spotswood, with McCarrick being the only team from the GMC playing in both leagues.

The Immaculata Fall League is a new league that came on to the scene this fall as teams tried to find a league to play in after the TBSA Fall League didn’t go ahead this season. Eighteen teams from Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, and Union counties compete in the IHS Fall League. At the Hoop Group Headquarters, the league is having its best year yet with 30 teams, many of which are from the very large Shore Conference. There were reports of a league in Millburn as well as one in Ridgewood, but both were very far away for any GMC team to compete in although there was some interest. In the case of the Millburn league, it ended up not being able to have its season after some things didn’t come together.

In addition to the two fall leagues this year, there was a Hoop Group Showcase event that took place this weekend. Three teams from the GMC competed in that including Piscataway, which is not playing in either of the two fall leagues being covered by GMC Hoops this season. Recently, the site learned that several teams including: Bishop Ahr, Edison, J.F. Kennedy, North Brunswick, and Sayreville are not playing anywhere. Some of those teams have players on their squads that play football, and their participation on the gridiron left these teams without much of a roster to compete.

2009 Sports Zone Fall Basketball League–Update

EDISON, NJ–On Tuesday afternoon, GMC Hoops received more information from Chris Tee of the Sports Zone Fitness Center about their upcoming fall league. The Sports Zone Fitness Center on Carter Drive in Edison, New Jersey was previously known as The Basketball Shooting Academy (TBSA). Here are the particulars.

• Girls Division and Boys Division
• 8 games guaranteed
• Playoffs
• 10 Team Shirts
• 1 Team Noah Arc Analyzer Session
• Registration Deadline: September 1
• $785 per team
• 1 game per week….Games start Sept. 8 and end in late October
• Questions or Concerns? Call us at 732-650-1224 or email ChrisT@sportszonefitnesscenter.com

GMC Hoops will have further updates on this league as it gets more information.

2009 Sports Zone Fall Basketball League

EDISON, NJ–On Monday evening, GMC Hoops received word from Chris Tee, manager of the Sports Zone, which was formerly known as TBSA, that there will be a Sports Zone Fall Basketball League this year. The league is looking for teams from all over New Jersey to participate, and there will be leagues for both boys and girls. Games will be getting underway in September. The site will provide more information on this league as it becomes available.

TBSA Fall League–November 2, 2008

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday night, GMC Hoops traveled down to The Basketball Shooting Academy on Carter Drive after work to see the final half of action between both J.P. Stevens and Watchung Hills, and Manville against the NJ Extreme. It was the final day of games in the 2008 TBSA Fall League, which completed its most successful season yet in its brief three year history. Despite all the struggles, and schedule changes, the web site managed to see more action from this year’s league than last year’s. All in all, the site showed up five out of the eight weeks versus only four in 2007.

J.P. Stevens Finishes Strong With Impressive Win Over Watchung Hills, 62-47

The featured game that the GMC Hoops site was paying attention to was the battle between J.P. Stevens of North Edison, and the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division, and Watchung Hills, defending Somerset County Champions, and currently undefeated in this year’s fall league at 7-0. One of the victories that Watchung Hills had was over Piscataway by six just last week. It was the only loss the Chiefs had entering play on Sunday. The web site had previously seen the Warriors in action against Metuchen on October 5th, and in a game that was halted with a minute to go, Watchung Hills prevailed by nine.

A win like this to end the fall season would be big for the Hawks, which had their share of struggles this fall starting with two straight losses to Weequahic (50-45) and Plainfield (at the buzzer 67-66). Recently, J.P. Stevens also suffered a defeat at the hands of Trenton by 10 on October 19th. Coming into Sunday night’s action, JPS had earned a pre-season top ten ranking of 3rd in the GMC Hoops Top Ten. However, there will be more revisions of the poll as we go along toward the start of the season. With perhaps the best returning starting five in the GMC, the Hawks are definitely a contender to win their first GMCT crown in 20 years.

After being at work, GMC Hoops hurried down to TBSA to catch the final minutes of action between the Hawks and the Warriors. Leading 27-20 at the half, the Hawks went up by 12 at 54-42 with 2:21 remaining. Kenny Bland then grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss, and put it back in underneath for a score, and a 56-42 lead at the 2:14 mark. Thirty-two seconds later, with Bland now sitting on the bench, the Hawk reserves went to work with a layup at the 1:42 mark, and then a short jumper for a 60-42 lead with 1:29 remaining. Watchung Hills then got a three pointer at the other end to close the gap to 60-45, but then JPS got a jumper from the right side of the foul line with 40 seconds to go for a 62-45 lead. The Warriors then closed out the scoring to cap their 5-2 run for the 62-47 final score.

With the victory, Stevens ended the fall at .500, or 4-4 while Watchung Hills recorded their only loss at 7-1. GMC Hoops would like to thank the folks at TBSA for their help this fall.

Manville Cruises Past NJ Extreme, 51-33

In a game that saw some emotions boil over, and some trash talking dominate the ending, Manville won its second game of the fall league season over the NJ Extreme by a score of 51-33. The Mustangs, which lost a close affair to Hackettstown a week earlier, 38-37, rebounded with another solid performance to end the fall on a positive note. Manville, which competes in the Valley Division of the Skyland Conference, took a 26-18 lead at the half, and then outscored the NJ Extreme by a 23-14 margin over the first 18:18 of the second half to lead by a score of 49-32 with 1:42 to play.

Frustration began to set in on the Extreme, and the squad and Manville exchanged words, which resulted in a Mustang technical foul and one of two free throws by the Extreme for a 49-33 score. The AAU squad was unable to score on the side out after the technical free throws, but forced a Manville turnover at the 1:16 mark. The Mustangs got the ball back, but the Extreme then swiped a steal at the 1:07 mark. Unfortunately, the AAU squad was unable to cash in since the layup attempt went off the front of the rim. Manville then got the rebound, and drew a foul. At the 56 second mark, the Mustangs were in the bonus, but missed the front end of a one and one.

Fortunately for Manville though, the ball went off a New Jersey Extreme player out of bounds. Thirteen seconds later, the Mustangs had another scoring opportunity with a drive down the middle of the that drew a foul, but again, the Somerset County school that is located near the banks of the Raritan River, failed to score by missing another front end of a one and one. On the next Extreme possession, the AAU team took a three point attempt from the left wing, and missed. Manville got the rebound, and drew a foul, which resulted in the final points of the game with two charity shots at the 22 second mark. With the 51-33 victory, Manville finished up the fall at 2-6 while the NJ Extreme ended up at 4-3 after missing the first week of play.

TBSA Fall League–September 21, 2008

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday night, GMC Hoops headed on over to The Basketball Shooting Academy over on Carter Drive in Edison to take in the second week of action at the 2008 TBSA Fall League. The site had just gotten off work, and still managed to get in the two finale games of the huge day at TBSA. The one game featured J.P. Stevens against Plainfield on Court #2 in what could be a preview of the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV State Tournament while the other was another GMCvs. Union County battle as Colonia took on Roselle on Court #3. It was the second week in a row that the web site captured both Stevens and Colonia in action at TBSA.

Plainfield Stuns Stevens With Last Minute Rally, 67-66

This would turn out to be quite a thriller. However, things didn’t start out all that well for Plainfield. As a matter of fact, it appeared as if the Cardinals from the Watchung Conference were going to lose the game. Trailing 63-57 with only 1:08 to play, Plainfield rallied behind Isiah Epps and Anthony Baskerville to come from behind with a 10-3 tear down the stretch capped by a Baskerville trey as time expired for the riveting 67-66 victory. The Cards, which competed in the HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic for the past several years, and lost to Cardinal McCarrick in their opener, evened their record at 1-1 on the fall while Stevens dropped to 0-2 after losing to Weequahic during the opening week of action.

GMC Hoops entered the gym after work to see Plainfield out in front 5-4 with 16:20 left in the first half. Epps followed up with a three pointer just 12 seconds later for an 8-4 lead at the 16:08 mark. The Cards then added another point on a free throw for a 9-6 lead at the 15:45 mark before Stevens got a field goal to close within three at 9-6. Plainfield, which is now coached by former SPHS head coach, Jeff Lubreski, then reeled off the next three points in a row to take a 13-6 advantage at the 13:14 mark. Forty-five seconds later, the Cards were on the board again with another basket for a 15-6 lead at the 12:29 mark. The Hawks finally started to get going when Kenny Bland drew a foul on a Plainfield player that blocked the JPS senior forward’s shot. The result was a pair of free throws for a 15-8 lead at the 12:06 mark.

Fired up now, Bland went to work again over a minute later when he knifed into the key from the right wing for a scoop shot that went in as he was fouled for a traditional three point play that closed the gap to four at 15-11 with 10:57 to go before the intermission. Nearly a minute after that, Bland was at it again with an offensive rebound and follow off his own miss that drew another foul that produced two free throws for a 15-13 Plainfield lead at the 10:04 mark. The Hawks had a chance to tie the game up with a score, but after senior point guard, Tahir Swinton swiped a steal, he turned it over by trying to be too fancy with a behind the back pass at the 9:28 mark. On the next Cardinal possession, Plainfield, which recently competed in the Summer Prime Time Shootout at Allentown High School, picked up one of two free throws at the line for a 16-13 lead with 8:59 to go before the intermission.

Stevens came back down right away on its next possession as senior forward, Myles Reuben scored on a tip in off the follow for a 16-15 Plainfield lead at the 8:32 mark. Plainfield responded with an offensive rebound and follow of its own for an 18-15 advantage with 8:15 to go before the half. The web site took a break from the action to take in some of the Colonia and Roselle matchup, but would return with 2:35 remaining, and Stevens now in front, 26-23 thanks to an 11-5 spurt. From the time that the Hawks trailed, 15-6, JPS had outscored Plainfield 20-8 in a span of 9:54 to take the three point lead. Stevens pressure then coerced the Cards to call a timeout at the 2:22 mark. Following the stoppage, Plainfield pulled within one as Epps grabbed an offensive board off his own miss, and dished out an assist for a layup that made the score, 26-25 at the 1:42 mark.

Reuben would get one of two at the foul line to make it a two point Hawk lead at 27-25 with a minute to go, but the Cards then got four straight points to go up by two including another offensive rebound off his own miss by Epps that he put back in this time for a 29-27 lead. However, the Hawks ended the first half with four unanswered points including a pair of free throws by Nick Pol after he was fouled on a drive at the 6 second mark, and then a steal for a layup as time expired for the 31-29 advantage at the half. In the second half, Stevens remained in control for the most part until the very end. Both teams combined for 73 points in the second half with Plainfield gaining the slight 38-35 edge for the win. The three point differential in the second half was thanks to Baskerville’s late game heroics. GMC Hoops was paying attention more to the action taking place between Colonia and Roselle, but kept up with what was happening between the Cardinals and the Hawks.

With 12:09 to play in regulation, both teams had scored ten points each as Stevens clinged to a two point, 41-39 lead. Forty seconds later, the game was tied on a Plainfield field goal at the 11:29 mark. Forty-four seconds after that, Epps dribble penetrated and kicked to Baskerville for a three pointer from the left side for a 44-41 lead at the 10:45 mark. Over the next two and a half minutes, the Hawks scored four straight points including two free throws at the 8:15 mark for a 45-44 lead. JPS then went up by three as Bland kicked out to Pol in the left corner for a jumper, and a 47-44 score with 7:39 to play in regulation. Then, the next 4:24 saw the Hawks increase their lead by another two with a 9-7 run for a 56-51 lead at the 3:15 mark. Bland then added one of two at the line with 3:06 remaining for a six points, 57-51 lead. Nearly a minute went by before another score as the Cardinals got a field goal to pull within four, and called for time with 2:09 to play.

Both teams then exchanged scores over the next 30 seconds for a 59-55 JPS lead with 1:39 left. Seven seconds later, the Hawks went up by six with a field goal at the 1:32 mark that made it 61-55. Plainfield wouldn’t go away though as Baskerville made a nice dish for a layup, and a 61-57 Stevens lead with 1:13 to go. Bland then made two free throws for a 63-57 lead with 1:08 remaining in regulation. Epps then promptly responded with a three pointer for a 63-60 score at the 52 second mark. Stevens then was flagged with a backcourt violation that turned the ball back over to the Cardinals with 38 seconds to play. Plainfield then scored a layup as it was fouled, but missed the bonus free throw, and the ball went off a Stevens player out of bounds with the score 63-62 at the 29 second mark.

The Cards then made it a 7-0 run when Epps spun, pivoted, and layed it up and in for a 64-63 lead with 21 seconds to go. On the very next Hawks possession though, Swinton was fouled, made one of two at the line, got a break thanks to a Cardinal lane violation, missed the extra free throw, but Bland was there to save the day with an offensive rebound and putback for the 66-64 lead. The lead would not be enough though as Baskerville came down the floor for a three pointer from the top of the key that gave the Cards a thrilling buzzer beating win over the Hawks, 67-66. See more details on this game and others played to date in the GMC Hoops TBSA Fall League Notes.

Colonia Rallies In Second Half To Defeat Roselle, 43-37

In the other 8:00 PM game that was taking place on this Sunday night, Colonia led by senior forward Nnamdi Usuwa, overcame a six point halftime deficit with a 28-16 showing in the second half for a 43-37 win over Roselle of Union County and the Mountain Valley Conference. After watching the first half of what would be a spellbinding game between J.P. Stevens and Plainfield, GMC Hoops came over to Court #3 to watch a bit of the end of the first period between the Patriots and Roselle. With 3:02 remaining before the intermission, the site sat down to see the Rams in front by four, 16-12. Not having the services of senior guard, J.J. D’Amico did appear on the surface to have a bit of an effect on the Pats from an offensive standpoint, but that would soon change.

Moments after arriving though, things went from bad to worse as the Rams came up with a three point play of the conventional variety at the 2:54 mark for a 19-12 edge. A little bit more than a minute later, Usuwa got his team going again with a drive to the basket that drew contact, and resulted in a foul that produced one of two free throws at the foul line for a 19-13 Roselle lead with 1:50 to go before the half. A minute and ten seconds would go by before the next score as Usuwa got a field goal thanks to a two handed layup on the right low block that closed the gap to 19-15 at the 40 second mark. On the very next Roselle possession, the Rams would score on a jumper from the left side to close out the first half scoring, and make it 21-15 at the intermission.

In the second half, both teams would combine to score more points, but Colonia would get the lion’s share in their 12 point edge for the victory. The Rams started out fine though with three of the first five points for a 24-17 lead at the 17:19 mark. Nearly a minute went by before the next score, but it would be the Pats getting on the scoreboard as sophomore Dave Cole found Usuwa on the right wing, and then the senior forward powered in for a layup that pulled CHS within five again at 24-19 with 16:23 to go. A little bit over a minute later, Roselle got on the board via the charity stripe by making one of two for a 25-19 edge at the 15:06 mark. On the next Patriot possession, Colonia knocked down a pull-up jumper in the key to close to within four at 25-21 with 14:33 left.

Neither team would score for 2:47 before the Pats pulled within one as Usuwa kicked out to St. Joseph’s transfer and sophomore guard, Matt Wagner, who knocked in a three pointer from the left corner for a 25-24 score at the 11:46 mark. Thirty-six seconds later, Roselle made another one of two at the foul line for a 26-24 lead with 11:10 to go. But, moments later on the next Colonia offensive series, the Patriots tied things up with a layup that made the score 26-26 at the 10:55 mark. The Rams came right back down the floor though, and put in a field goal to go back ahead, 28-26 at the 10:38 mark. Sixty-five seconds later though, the Patriots knotted things up again as Cole made a nice bounce pass to a teammate for a layup, and a 28-28 score with 9:33 remaining in regulation. Roselle would retake the lead with another one of two showing at the line that made it 29-28 with 8:25 left, but Colonia took the lead for good with seven of the next eight points including another Wagner jumper off the dribble following a pass from Usuwa at the 8:00 mark.

The web site would return with inside four minutes to play, and Colonia now leading, 35-30 at the 3:50 mark. Twenty-eight seconds later, the Patriots called for time, and after the timeout, the Rams of Roselle would first get a field goal, and then another one of two at the foul line thanks to a Patriot technical foul at the 2:00 mark. Now, suddenly, the score was 35-33. However, Usuwa came up big with a conventional three point play that consisted of a layin and a foul for a 38-33 lead with 1:42 to go. Roselle would come back on its next series with a field goal to close the gap to three at 38-35, but then Wagner put the final nail in the coffin with a three pointer from the right corner off another kickout by Usuwa for a 41-35 lead at the 1:04 mark. After a Ram score, Wagner closed out the game with two foul shots with 18 seconds left for the 43-37 win. With the victory, Colonia improved to .500 at 1-1 while Roselle fell to 0-2 on the fall. Both teams will be back in action next Sunday afternoon with the Pats facing off against Hunterdon Central on Court #3 at 2:00 PM following Roselle facing Bishop Ahr on the same court at 1:00 PM.

TBSA Fall League–Updated And Corrected Standings–October 30, 2008

EDISON, NJ–GMC Hoops has been able to go through the standings of the fall league being run at the The Basketball Shooting Academy on Carter Drive in Edison. Eleven teams now have updated and corrected records based upon the results obtained from TBSA recently. The site went through each of the 32 teams games played. Below are the updated and corrected standings as of October 26th. There are still six teams that need to have their records updated. GMC Hoops will have those updated as well soon.

TBSA Fall League–Week #7 Standings (Corrected)

• Watchung Hills (7-0)
• St. Joseph’s (6-0)
• Monroe (6-1)
• Piscataway (6-1)
• NJ Extreme (4-1)
• St. Joseph’s #2 (5-2)
• Cardinal McCarrick (5-2)
• West Windsor Plainsboro-North (5-2)
• Metuchen (4-2)
• Montgomery (4-2)
• Woodbridge (4-3)
• Columbia #1 (4-3)
• Middlesex (4-3)
• Hillsborough (4-3)
• Columbia #2 (4-3)
• Bridgewater (3-3)
• Plainfield (3-4)
• Trenton (3-4)
• Timothy Christian (3-4)
• J.P. Stevens (2-4)
• Princeton (2-4)
• Edison (2-4)
• Colonia (2-4)
• Roselle Catholic (1-4)
• Roselle (2-5)
• Bishop Ahr (2-5)
• Weequahic (2-5)
• Hackettstown (2-5)
• Hopewell Valley (1-6)
• Manville (1-6)
• Cranford (0-6)
• Hunterdon Central (0-7)

GMC Hoops plans to use his lunch break from work to catch some of the action from the fall league’s season finale on Sunday, November 2nd.

TBSA Fall League–October 26, 2008–Results

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday, October 26th, the seventh week of action took place at The Basketball Shooting Academy. GMC Hoops was able to get summaries from action between Monroe and Hunterdon Central as well as Manville versus Hackettstown. The site was able to stop down at TBSA during its lunch break to see some of the action. Below are the results from 10 of the 16 games played. Special thanks to former Colonia head coach, Ken Pace for supplying the site with this information.

TBSA Fall League Results–Week #7 (Incomplete)

• Cardinal McCarrick over Hillsborough by 24
• Watchung Hills over Piscataway by 6
• Bishop Ahr over Plainfield by 5
• West Windsor-Plainsboro North over Woodbridge by 5 in OT
• Roselle over Weequahic by 4
• St. Joseph’s #2 over Hopewell Valley
• Columbia over Trenton by 7
• Middlesex over Timothy Christian by 15
• Monroe 55–Hunterdon Central 46
• Hackettstown 38–Manville 37

GMC Hoops plans to spend his lunch break at TBSA this coming Sunday, November 2nd to take in some of the action from the final day of the season.

TBSA Fall League–October 19, 2008–Results

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday, October 19th, the sixth week of action took place at The Basketball Shooting Academy. While GMC Hoops was unable to attend the action due to a scheduling conflict with work, the site was still able to get the results from all the contests played. Below are the results from all 16 games. Special thanks to former Colonia head coach, Ken Pace for supplying the site with this information.

TBSA Fall League Results–Week #6

• Cardinal McCarrick over Weequahic by 6
• Watchung Hills over Roselle Catholic by 21
• Hillsborough over Bishop Ahr by 40
• Manville over Cranford by 14
• Hackettstown over Edison by 2
• West Winsor-Plainsboro North over Hunterdon Central by 3
• NJ Extreme over Hopewell Valley by 10
• Plainfield over Colonia by 5
• Monroe over Columbia #1 by 6
• Metuchen over Princeton by 1
• St. Joseph’s over Middlesex by 30
• Montgomery over Woodbridge by 6
• Bridgewater over St. Joseph’s #2 by 11
• Piscataway over Roselle by 8
• Columbia #2 over Timothy Christian by 10
• Trenton over J.P. Stevens by 10

GMC Hoops plans to spend his lunch break at TBSA this coming Sunday, November 2nd to take in some of the action from the final day of the season.

TBSA Fall League–October 12, 2008–Results

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday, October 12th, the fifth week of action took place at The Basketball Shooting Academy. While GMC Hoops was unable to attend the action due to a scheduling conflict with work, the site was still able to get the results from all the contests played. Below are the results from all 16 games. Special thanks to former Colonia head coach, Ken Pace for supplying the site with this information.

TBSA Fall League Results–Week #5

• Cardinal McCarrick over Trenton
• NJ Extreme over Hackettstown
• Woodbridge over Hopewell Valley
• Bridgewater over Princeton
• Montgomery over Timothy Christian
• Metuchen over Hunterdon Central
• Watchung Hills over Bishop Ahr
• West Windsor-Plainsboro North over Edison
• Monroe over Middlesex
• Piscataway over Columbia #1
• St. Joseph’s over Plainfield
• Hillsborough over Roselle Catholic
• Columbia #2 over Cranford
• Weequahic over Colonia
• J.P. Stevens over Roselle
• St. Joseph’s #2 over Manville

GMC Hoops plans to spend his lunch break at TBSA this coming Sunday, November 2nd to take in some of the action from the final day of the season.

TBSA Fall League–October 5, 2008–Results

EDISON, NJ–On Sunday afternoon, October 5th, GMC Hoops was down at The Basketball Shooting Academy to catch games between Middlesex and Piscataway as well as Metuchen versus Watchung Hills. However, in addition to those two games, which took place in the final hour of the day’s action, there were 14 other games that were played for a total of 16 contests. Below are the results from all 16 games. Special thanks to former Colonia head coach, Ken Pace for supplying the site with this information.

TBSA Fall League Results–Week #4

• Woodbridge over Hackettstown
• Timothy Christian over Hopewell Valley
• Montgomery over Manville
• West Windsor-Plainsboro North over Roselle Catholic
• NJ Extreme over Cranford
• Princeton over Hunterdon Central
• St. Joseph’s #2 over Hillsborough
• Bridgewater over Bishop Ahr
• Piscataway 43–Middlesex 37
• Watchung Hills 58–Metuchen 49
• Trenton over Colonia
• Columbia #2 over Edison
• Plainfield over Monroe
• Columbia #1 over J.P. Stevens
• St. Joseph’s over Weequahic
• Roselle over Cardinal McCarrick

GMC Hoops plans to spend his lunch break at TBSA this coming Sunday, November 2nd to take in some of the action from the final day of the season.