GMC Hoops Blogosphere

GMC Holding Its Own Against Out Of Conference Foes

Conference Teams Combine For Over .500 Record Entering Final Stage Of Season

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ–On Monday, state tournament play began for 25 of the 31 teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference that qualified for the various tourneys categorized by school enrollment. As of the end of play, Wednesday night, the GMC has gone 9-9 against teams outside Middlesex County in state tourney play.

Entering the state tournament season, the 31 teams in the GMC had combined for an 82-76 record during the regular season against teams from other conferences. The conference is now 91-85, and has gone 22-16 since dropping to .500 in the middle of February. It has been an up and down, and streaky season for GMC schools against non-conference foes. The GMC began the year with 8 wins in its first 9 games, and then was clobbered over the holidays.

From that point on, the GMC schools have been on a roller coaster ride against teams outside of Middlesex County. For the most part though, the conference has held its own against many of the conferences in the Central Jersey area. Entering play on Thursday, the GMC is 4-3 against the Colonial Valley Conference, 23-22 versus the Skyland Conference, 10-10 against the Union County Conference, and 16-19 versus the Shore Conference. While the conference has not been dominant against schools from these other conferences, it has been able to hold its own.

A couple conferences that have done fairly well against the GMC this year have been the Burlington County Scholastic League, which has won 5 of 8 games against GMC schools, and the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association, which has won 6 of 9 against the GMC. Breaking down the 91-85 GMC non-conference record by division: The Gold is 32-19. The Red is 27-21. Blue Division is 20-17 while the White has struggled at 12-28. Teams that have done well against non-conference schools this season are: Perth Amboy Tech (8-1), St. Joseph’s (7-2), South River (7-3), East Brunswick Tech (6-2), Dunellen (4-0), Old Bridge (5-2), East Brunswick (5-2), Middlesex (3-0), Piscataway Tech (4-2), and Spotswood (3-1).

GMC Hoops Highlights–February 6, 2013–Bishop Ahr @ South Plainfield–Blue Division Clash

Here are video highlights from the last two plus minutes of regulation, and the overtime of Bishop Ahr’s come from behind win over South Plainfield in a late season Blue Division Clash in the Greater Middlesex Conference. Trailing 51-45 with 2:05 remaining in regulation, Bishop Ahr outscored South Plainfield by an 11-5 margin as they got threes from Greg Patuto, Tom Weiler, and Mike Jensen (at the buzzer) to tie the game up at 56-56. Then, Jensen hit a three pointer to give the Trojans the lead for good at the start of the overtime.

GMC Hoops Game Analysis–South Plainfield @ Middlesex–Blue Division Clash–February 1, 2013

Tigers Showing Signs Of Improvement With 3rd Straight Win

MIDDLESEX, NJ–Things are starting to look up for the South Plainfield Tigers boys basketball team. After a 2-21 season in 2011-12, and a move down to the Blue Division, the Tigers struggled in the early going this season. SPHS began the season with 8 losses in its first 9 games with many of those defeats coming by single digits. To date, the Tigers have lost 7 games by 9 points or less with six of those contests decided by seven points or less, and four of those games decided by five points or less.

Since the 1-8 start, South Plainfield has turned it around with five wins in its last 10 games including two wins over Metuchen by the identical score of 54-39, a 53-49 win over Highland Park, a solid 49-33 victory over J.F. Kennedy, and now a 42-40 win over Middlesex on the road. The two recent wins over JFK and Middlesex avenged defeats from earlier in the season. The Blue Jays defeated South Plainfield at SPHS by the score of 60-53 on January 2nd while Kennedy edged the Tigers in Iselin by the score of 57-52.

The victory was the third straight for the Tigers as they won every game they played this week, and more than they had all of last year. The win over the Jays gave SPHS a 6-13 mark on the season, which triples their win output from a year ago. It wasn’t easy, and not really pretty, but South Plainfield is starting to figure out how to win the close games, which was something they had not been doing all season. Meanwhile, Middlesex dropped its third straight, and fell to 8-9 overall, and are now tied with SP in the Blue Division at 5-9.

Trailing 34-31 after three periods, the Tigers locked down on defense by limiting the Blue Jays to just six points in the fourth quarter while senior guard, Ray Perez, who came off the bench in this contest, came up big by scoring all 9 of his points in the period. Perez drained a triple from just to the left of the top of the key to tie the score at 34-34, and then gave the Tigers the lead for good with a trey from almost the exact same spot for a 39-36 lead. Perez, a three year varsity player, helped seal the win with a 3 of 4 showing at the foul line down the stretch.

Middlesex had its chances to tie the game in the closing seconds. After forcing a South Plainfield turnover, the Jays were able to draw a foul with no time left, but missed the first of what would have been two free throws, and the Tigers escaped with the two point victory. SPHS had only five players score in the contest, but four of them scored at least 8 points including Claude Payne, who had a game high 13 points. Perez chipped in with 9 while Justin Glover and Malik Cisson each added 8. Jarret Bogus and Kayshawn Wilson led Middlesex in a losing cause with 9 points each. The Blue Jays had 8 different players score including Sean Sarnoski, who had 5 points and three others that had four.

South Plainfield jumped out to a 12-4 first quarter lead as they were able to stymie Middlesex on the defensive end while Justin Glover scored 7 of his 8 in the frame including a three point play to cap an 8-0 spurt to end the period. The Tigers then got another three point play from Cisson to take an 18-7 lead, but Middlesex, which outscored SPHS by a margin of 30-19 in the middle two periods, finished the half with a 13-6 tear to pull within four at the intermission. The Jays then opened up the second half with seven unanswered points for a 27-24 lead, and maintained the tenuous three point lead heading into the fourth.

For the game, Middlesex and South Plainfield had similar games offensively. The Blue Jays shot 16 of 42 from the floor for about 43 percent while the Tigers went 14 of 44 from the floor for just under 40 percent. Middlesex enjoyed a slight edge in points from beyond the arc at 9-6 while shooting 3 of 11 from long distance while the Tigers were only 2 of 11. However, the big difference was at the foul line where SPHS did better. The Tigers connected on 12 of 20 from the charity stripe for 60 percent while the Jays were only 5 of 11 for 46 percent. South Plainfield also had fewer fouls with 11 versus Middlesex’s 16.

South Plainfield’s second year head coach, Justin Chiera, used plenty of players in the contest. He substituted often for much of the game until the fourth quarter when he went with the combination of Perez, Payne, Glover, Cisson, and Roemello Monroe, who scored the remaining four points in the game for the Tigers. While SPHS may not be a contender to win this year’s GMCT, or make a state title run, it is starting to turn a corner with its best week of basketball in several years.

GMC-Skyland Challenge–January 19, 2013–Schedule

Good morning everyone.  Here is the latest schedule for the GMC-Skyland Challenge set for today.  GMC Hoops plans to be at Immaculata for the two games there, and then go over to Bound Brook to see Cardinal McCarrick take on the home town Crusaders.

Skyland/GMC Challenge

At Bound Brook

Colonia vs. Warren Hills, 5:00 PM

Cardinal McCarrick vs. Bound Brook, 7:00 PM

At East Brunswick

Timothy Christian vs. Voorhees, 2:00 PM

Piscataway vs. Montgomery, 4:00 PM

Bridgewater vs. East Brunswick, 6:00 PM

At Franklin

South Brunswick vs. Hillsborough, 12:45 PM

North Brunswick vs. Franklin, 2:30 PM

At Immaculata

Bishop Ahr vs. Pingry, 3:00 PM

Woodbridge vs. Immaculata, 5:00 PM

At North Plainfield

J.F. Kennedy vs. North Plainfield, 1:00 PM

At Middlesex

South Hunterdon vs. Middlesex, 12:00 PM

At Monroe

Hunterdon Central vs. Monroe, 7:00 PM

At North Hunterdon

Edison vs. North Hunterdon, 1:30 PM

At Perth Amboy

Delaware Valley vs. Perth Amboy, 1:00 PM

At Phillipsburg

Old Bridge vs. Phillipsburg, 2:30 PM

At Somerville

Carteret vs. Somerville, 2:00 PM

At South Amboy

Manville vs. South Amboy, 11:30 AM

At Spotswood

Bernards vs. Spotswood, 1:30 PM

At Ridge

New Brunswick vs. Ridge, 2:30 PM

At Watchung

Sayreville vs. Watchung Hills, 7:00 PM

Great Races Developing In Blue And Gold Divisions

Carteret’s Win Over Spotswood Makes It A Three Team Scramble In Blue While Four Teams Separated By One Game In Gold

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Prior to the season, I had indicated that the Blue and Gold Divisions were going to be tough. With the additions of Piscataway Tech and South Plainfield in the Blue, and the exit of P-Way Tech from the Gold, competitive races were expected this year in these two divisions. So far the season hasn’t disappointed. At the midway point we have a three way tie in the GMC Blue, there are three teams separated by one game.

If there is any parity in the GMC, it lies in these two divisions mostly. For instance, of the seven games that were played on Wednesday, five of them were decided by single digits, and six were determined by 10 points or less. Oh, by the way, the sixth game, the one that was decided by ten points, went to overtime. South River needed an extra session to defeat Timothy Christian, 72-62.

Gold Division Free For All

Speaking of the Rams, they have come back from the dead in divisional play. After losing its first three league games, South River has battled back with victories over Wardlaw (57-36), East Brunswick Tech (78-44), Amboy Tech, and TCS. A big part of that was the play of Tyler Harris, who had a monster week in week four with 89 points in three games.

Besides the rally in the GMC Gold, the Rams also have beaten a very good Group I school from the Shore in Keansburg twice. First time was a come from behind overtime victory in the Genevieve Hawley Tournament Championship (73-71) at Henry Hudson Regional HS over the holidays, and the second time was last Saturday at home (79-77). Matt Martinez has also played very well for the Rams. He pumped in 27 points in the win over Timothy Christian, and had a double-double in the first win over Keansburg with 16 points and 10 assists. Martinez has a great handle, shoots the ball well, and plays with great confidence. He is probably the best point guard at South River since this site was launched in 2000.

Let’s not forget Sean Darrar, who was the hero in the first win over Keansburg. The younger Darrar scored all 11 of his points in the final 5:35 of the contest including three treys. One of the threes tied the game at the buzzer to force overtime, and then another was the game winning with 18.7 seconds remaining. Against East Brunswick Tech, South River opened the game with a 28-6 first quarter rampage that included five threes. Two of those treys were by Harris, who scored the first 9 points of the game for the Rams, and had 14 of the points in the period. He ended up with 22 in the first half, and 30 for the game. Another of the two treys came from Bobby Applegate, who can provide scoring from the perimeter as well as length on defense, and rebounding.

Back to the rest of the Gold Division, there is a lot more competitive balance this year with the departure of Piscataway Tech. For instance, even though Amboy Tech is 2-5 in the league, they have lost a number of close games including a one point loss at home to Dunellen, and overtime losses to Timothy Christian and East Brunswick Tech. They also suffered a loss to South Amboy without two top players in Agnel Etienne and Jonathan Sosa. Jordan Little is a solid player in the middle for the Pats while Kelvin Perez has been the most consistent. Wardlaw is also 2-5, but they have been a strange team.

The Rams have lost twice to Amboy Tech by four and defeated Dunellen. Wardlaw also lost by one in non-conference play to North 13th Street Tech of Newark in the Joe Silver Holiday Tournament. Justen Davis is a solid rebounding and scoring combination, who is closing in on 1,000 points. Noah Ganz gives the Rams some perimeter punch while Ish Menns and John Newman provide athleticism. Matt Rosado gives much needed experience at the point while John Pohopin gives additional scoring from the outside. East Brunswick Tech has struggled since a 2-0 start with six losses in its last 10 games. Mark Alston and Brett Carmen have been solid for the Tigers.

Moving up to the top half of the Gold, Dunellen, South Amboy, and Timothy Christian are all locked in a three way battle for first place at 5-2. The Guvs appeared to have control of the division late last week, but three straight single digit losses including one at the buzzer to Highland Park, have brought them back down to .500. Thankfully, South Amboy only has won loss in the division during this recent tough stretch, a 50-42 defeat at the hands of Dunellen on Wednesday. The Governors are led by a group of juniors that includes Steve Herdman, Joe Fruncillo, Nick Kales, and Dan Murphy. They also have sophomore Tim Kales and senior Matt Lavan in the rotation.

The Guvs could easily be 9-3 at least if it weren’t for tough crossover losses to Cardinal McCarrick (54-51 in OT on December 15th), Sayreville (54-46 on January 12th), and the buzzer beater to Highland Park. In all three games, South Amboy had the held including an 11 point advantage on McCarrick. If this group begins to figure out how to close out close games against these bigger schools from the upper divisions of the GMC, they could make a bit of a rumble in the county tournament. Herdman, who recently had his 37 consecutive game streak with at least one three pointer broken, came back the next game with four in the first period as the Guvs defeated Wardlaw, 60-38. Fruncillo has had game high in each of the last three games.

Despite losing two 1,000 point scorers in Dan “Triple” Decker and Kristian Svendsen to graduation, and another key player from last year’s team in Devon Johnson, who transferred to Edison this year, the Tigers of Timothy Christian are still a factor in the GMC Gold. Led by senior Jeff Parker and junior Brandon Summers, this edition of the Tigers are a solid shooting bunch that still play solid defense and great team ball. Trailing by four near the end of regulaton and in overtme at Amboy Tech last week, TCS found a way to win (54-51) as Summers came up with two scores to tie the game with a minute to go in overtime and Parker won it with a three from the left wing with 31.8 seconds to go.

Jarret Locke is a nice little playmaker, who was just a split second shy from winning the contest in regulation with a heave just inside halfcourt. He also had a runner that tied the contest. Mike DiLeo provides some additional scoring punch while reserve Zach Coyle helped the Tigers stay in front for a while in the third against the Patriots with a trey from the left wing. Evan Waldron clogs up the middle, and gives TCS some much needed size down low. Head coach Chris Hobbs has some help on the bench this year with an assistant, and that has helped him find ways to keep the Tigers in the hunt despite the turnover from last year.

Finally, we get to Dunellen, which could be the most intriguing team of all in this division. The Destroyers did take some hits to graduation by losing the likes of Sean Gibney and Jeff Puckett, but they still had a lot back this year with Deon Brown, Dylan Hoski, Matt Heidinger, Tony McGuane, and Orville Thompson. However, DHS has had some struggles that included losses to Wardlaw, Middlesex, and more recently, Timothy Christian. Keep in mind though that Dunellen has always gotten off to tough starts under head coach Bernie Buniak only to come on strong and either win or challenge for the division crown in late January and February.

Three Way Horse Race In GMC Blue

While four teams are in the hun in the Gold Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference, three teams are battling for first place in the Blue. Carteret moved into sole possession of first at 8-1 with a come from behind, 75-72 win over Spotswood on the road on Wednesday night. The Chargers, which came into the week undefeated in both division and conference play suffered two straight conference losses including a 74-59 defeat to North Brunswick at home on Monday night.

Tied with Spotswood, and only a half game back of Carteret in the standings is Piscataway Tech at 7-1. The Raiders rolled over Bishop Ahr, and have a tie breaker over Carteret thanks to a thrilling, 54-52 win on the road at CHS on January 4th. Spotswood defeated the Raiders at P-Way Tech to start the new year. Despite moving up a division, and losing the likes of Galen Smith, Khairi Mosely, and Mo Pierre to graduation and the likes of Will Joyce and Jalen Jackson to transfer, Piscataway Tech has managed to not only stay in contention, but get some early season quality wins on the road at Carteret and over Group IV schools, Passaic and Paterson Kennedy in the Jingle Bells Jubilee over the holidays.

Turell McClendon, Jordan Lackey, and Aziz Austin carry much of the load for PVT, but role players Robby Pierre, Inderpaul Pingahila, and Willie Patterson have contributed nicely as well. Head coach Karl Towns has also made some defensive adjustments, and now he is looking like a strong GMC Hoops Coach of the Year candidate. He may have mellowed a bit on the sideline as well, but he was very close to top form in the win over Carteret two weeks ago. Carteret also took some heavy losses to graduation by losing the likes of Avery Carter, Tanveer Dosanjh, Joe Nigro, and Kevin Van Dyke among others, but still had the likes of sophomores Jaquan Robertson and Brandon Gilder back along with senior Elijah Torres.

Younger brother Zach Torres has also contribued off the bench while newcomers Tyrell Lockley and Joe McRae provide athleticism and versatility. Forward Andrew Stam gives CHS some length and scoring ability from the perimeter. The team in the Blue with the most experience back is Spotswood. Even though the Chargers lost 1,000 point scorer, Tommy Soulias, who is now playing well at Kean, they had the likes of Jake Dadika, Dalonte Grant, Jamal Lewis, Corey Brown and Kevin Fox all back this year. In addition they have some solid newcomers such as freshmen Marlon Hart and Eric Dadika coming off the bench. Jake Dadika is one of the top scorers in the GMC this year whle Grant provides additional scoring punch to make this one of the best backcourts in the conference.

Lewis may be undersized, but his athletic ability and tenacity help him compensate for that as he has put up a number of double-digit scoring games recently including 18 in a victory over Bishop Ahr. Corey Brown brings his football toughness on the boards while scoring from either the perimeter or by going to the basket. Kevin Fox demonstrated a nice knack of perimeter shooting to help the Chargers put the game out of reach against BGA. Hart and the younger Dadika also find ways to contribute any way they can.

For a while, Bishop Ahr appeared to be a contender with five wins in six games after an opening night loss to Carteret, but since then, the Trojans have come back down to earth with three straight losses including an overtime defeat at Metuchen, and double digit setbacks to division frontrunners Spotswood and Piscataway Tech. The BGA was hit hard by graduation with all but two players graduating last June. However, head coach Dennis O’Keefe has a solid sophomore class headed by Tom Weiler, and a couple transfers from St. Joseph’s including Owen McLeod. Mike Jensen, one of the two holdovers from last year, has a knack for getting to the basket while Greg Patuto provides some scoring from the perimeter. Senior guard, Tom Duffy has the ability to make plays and score.

Like Ahr, Middlesex had also been playing well for a stretch before suffering several setbacks. Although the Blue Jays are presently hovering around the .500 mark, they look to be more improved this year, especially with Rutgers Prep transfer, Austin Bardaji in the lineup. Prior to Bardaji getting into the rotation, the Jays had won 5 of its first seven games with the only two losses to division contenders Bishop Ahr and Piscataway Tech. Middlesex also defeated Dunellen in a crossover for the 2012 Shello/Santy Christmas Tournament Championship. However, the Jays have stumbled as of late with losses to divsion heavyweights Spotswood and P-Way Tech before falling at home to JFK.

Speaking of the Mustangs, Kennedy is starting to play better. After a 1-4 start the Stangs have split their last six with wins over Metuchen, South Plainfield, and Middlesex while losing to Spotswood, Piscataway Tech, and Point Pleasant Boro. JFK suffered close defeats to Warren Hills (54-47) and Mater Dei (51-47) over the holidays at the Gene Haley Tournament in Edison. Head coach, Chris Banos was hit hard by graduation as he lost his entire starting lineup from last year, but he is not making excuses and hopes his young bunch that includes Kyle Alvarez, Darrin Perez, Mike Weinstein, and Joe Duffy will continue to grow.

Metuchen has struggled in the early going this season, but second year head coach, Jon Korellis pretty much had figured that. He felt his team would start playing better come January. The Bulldogs have only won three games this season, but two of them included the overtime win over Bishop Ahr and a solid win over Group IV Howell of the Shore Conference. Metuchen also gave Piscataway Tech some trouble before falling in overtime (57-51) in the first full week of the season. Artie Flaherty Jr. is playing much like his dad did when he scored over 2,000 points to become the all time leading scorer at the school in the early to mid-1980s. Tom Chalker continues to grow at the point while Brian Eustace, Hunter Clarke, Frank McGuire, and Evan Collier have contributed well.

South Plainfield, which looked to be one of the favorite’s in the division entering the season, conntinues to go through some growing pains under second year head coach, Justin Chiera. The Tigers have lost a ton of close games including to Perth Amboy (48-39 OT), Middlesex (60-53), J.F. Kennedy (57-52), Bishop Ahr (64-57), and Carteret (55-50). Claude Payne has been the bright spot for the Tigers with a solid consistent effort in the paint this season. Justin Glover has also had some solid games while youngsters Jordan Hankerson and Jason Lee have come up from the JV to make key contributions. SPHS has come up with some wins over Metuchen and Highland Park over the last week. Hopefully, they can use the recent successes to turn things around.

Finally, we have Highland Park, which has talent with the likes of football standouts, Nadre Hepburn, Jordan Long, and David Webb, but the Owls have not been able to get it to translate into more victories. HPHS does have a couple recent wins over neighborhood rival Metuchen and South Amboy to hang its hat on.

GMC Hoops Floor Cam Highlights–South Plainfield @ Metuchen–JV Game–Blue Division

Here are floor cam highlights from the second and third quarters of a GMC Blue Division JV contest between South Plainfield and Metuchen at the Dawg Pound in early January 2013. The Junior Tigers had a 13-6 lead with six plus minutes to go in the first half when they went on an 8-2 run for a 21-8 lead. SPHS eventually led 25-10 at the half, and had a 36-14 lead after three periods en route to an easy win.

2012-13 GMC Boys Basketball Team Rosters

Now Have Rosters For All 31 GMC Teams

I’m still behind the eight ball on the rosters, but have made significant progress in the past couple days. Over the past two days, I’ve posted rosters from all the 31 schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference that play basketball. Below are the teams that we have rosters for.

2012-13 GMC Boys Basketball Rosters

• Bishop Ahr
• Cardinal McCarrick
• Carteret
• Colonia
• Dunellen
• East Brunswick
• East Brunswick Tech
• Edison
• Highland Park
• J.F. Kennedy
• J.P. Stevens
• Metuchen
• Middlesex
• Monroe
• New Brunswick
• North Brunswick
• Old Bridge
• Perth Amboy
• Perth Amboy Tech
• Piscataway
• Piscataway Tech
• Sayreville
• South Amboy
• South Brunswick
• South Plainfield
• South River
• Spotswood
• St. Joseph’s
• Timothy Christian
• Wardlaw
• Woodbridge

If you have a roster for your team that is not posted on the site, please e-mail me at gmachos@gmchoops.com.

GMC Hoops Highlights–December 26, 2012–Perth Amboy vs. South Plainfield–Cotoia Tournament

Here are video highlights from the second half and overtime of the opening round game between Perth Amboy and South Plainfield from the 2012 Anthony J. Cotoia Tournament at South Plainfield Middle School. Perth Amboy led 34-21 with 3:44 left in regulation before South Plainfield rallied with a 15-2 spurt including a three by Justin Glover, two treys by Jordan Hankerson, a traditional three point play from Claude Payne, and a putback by Jason Lee with 1:07 left in the fourth to tie the game at 36-36. However, in the extra session, Perth Amboy got two layups from Cairo Henry, and then went 8 of 9 at the foul line including 6 of 7 from Carlos Morales to come away with the 48-39 victory. Morales ended up with 12 points for the Panthers while David Rodgers led all scorers with 13 for Amboy. Henry chipped in with 11. Glover led South Plainfield with 12 points while Lee added 10, and Payne and Hankerson chipped in with 9 and 8 respectively.

GMC Hoops Floor Cam Highlights–December 26, 2012–Perth Amboy vs. South Plainfield–Cotoia Tourney

Here is a short video of some of the action from the second quarter of Perth Amboy’s overtime victory over South Plainfield in the opening round of the 2012 Anthony J. Cotoia Tourney at South Plainfield Middle School courtesy of the GMC Hoops Floor Cam. South Plainfield trailed 34-21 with 3:44 remaining when the Tigers went on a 15-2 run to end regulation to tie the game at 36-36, and force overtime. Jordan Hankerson connected on two threes, Justin Glover made another, and Claude Payne made a three point play, and got a putback with 1:07 left in the fourth to tie it. However, Cairo Henry scored twice to open the extra session for Amboy, and then the Panthers finished off the hard fought, 48-39 victory with 8 of 9 shooting from the line including 6 of 7 by Carlos Morales.

GMC Hoops Game Notes–Perth Amboy vs. South Plainfield–Cotoia Tournament–December 26, 2012

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–After taking a brief respite at home following the trip to Matawan to see Old Bridge play in the Huskies Christmas Classic, GMC Hoops traveled over to South Plainfield Middle School to take in the first round matchup from the 2012 Anthony J. Cotoia Tournament between Perth Amboy and the hometown Tigers of South Plainfield.

Amboy appeared poised to come away with a double-digit victory. With less than four minutes to go in the contest, the Panthers led 34-21 as South Plainfield’s offense floundered for only six points over a span of nearly two quarters after railing only 16-15 midway through the second. However, behind the three point shooting of Jordan Hankerson and Justin Glover, and the inside play of Claude Payne, the Tigers closed regulation with a 15-2 tear in the final 3:44 of the fourth to tie the game at 36-36 and force overtime.

In the extra session, Perth Amboy took control with two scores by Cairo Henry for a 40-36 lead, and then sealed the win by making 7 of 8 from the foul line in the final 2:30 including 6 of 7 from Cardinal McCarrick transfer, Carlos Morales. South Plainfield only got two points in overtime courtesy of a Payne basket that narrowed the deficit to 44-39 with 56.9 seconds left. The Panthers went on to win 48-39 to even their record at 3-3. South Plainfield drops to 0-3 with the loss. Amboy will face the winner of the Middletown South-J.P. Stevens game while South Plainfield will face the loser. Below are some notes from the contest.

First Quarter

2:00–arrive–PA leads 10-5.

1:41–SP–Jason Lee scores from left low block for a 10-7 PA lead.

59.3–PA–timeout.

28.7–SP–gets steal–leads to Justin Glover basket and a 10-9 PA lead.

4.9–PA–Cairo Henry basket and the foul for a three point play, and a 13-9 lead.

1.8–SP–traveling

0.0–PA–Marquis Irizarry–misses shot from left side as time runs out–PA leads 13-9.

Second Quarter

4:30–SP–after Amboy gets a three to open the period–South Plainfield scores six unanswered including four by Justin Glover and two by Jordan Hankerson for a 16-15 PA lead.

3:09–PA–David Rodgers throws down two handed jam for an 18-15 lead.

1:44–PA–Carlos Morales hits a three pointer from left wing for a 21-15 lead.

59.3–SP–Glover misses layup attempt.

45.0–PA–traveling.

28.3–PA–blocks shot

0.7–SP–Claude Payne draws charge.

0.0–SP–inbounds to Chris Mathis, who holds the ball to run out the clock for a PA 21-15 lead at the half.

Third Quarter

7:03–PA–Rodgers hits three pointer for a 24-15 lead.

6:34–PA–August Enriquez called for over the back–SP ball.

5:59–PA–knocks ball out of bounds–SP ball.

5:25–PA–Carlos Morales–fouled–makes 1 of 2 FTs for a 25-15 lead

5:10–SP–Lee–fouled–missed both FTs.

4:50–PA–August Enriquez fouled–makes 1 of 2 FTs for a 26-15 leadd

3:50–PA–Rodgers scores on putback for a 28-18 lead.

3:47–SP–timeout.

1:59–PA–Irizarry gets rebound, and scores on follow with reverse layin for a 30-18 lead.

1:15–PA–traveling.

Fourth Quarter

7:50–SP–Lee three pointer from left wing for a 30-21 PA lead

7:21–PA–timeout.

3:59–PA–Rodgers scores on layin off a nice feed for a 34-21 lead.

3:44–SP–Glover hits three from left baseline for a 34-24 PA lead.

3:37–PA–30 sec timeout.

3:22–SP–Glover–fouled–makes 1 of 2 FTs for a 34-25 PA leadg.

2:59–PA–Joshua Hernandez–layin for a 36-25 lead.

2:44–SP–Glover fouled down low–misses both FTs.

2:27–SP–Hankerson connects for three from left wing for a 36-28 PA lead.

2:00–SP–Payne–three  point play for a 36-31 PA lead.

1:52–SP–gets steal.

1:48–SP–timeout.

1:37–SP–Hankerson pulls up for three off the dribble for a 36-34 PA lead.

1:22–PA–Enriquez fouled–misses both FTs.

1:07–SP–Payne scores on putback for a 36-36 tie.

43.6–SP–30 sec timeout.

33.0–SP–Hankerson

14.5–PA–timeout.

1.6–PA–misses three from right corner–goes out of bounds off SP.

0.0–PA–Rodgers three attempt hits back iron.

Overtime

3:48–PA–Henry scores on layup from left low block for a 38-36 lead.

3:24–SP–loses ball out of bounds.

3:02–PA–Irizarry dishes to Henry for layup and a 40-36 lead.

2:55–SP–full timeout

2:41–SP–Glover–fouled–makes 1 of 2 FTs for a 40-37 PA lead.

2:30–PA–Morales–fouled–misses front end of one and one.

2:11–PA–Morales–fouled–makes both ends of the bonus for a 42-37 lead.

1:07–PA–Morales–fouled–makes both ends of bonus for a 44-37 lead.

1:04–SP–timeout after Morales almost gets a steal for PA.

56.9–SP–Payne gets shot to roll in for a 44-39 PA lead.

50.0–PA–Alejandro Hererra–fouled–makes both FTs for a 46-39 lead.

15.9–PA–Morales–fouled–makes both ends of bonus for a 48-39 lead.

7.3–SP–shot off the mark–goes out of bounds–PA ball

0.0–PA–runs out the clock.