GMC Hoops Blogosphere

Piscataway’s Newsome Playing Hoops At Division II Lincoln

Already Started In Four Of Nine Games For Lions As Sophomore

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA–Besides Jeff Adkins, another standout player from the Piscataway teams of 2007, 2008, and 2009, is also making an impact at the Division II college hoops level. Wayne Newsome, who played four years at Piscataway, is now playing college ball for the Lincoln Lions of the CIAA after playing a year at Harcum Junior College.

A sophomore at Lincoln, Newsome has played in all 9 of the Lions games including four starts, and is averaging 13.1 minutes, 2.2 points, and 2.3 rebounds per game. Newsome, a GMC Hoops Player of the Week Award winner for the opening weekend of the 2009-10 season, has connected on 7 of 14 shots from the field and 6 of 9 from the foul line. So far this season, Lincoln is 7-2 overall with the conference schedule coming up. HIs top performances so far this season were against Northern Michigan (5 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist) on November 24th and Bloomsburg (4 points and 5 rebounds) on November 28th.

Prior to that, at Harcum, Newsome played in 32 games as a freshman, an averaged 6.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the floor and 58 percent at the line. Some notable games from that season, Newsome scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in a win over Salem Community College on Decmeber 8, 2011, and Globe Institute of Technology where he tallied 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists on February 2, 2012. Harcum was 26-6 last season.

Piscataway’s Adkins Doing Well At Division II New Haven

Former Chief Standout Guard Fourth On Chargers In Scoring

NEW HAVEN, CT–Things have been looking up for former Piscataway hoops standout, Jeff Adkins, who now starts for Division II New Haven of the Northeast-10 conference. The 5′10″ junior guard has played and started in all nine of the Chargers games. In those nine games, he has averaged 35.7 minutes, 12.6 points, 3.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game while sinking 80 percent at the line (40 of 50).

Prior to that at New Haven, Adkins started in all 28 of the Chargers games as a sophomore, and led the team with a 3.2 assists per game average while placing second on the team with a 1.2 steals per game average and over 50 percent shooting. In 2011-12, he tallied an average of 27.6 minutes, 10.2 points, and 3.0 rebounds per game as well. Two years ago, Adkins played in all 26 games for New Haven as a freshman including 18 starts, and averaged 25.5 minutes, 5.9 points, 2.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per contest while connecting on nearly 52 percent of his shots from the floor.

A member of the 2007-08 Piscataway Chiefs that made a tremendous state tournament run that included victories over Watchung Hills, Union, Linden for the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV championship, and then Paterson Eastside in the state semifinal was junior guard, and son of then P-Way assistant coach, and later JV coach Jeff Adkins, Sr., the younger Adkins did make some timely contributions to that team such as a three pointer in the first half of the win over Watchung Hills, but playing behind the backcourt tandem of James White and Bryan Waluk, Adkins didn’t really get a chance to shine until his senior year.

In 2008-09, Adkins helped lead P-Way to its second GMCT title in three years under then head coach, Guy Jensen. Piscataway also ended up in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV final again before losing to Plainfield. After the season ended, Adkins made a great impression on many with his efforts in the 2009 GMCBCA Senior All-Star Game, where he was the MVP. He also was selected third team all conference. This season, New Haven is off to a 4-5 start after going 15-13 last season including a (10-12) mark in conference, and 8-18 in 2010-11 including a 6-16 record in league play.

Kean Men’s Hoops Continue To Have GMC Look

Five Former GMC Players On Roster Including Two Current Starters

UNION, NJ–After starting the season at 0-5, the Kean Cougars have won three of four with the only loss coming on Saturday to Delaware Valley College of the MAC (94-57).  All three wins came against foes from the New Jersey Athletic Confernce including Rowan, which entered the contest at 6-1, New Jersey City State University, and William Paterson University.  The Cougars are now 3-6 overall including a 3-3 mark in conference play.  Contributing to Kean’s recent success has been the stable of former GMC standouts at the school.

This season, Kean sports five former boys hoops players from the Greater Middlesex Conference including two current starters in South Plainfield’s Mike Burton and Spotswood’s Tommy Soulias.  So far this season, Burton has played and started in all nine games.  The former 1,000 point scorer at SPHS is averaging 34.4 minutes, 17.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and a steal per game.  He is shooting 43 percent overall from the floor including 39 percent from three while making 13 of 17 free throws.  Prior to today, Burton had team high in scoring in all eight of Kean’s previous games.  Meanwhile, Soulias has been recently inserted into the starting lineup, and has made an instant impact.

So far this season, Soulias, another 1,000 point scorer from Spotswood, has played in 6 games including 5 starts.  The former Charger is averaging 13.3 minutes, 7.0 points, and 1.7 rebounds per game.  He has made 14 of 33 shots from the floor for 42 percent including 11 of 29 from long range for 38 percent.  More recently though, Soulias has started in each of the last six games, and scored in double figures in two of Kean’s three victories.  In Saturday’s loss at Delaware Valley College, Soulias had a team high seven points.

Three other players on Kean played hoops in the GMC including Kenny Pace (Monroe), Xavier Fuller (Carteret), and Tramane Miller (South Plainfield).  Fuller has played in all eight games for the Cougars including one start, and is averaging 2.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest.  Kean will be off for the next couple weeks for the holidays before resuming play in the new year at Moravian in the Greyhounds Classic on January 2nd and 3rd.

GMC Hoops College Basketball Highlights–December 11, 2012–Sussex C.C. @ Middlesex C.C.

Here are video highlights from the second half of the Region 19/GSAC JUCO contest between Sussex County Community College and Middlesex County College. After falling behind by a score of 52-51 thanks to a 7-0 run by the visitors from Northwest Jersey, the Colts of MCC finished the game with a 29-20 surge as Perth Amboy hoops standout, Anthony Patterson led the way while others such as Piscataway Tech’s Tafari Kerr and Brian Knoth of Old Bridge also contributed.

GMC Hoops College Basketball Highlights–December 5, 2012–Drew @ FDU-Florham–Seat Cam

Here are some video highlights courtesy of the GMC Hoops seat cam of a Division III contest between crosstown rivals, Drew and FDU-Florham at the Ferguson Recreation Center on the campus of FDU-Florham in Madison. Drew had a 75-67 lead with 21.5 seconds to go before the Devils tied it with a 9-1 run including threes by Mike Williamson, Trevor Sykes and Kevin Furlong at the buzzer to tie it at 76-76. FDU-Florham went on to win the game in overtime by a final score of 86-80.

GMC Hoops College Basketball Highlights–December 6, 2012–Lackawanna @ RVCC–Floor Cam

Here are some highlights caught with the GMC Hoops floor cam of the Region 19 JUCO contest between Lackawanna College and Raritan Valley Community College in early December 2012. Trailing by a score of 75-63 with less than four minutes to go, the RVCC Lions led by former J.P. Stevens standout, Marvin Crawford, rallied with a 12-1 tear to pull within a point with less than a minute to go, but the Lackawanna Falcons held on for a 79-75 victory.

DeCosey Already Contributing At Temple

Recent St. Joe’s Graduate Bright Spot In Loss To Duke

PHILADELPHIA, PA–It didn’t take long for former St. Joseph’s standout, Quenton DeCosey to make an impact at his new home, Temple University.  The second leading scorer on the all time list for the Falcons made a big splash over the weekend in the Owls 90-67 loss to national power Duke University at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands.  

In the loss to the Blue Devils, DeCosey was the leading scorer with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the floor including a perfect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.  He also tallied three rebounds and an assist in 18 minutes playing time, the most action he has seen all year so far.  Through seven games, DeCosey has played in all of Temple’s contests with no starts.  Although he has only averaged 7.6 minutes per game, DeCosey has been very productive averaging 4.6 points per contest.    He has connected on 13 of his 22 shots from the floor including 6 of 10 from long distance while also averaging a rebound per contest.

Temple suffered its first loss of the year with the defeat, and is 6-1 overall.  The Owls had gone 6-0 for the first time since 1987-88 season when Mark Macon played at the school.  Upcoming matchups include a December 12th contest against Mike Burwell (Cardinal McCarrick) and Towson University at the Liacouras Center.

GMC Hoops–Class Of 2012–Where Are They Now?

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Over the past several weeks, GMC Hoops has been compiling a list of the Class of 2012 GMC Boys Basketball players, and what they are doing now.  Below is what I have so far.

• Joey Ross (East Brunswick)—Ithaca
• Ahmid Williams (Monroe and Cardinal McCarrick)—St. Benedict’s Prep (Post-Grad) 

• Danny Brix (Monroe and St. Joseph’s)—Stonehill University 

• Quenton DeCosey (St. Joseph’s)—Temple University 

• Dion Rogers (North Brunswick)—Essex County College 

• Marvin Crawford (J.P. Stevens)—Raritan Valley Community College 

• Thaddeus Dalton (Piscataway)—Raritan Valley Community College 

• David White (Piscataway)—Raritan Valley Community College 

• Kristian Svendsen (Timothy Christian)—Raritan Valley Community College 

• Dan Decker (Timothy Christian)—Baptist Bible College 

• Kyle Pearson (Woodbridge)—FDU 

• Kyle Anderson (Woodbridge)—TCNJ (football) 

• Isaiah Velez (Old Bridge)—Brookdale College 

• Tajae Sharpe (Piscataway)—UMass (football) 

• Greg Davis (Piscataway)—South Kent Prep (CT) 

• Temi Adebayo (Piscataway)—Wesley College (football) 

• Vik Singh (Piscataway)—Rutgers-Newark 

• Jordan McDaniel (Colonia)—Chestnut Hill College 

• Greg Jones (Colonia)—East Stroudsburg University (football) 

• Dillon Salva (Bishop Ahr)—Kean (football) 

• Roger Kilgore (Bishop Ahr)—Yale (football) 

• Kenny Virden (Bishop Ahr)—Wesley College (football) 

• Bryant Webb (Sayreville)—Middlesex County College 

• Malcolm Batts (Perth Amboy Tech)—Middlesex County College 

• Tafari Kerr (Piscataway Tech)—Middlesex County College 

• Rashad Adams (Perth Amboy Tech)—Albright College (football) 

• Jumanne McDaniel (Cardinal McCarrick)—Community College of Beaver County (PA) 

• Keith Hughes (Woodbridge)—Robinson School 

• Galen Smith (Piscataway Tech)—Robinson School 

• Samaad Thomas (New Brunswick)—Robinson School 

• Tom Soulias (Spotswood)—Kean University 

• Mike Summerer (East Brunswick)—Kean University 

• Milton Pittman (New Brunswick)—New Jersey City University 

• Victor Sorrento (Monroe)—Sacred Heart (Baseball)

If there is anyone that I left out, I apologize, and am willing to add his name to the list if you have info.

GMC Hoops Slideshow–Lackawanna C.C. @ Raritan Valley C.C.

Here are some photos and video captures from a Region 19 JUCO contest between Lackawanna Community College and Raritan Valley Community College at RVCC in early December 2012. The two teams went back and forth throughout much of the contest until Lackawanna went on an 18-6 tear over a span of 9:14 to take a 75-63 lead with 4:50 remaining. Raritan Valley behind the efforts of former J.P. Stevens standout, Marvin Crawford, rallied with a 12-1 spurt over the final three minutes to pull within one wtih less than a minute remaining, but couldn’t get closer in a 79-75 loss.

Rennard Stepping Into Rotation At Penn

Former St. Joe’s Standout Seeing Action With Quakers

PHILADELPHIA, PA–With former Colonia and St. Benedict’s standout, Zach Rosen graduated and playing professional ball in Israel, others have had to step up to fill the void. Steve Rennard, a former 1,000 point scorer at St. Joseph’s, is one of the returning players trying to fill those big shoes for the Quakers. Rennard, now a junior, has played in all eight games for Penn including seven starts, and is averaging just under 20 minutes per game.

In the action that he has seen so far this season, Rennard is averaging 3.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.2. The junior is shooting 41 percent overall from the floor including 31 percent from beyond the arc while making 71 percent from the foul line. High game so far this season for Rennard was 8 points in the opener against UMBC, which was an 80-75 victory. He also had 5 points a couple times including a 70-68 loss to Fordham in which he also tallied three rebounds.

Penn has struggled a bit this season by losing six of its first eight games. The Quakers had lost five in a row after winning its opener before defeating Binghamton on November 28th. Penn recently lost on the road to Penn State by the score of 58-47. It gets tougher for the Quakers as well with a game against Villanova on Saturday night. The game will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network starting at 8:00 PM.