Monroe Sports Center Summer High School Basketball League
4 Farrington Boulevard, Monre NJ 08831

-10 Games between June 17-Aug 1.
-Air Conditioned Gyms. Divider between courts.
-Certified Officials. No Cadets.
-Teams from the Shore, CVC, GMC, and Skyaland Conferences.
-Games Tuesdays/Thursdays with optional Mondays/Wednesdays. Even double headers.
-Scheduling done by hand so time/day requests accommodated.
-Play teams out of your conference and at the level you want.
-LAST YEAR SOLD OUT!

Contact Steve Mate (Spotswood) or Andrew Guy (Freehold)
Steve Mate Cell: 732-778-3381
SteveM@MonreSportsCenter.Com
Andrew Guy Cell: 908-839-5712
AndrewG@MonroeSportsCenter.Com
Work: 609-426-4000

St. Joe’s defense was simply stifling in the second half. Over the final two periods. AC’s shooting percentage dropped 15 percent. The Vikings went just 5 of 30 from the floor in the second half. 3 of 15 from the floor in the fourth quarter alone including misses on their last 10 shot attempts of the game. Atlantic City not only couldn’t get that clutch second half three that they had been able to get in the previous three rounds, but they couldn’t even buy one as it went 0 of 6 from beyond the arc in the final two periods. The result was the Falcons turning a two point halftime deficit into a 14 point, 63-49 win by outscoring the Vikings by nearly a two to one margin (34-18) over the final two periods.

The Falcons also overcame a double digit rebounding deficit at one point in the first half to have a 35-33 edge on the boards. St. Joe’s also committed fewer team fouls (15-17), and ended up shooting 25 of 51 from the field for 49 percent. Both teams ended up going 12 of 18 from the free throw line. The four time defending GMCT champion, didn’t shoot much better from three point range by only going 1 of 12, but the Falcons got a combined 54 points, or 86 percent of its scoring from the Big Three of Karl Towns (24 points), Wade Baldwin (15 points), and Marques Townes (15 points). Towns, who managed to avoid fouling out of the contest, connected on 10 of 16 shots while Townes clicked on 6 of 10 shooting for the winners.

St. Joe’s defense was simply stifling in the second half. Over the final two periods. AC’s shooting percentage dropped 15 percent. The Vikings went just 5 of 30 from the floor in the second half. 3 of 15 from the floor in the fourth quarter alone including misses on their last 10 shot attempts of the game. Atlantic City not only couldn’t get that clutch second half three that they had been able to get in the previous three rounds, but they couldn’t even buy one as it went 0 of 6 from beyond the arc in the final two periods. The result was the Falcons turning a two point halftime deficit into a 14 point, 63-49 win by outscoring the Vikings by nearly a two to one margin (34-18) over the final two periods.

The Falcons also overcame a double digit rebounding deficit at one point in the first half to have a 35-33 edge on the boards. St. Joe’s also committed fewer team fouls (15-17), and ended up shooting 25 of 51 from the field for 49 percent. Both teams ended up going 12 of 18 from the free throw line. The four time defending GMCT champion, didn’t shoot much better from three point range by only going 1 of 12, but the Falcons got a combined 54 points, or 86 percent of its scoring from the Big Three of Karl Towns (24 points), Wade Baldwin (15 points), and Marques Townes (15 points). Towns, who managed to avoid fouling out of the contest, connected on 10 of 16 shots while Townes clicked on 6 of 10 shooting for the winners.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ–Earlier this week, GMC Hoops was contacted by former Colonia hoops standout and 1,000 point scorer, Bobby Timinski with regards to offseason workouts being run at his facility, the Basketball Warehouse. Offseason workouts have begun this week, and will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays with track workouts taking place at Woodbridge High School on Saturdays. While the Basketball Warehouse strongly encourages all players to play as much AAU as possible…HOWEVER playing AAU is not an excuse to neglect your individual SKILLS, especially at the younger levels!!…your ballhandling, footwork, jump shot etc DO NOT improve in TEAM practices….you must put the work in on your own!!!! Below is the schedule for this week.

Tuesday, March 19th

6:00-7:00PM 3rd & 4th boys and girls- INCLUDES 4, 5 and 6 YEAR OLDS!!!
7:00-8:00PM 5th-8th boys and girls
8:00-9:00PM High School boys and girls

Thursday, March 21st

6:00-7:00PM 3rd & 4th boys and girls- INCLUDES 4, 5 and 6 YEAR OLDS!!!
7:00-8:00PM 5th-8th boys and girls
8:00-9:00PM High School boys and girls

Saturday, March 23rd

7:00AM- 8:00AM TRACK WORKOUT All Ages- Woodbridge High School -25 Samuel Lupo Pl, Woodbridge, NJ
Please note workouts will last no longer than 60 minutes and probably less for the younger or less conditioned.

THERE IS A $10 FEE FOR EVERY BASKETBALL AND TRACK WORKOUT

Follow the Basketball Warehouse on Twitter for the lastest schedule updates Basketball Warehouse @bballwarehous

www.basketballwarehouse.net

NEPTUNE, NJ–With the final games of the 2013 Tournament of Champions being played, our focus begins to turn toward the 2013-14 season, and that means Spring League basketball. In addition to the Kean Spring League, which is scheduled to start near the end of April, the Hoop Group Headquarters will also be running a Spring League starting the second Monday in April.

According to the flyer posted on the league at HoopGroup.com, eight games will be guaranteed for each team with league play starting on April 8th. Game times are at 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 PM. The league will feature top tier competition from around the state, and have certified officials for all games. All contests will be played on four NBA replica hardwood courts at the Hoop Group Headquarters.

At least one team from the GMC has participated in this league for the past six years. Cost for the league is $750.00. For more information, please contact: Darren Cohen @ 732-897-3196 or dcohen@hoopgroup.com.

TRENTON, NJ–One of the keys to Tuesday night’s Championship Game in the 2013 Tournament of Champions at Sun National Bank Center was which team’s big three was going to play well. For top seeded Roselle Catholic, the big three of Malachi Richardson, Tyler Roberson, and Hakim Saintil proved to be too much for second seeded St. Joseph’s.

Spurred by a game high 22 points including five three pointers by Richardson, and another 19 points by Syracuse bound Roberson, the Lions big three combined to outscore St. Joe’s big three by a margin of 49-37, and that helped Roselle Catholic emerge from this heavyweight fight with a 65-49 victory, and its first ever T of C title. St. Joseph’s was also making its first finals appearance.

Richardson had 13 points and three of his treys in the first half. Two of them came during a key 15-2 run that bridged the end of the first period with the end of the second as Roselle Catholic turned a 8-6 deficit into a 21-10 lead en route to a 26-16 edge at the intermission. After giving up the first two points of the second half, St. Joseph’s made its biggest run of the game by scoring 11 straight points including the last five by Marques Townes on two acrobatic layups including one that resulted in a three point play that closed the gap to 28-27.

Despite a number of subsequent opportunities over the next few minutes, the Falcons were unable to tie or take the lead. Meanwhile, Roselle Catholic began to pull away by the end of the third as Richardson struck again for two more threes that grew the Lions lead to seven at 42-35 heading into the fourth. St. Joe’s got no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Lions were able to spread the floor, get to the foul line, and make easy layups to pull away for the victory.

For the game, St. Joseph’s only shot 20 of 56 overall for 36 percent including just 3 of 19 from long distance. Roselle Catholic on the other hand, connected on 23 of 47 shots for 49 percent including 5 of 13 from beyond the arc. Both teams shot well at the line, but the Lions get there more often and went 14 of 16 for 87. 5 percent while Joes was only 6 of 7 for 85.7 percent. The Falcons actually enjoyed a 31-27 overall rebounding edge, and had fewer fouls most of the game before having to foul, and RC ended up getting the edge there, 12 to 14. Another key to the game was which team would dictate tempo, and Roselle Catholic was able to control things from that aspect.

The Lions didn’t allow the Falcons to get into transition very often, and made the GMC school work from sets in the half court. RC also took advantage of missed Falcon shots by getting out on the break as well for easy buckets. Roselle Catholic did a solid job containing Kentucky bound big man Karl Towns. The Lions got a solid and physical effort from big man Chris Silva before he left the game in the third, and Roberson helped clean up by swatting away a couple of Towns’ shots down low. The Falcons big man, who managed to stay out of foul trouble, was forced to take shot attempts away from the basket, and rushed into shots, and wasn’t able to get off a good shot, particularly from the perimeter. Towns didn’t get his first points until the 7:05 mark of the third quarter, and ended up with just seven for the game even though that still helped him get over 1,000 for his career.

Silva and Roberson had plenty of help too as Roselle Catholic’s defense played off other Falcon players to focus on Towns. James Ziemba had a few more open looks than usual, and took advantage in the first period with four points, but only had two more the rest of the way. Raven Owen had some good looks as well, especially from beyond the arc, but wasn’t able to get any of them to fall. Roselle Catholic had seven different players get into the scorebook with four of those players getting at least eight points. St. Joe’s had six players score with only two having eight points or more. Richardson and Roberson combined to shoot 13 of 24 from the field.

One bright spot for the Falcons was Townes, who ended up with a team high 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor including two threes. The junior guard scored 13 of those points including both threes in the second half. Wade Baldwin chipped in with 13 points. Hakim Saintil and freshman Asante Gist each added 8 in a winning cause for Roselle Catholic. With the victory, Roselle Catholic finished the season at 25-5 while St. Joseph’s, which had its 13 game winning streak snapped, closed out its season at 27-5.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Even though the usual finalists such as St. Anthony’s or St. Patrick’s are not in this year’s final, it still should be quite a game when top seeded Roselle Catholic faces off against second seeded St. Joseph’s in the Championship Game of the 2013 Tournament of Champions at Sun National Bank Center in Trenton on Tuesday night.

The Falcons made history on Friday night when it defeated third seeded Atlantic City in the T of C semifinals at Monmouth University.  Not only did St. Joseph’s become the first GMC team to win a game in the T of C since Piscataway defeated Middle Township in the opening round of the 1994 T of C at Rutgers, but it also became the  first school from the conference to play in the final.  St. Joe’s is also making its second straight appearance in the T of C, which no GMC team has ever done before either.

Roselle Catholic is also making its first appearance in the T of C final.  The Lions had not won a state title since the 1962-63 season.  RCHS defeated St. Anthony’s in the Non-Public B State Championship, and then defeated fifth seeded Newark Tech in its semifinal matchup.  The Lions are the third team from the Union County Conference to play in the T of C final.  The last two seasons, Plainfield had represented the conference in the championship only to lose to St. Anthony’s.  The Cardinals defeated St. Joe’s in last year’s semifinal (72-48) en route to that finals berth.

Both teams have had common opponents this season in East Brunswick and  the Patrick School.  St. Joe’s played EB three times, and lost the first two meetings before edging the Bears in a double overtime thriller of a GMCT final (66-63).  The Falcons also played the Patrick School in the finale of the Butch Kowal Scholarship Games at Rahway High School back in the first Saturday of February, and lost 72-65, but they didn’t have the services of big man Karl Towns for that one.  Towns also fouled out in the first overtime against EB in the GMCT Championship.  Those two games did a lot for St. Joe’s in the sense that the Falcons found out a lot about themselves, and learned that they could still be somewhat successful without Towns on the floor.  The two contests did a lot in bringing the team together.

Roselle Catholic played and defeated the Patrick School three times this season including the most recent encounter in the Non-Public B South sectional championship at Jackson Liberty some two weeks ago.  The Lions also played East Brunswick in a revamped schedule at the Primetime Shootout back during the second weekend of February.  RC edged EB in a very competitive game.  Both teams also played in tough out of state holiday tournaments, and out of state foes.  St. Joe’s competed in the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational were it defeated previously unbeaten Broughton of Raleigh, North Carolina, and then lost to DeSoto of Texas in the final.  Roselle Catholic played in the Jameer Nelson Classic where it defeated LaSalle College of Philadelphia and Friends Central.  St. Joe’s played in the Nelson Classic tourney last year.  

The Lions also played Montverde Academy out of Florida, and coached by former St. Patrick’s head coach, Kevin Boyle in the Hoops for Troops showcase at Roselle Catholic at the very beginning of 2013.  The Falcons have also played tough foes including St. Augustine Prep, Paul VI, St. Peter’s Prep twice, and Phelps School of Pennsylvania.  Both teams feature two solid big men in their frontcourt.  One known to put up big numbers offensively while the other plays great defense and rebounds.  For St. Joe’s it is the combination of Karl Towns and James Ziemba while Roselle Catholic has the tandem of Tyler Roberson and Chris Silva.  Towns is averaging 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks per game for the Falcons while Ziemba has piled up big numbers on the boards along with providing great hustle and defense.  Roberson leads Roselle Catholic with 17 points and 11 rebounds per game while Silva chips in with solid shot blocking and rebounding.

Each team has two dynamic guards with St. Joe’s having 1,000 point scorers Wade Baldwin (16.3 ppg) and Marques Townes (14.4 ppg) while Roselle Catholic has the duo of Hakim Saintil (14.2 ppg), and Trenton Catholic transfer, Malachi Richardson (15 ppg).  Both teams also have solid supporting casts with the Falcons having starting point guard Jimbo Long, who along with  Ziemba have won over 100 games in their four years on the varsity roster along with reserves Raven Owen, Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Brunson, and Sean Finan.  Roselle Catholic’s supporting cast consists of freshman starting guard, Asante Gist and reserves Matt Bullock, Kory Highsmith, and Rob Lewis.  Both teams are quite comfortable in both the half court, and in transition.  One key will be which team is able to dictate tempo.

Another key will be which team’s Big Three will be more effective.  Will it be St. Joe’s trio of Towns, Baldwin, and Townes, or will it be Roselle Catholic’s triumvirate of Roberson, Saintil, and Richardson.   Which supporting cast player will make his impact felt?  In the games on Friday, James Ziemba made a couple key hustle plays early in the fourth quarter to help the Falcons hang on to a tenuous lead, and then pull away from Atlantic City while Kory Highsmith sank three treys in the Lions huge second quarter to put away Newark Tech.  Can both teams stay out of foul trouble?  If not, which team will be able to manage it the best.  Finally, which team will be able to take care of the basketball for the team that does will likely be able to dictate tempo, and have an upper hand.