SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–The summer league season began this past week, and the South Plainfield boys basketball team began its journey to the 2011-12 season with a couple of small steps. The Tigers competed last weekend at the Rutgers University Scarlet Shootout, and then opened its summer league schedule with two games at the Rahway Summer League this past week.

At the Scarlet Shootout, the Tigers were without returning starter, Claude Payne, and then lost soon to be sophomore, Jordan Lackey to an injury in a 30 point loss to Raritan. The Tigers did rebound to roll past Academy Charter by 30, and played well against Notre Dame of Lawrenceville for a half before going down. SPHS then lost to a squad called the Pied Pipers by 10. South Plainfield went 1-3 over the two days of action.

Meanwhile, at Rahway, the Tigers lost both of their games in the opening week of the Rahway Summer League. On Tuesday, South Plainfield took on Edison, and trailed at one point by 12 points before playing much better in the second half to pull within one at 36-35 before losing by the score of 39-35. On Thursday night, SPHS had a difficult time putting the ball in the basket throughout the contest against J.P. Stevens as it trailed at the half by a 28-8 score. The Tigers held the Hawks to just 10 points in the second half, but only had 12 themselves in a 38-20 loss.

South Plainfield has some talent, but a number of the players are still learning what it is like to play basketball at the varsity level. Playing in the Kean Spring League as well as the Rahway Summer League and Scarlet Shootout this summer will go a long way beyond wins and losses to prepare the Tigers for the upcoming 2011-12 boys basketball season.

Several Team Camps Kickoff Season In Two Weeks

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On this first day of the unofficial start to summer around the Garden State, thoughts begin to creep in that the summer league season is swiftly approaching. In a little more than two weeks, the first of a number of team camps will be taking place with the third annual Scarlet Shootout at Rutgers University.

The following week, there will be two camps taking place. The second annual Montgomery Team Camp as well as the Linden Team Camp will be getting underway on Monday, June 13th, and running until Thursday, June 16th. During that same week, the Bound Brook Summer League will begin play with games on Tuesday, June 14th as well as Thursday, June 16th. The week after that, the Middlesex County College Summer League opens play with games on Tuesday, June 21st, and Thursday, June 23rd. Rutgers is scheduled to have an Overnight Team Camp take place from Friday, June 24th to Sunday, June 26th.

In addition, William Paterson College will be running a team camp during the week of June 20-23. Before all of this activity takes place, there is the Raritan Bay Summer League, which will start its second week of play on Tuesday after Memorial Day. The schedule for week three indicates that there will be games played from 5:00 to 10:00 PM at night at South Amboy Middle/High School. Summer is usually a very busy time of year for GMC Hoops. The site sees a great deal of team camps, summer leagues, and showcases during this period.

Already, the web site has seen and covered two spring leagues, and plans to be at the Raritan Bay Summer league next week.

The Monroe Falcons went 3-1 in the four games that they played. MTHS defeated Westwood in the opening round (81-45), lost to Rutgers Prep (62-56), beat Paterson Eastside in the consolation, and outlasted Mendham in triple overtime (62-61). The Purple Birds had a solid effort over the led by juniors Danny Brix (14 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, and 2.7 assists per game), Ahmid Williams (12.8 points per game and 3.5 assists per game), and Ryan Genevieve (10.5 points per game). Seniors Mike Walp (7.3 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game) and Mike Mahmoud (5.8 points per game and 2.3 assists per game) chipped in as well.

Junior Victor Sorrento, who played with a lot of hustle in the Montgomery Team Camp scrapped for 5.5 points per game, and 4.3 rebounds per game while newcomer Dillon Salva, a transfer from North Brunswick, contributed with 6.3 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per contest. Soon to be sophomore, Ryan Stolte helped out off the bench with 1.3 points per game over the four days. Monroe was nearly 50 percent from three point range alone by going 26 of 57 from beyond the arc for 46 percent. The Purple Birds averaged 65.5 points per contest in the four games played over the two days at Rutgers. Meanwhile, GMC White rival, North Brunswick went 4-2 over the two days as the Raiders did well in the consolation tournament after losing to Hillsborough in the opening round on Saturday.

NBTHS defeated Coolidge from the Washington D.C. area, Morris Hills, New Brunswick, and Trenton Central before losing to Middletown of New York. The Raiders actually reached the final of the consolation tourney before losing. Colonia won its opening round game against Bridgewater-Raritan by 18 points, and then advanced to the quarterfinals by knocking off Paterson Eastside by 9 points. In the Elite Eight game, Colonia had a seven point lead late in the first half against Rutgers Prep before soon to be senior Dave Cole injured his knee. The Argonauts took advantage by outscoring the Patriots by 15 the rest of the way to win by eight. Then, in the consolation game against Raritan, which defeated Piscataway in the opening round, C.J. Gray suffered an injury to his ankle. Both Gray and Cole sat out the rest of the event.

Bishop Ahr competed well in the shootout. In five games, the Trojans went 2-3 with an overtime loss to Bloomfield Tech, and a defeat to Trenton Central while defeating the likes of Medford Tech and Indian Hills. New Brunswick only went 1-4 with a defeat to Morris Hills in the opening round before defeating Medford Tech in the second round. The Zebras would lose their final three games including a defeat to White Division rival, North Brunswick. Piscataway lost two of three games including the opening round defeat to Raritan of Hazlet. The Chiefs also lost to Middletown of New York after defeating Matawan in the opening round. Special thanks to coaches Bob Turco of Monroe, Chris Chiera of Colonia, Dennis O’Keefe of Bishop Ahr, Antoine Allen of New Brunswick, and Eddie Breheney of North Brunswick as well as Dennis Gregory for providing all of the info on this event.

Here is how some of the GMC teams did:

Monroe (3-1)

• Beat Westwood, 81-45
• Lost to Rutgers Prep, 62-56
• Beat Paterson Eastside, 57-31
• Beat Mendham, 62-61 3OT

North Brunswick (4-2)

• Lost to Hillsborough
• Defeated Coolidge (DC)
• Defeated Morris Hills
• Defeated New Brunswick
• Defeated Trenton Central
• Lost to Middletown (NY)

New Brunswick (1-4)

• Lost to Morris Hills
• Defeated Medford Tech
• Lost to North Brunswick
• Lost to Asbury Park
• Lost

Piscataway (1-2)

• Lost to Raritan
• Defeated Matawan
• Lost to Middletown (NY)

Colonia (2-1)

• Defeated Bridgewater-Raritan
• Defeated Paterson Eastside
• Lost to Rutgers Prep

Bishop Ahr (2-3)

• Lost to Bloomfield Tech in OT
• Lost to Trenton Central
• Beat Indian Hills
• Beat Medford Tech

Now, here are all the results from the Championship and Consolation brackets:

Championship Tournament–Opening Round

• Rutgers Prep over Roselle Catholic
• Monroe over Westwood
• Paterson Eastside over Franklin
• Colonia over Bridgewater-Raritan
• Raritan over Piscataway
• Immaculata over Matawan
• Mendham over Indian Hills
• Union over Middletown (NY)
• Bloomfield Tech over Bishop Ahr
• Hillhouse (CT) over Trenton Central
• Imhotep (PA) over Asbury Park
• Ridge over Medford Tech
• Morris Hills over New Brunswick
• Coolidge (DC) got a bye
• Hillsborough over New Brunswick

Championship Tournament–Second Round

• Rutgers Prep over Monroe
• Colonia over Paterson Eastside
• Raritan over Immaculata
• Union over Mendham
• Hillhouse (CT) over Bloomfield Tech
• Imhotep (PA) got a bye
• Ridge over Morris Hills
• Hillsborough over Coolidge (DC)

Championship Tournament–Quarterfinals

• Rutgers Prep over Colonia
• Union over Raritan
• Imhotep (PA) over Hillhouse (CT)
• Hillsborough over Ridge

Championship Tournament–Semifinals

• Union over Rutgers Prep
• Imhotep (PA) over Hillsborough

Championship Tournament–Finals

• Union vs. Imhotep (PA)

Consolation Tournament–Opening Round

• Roselle Catholic over Westwood
• Franklin over Bridgewater-Raritan
• Piscataway over Matawan
• Middletown (NY) over Indian Hills
• Trenton Central over Bishop Ahr
• Asbury Park got a bye
• New Brunswick over Medford Tech
• North Brunswick got a bye

Consolation Tournament–Quarterfinals

• Roselle Catholic over Franklin
• Middletown (NY) over Piscataway
• Trenton Central over Asbury Park
• North Brunswick over New Brunswick

Consolation Tournament–Semifinals

• Middletown (NY) over Roselle Catholic
• North Brunswick over Trenton Central

Consolation Tournament–Championship

• Middletown (NY) over North Brunswick

Special thanks to Dennis Gregory of Rutgers as well as Bob Turco of Monroe, Ed Breheney of North Brunswick, and Antoine Allen of New Brunswick for these results.

• Colonia vs. Monroe–Game #2–June 12th @ 9:00 AM–Court #2
• Piscataway vs. Raritan–Game #5–June 12th @ 10:15 AM–Court #1
• Bishop Ahr vs. Bloomfield Tech–Game #17–June 12th @ 1:45 PM–Court #1
• Woodbridge vs. Linden–Game #20–June 12th @ 1:45 PM–Court #4
• New Brunswick vs. Morris Hills–Game #22–June 12th @ 3:00 PM–Court #2
• North Brunswick vs. Hillsborough–Game #24–June 12th @ 3:00 PM–Court #4

Special thanks to Monroe boys basketball head coach, Bob Turco for all the info. GMC Hoops will try to get info from the folks at Rutgers over the course of this weekend.

• Greater Middlesex Conference
• Skyland Conference
• Shore Conference
• Colonial Valley Conference
• Burlington County Scholastic League
• Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference
• Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference
• Super Essex Conference
• Patriot Conference
• DCIAA
• Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association
• New York Section 1 Conference 2
• Southern Connecticut League

GMC Hoops plans to cover this league as much as possible this summer. However, there are always a lot of different leagues and time is limited.

• Asbury Park
• Bishop Ahr
• Bloomfield Tech
• Bridgewater-Raritan
• Colonia
• Coolidge (DC)
• Franklin
• Hanover Park
• Hillhouse (CT)
• Hillsborough
• Immaculata
• Imotep (PA)
• Indian Hills
• Linden
• Medford Tech
• Mendham
• Middletown (NY)
• Monroe
• Morris Hills
• New Brunswick
• New Rochelle (NY)
• North Brunswick
• Paterson Eastside
• Piscataway
• Raritan
• Ridge
• Roselle Catholic
• Rutgers Prep
• Trenton Central
• Union
• Westwood
• Woodbridge

GMC Hoops may not be able to get out to any of the action for this event due to his work schedule, but will try to get results from the folks at Rutgers.

Scarlet Shootout–Elite Eight

• Paterson-Eastside defeated Rutherford
• Trenton Central defeated American Heritage (FL)
• Ridge defeated Middletown (NY)
• Linden defeated Monroe

Scarlet Shootout–Final Four

• Paterson-Eastside defeated Trenton Central
• Ridge defeated Linden

Scarlet Shootout–Championship

• Paterson Eastside 52 - Ridge 41

GMC Hoops thanks Matt Bloom for getting us these results.

• New Brunswick vs. Roselle Catholic–Game #2–June 13th @ 9:00 AM–Court #2
• Woodbridge vs. Point Pleasant Beach–Game #3–June 13th @ 9:00 AM–Court #3
• South Plainfield vs. Trenton Central–Game #8–June 13th @ 10:15 AM–Court #4
• Bishop Ahr vs. Mendham–Game #19–June 13th @ 1:45 PM–Court #3
• Monroe vs. Indian Hills–Game #21–June 13th @ 3:00 PM–Court #1

GMC Hoops will try to get info from the folks at Rutgers over the course of this weekend.