GMC Hoops Blogosphere

Rutgers Team Camp–June 28, 2008

PISCATAWAY, NJ–Despite working some overtime himself on Saturday, GMC Hoops managed to get out to the Rutgers Athletic Center, and check out the final round of games in night two of the three day Rutgers Team Camp. Four teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference were competing in this camp, which had a total of 44 teams from 35 different schools. Teams played a total of ten games over the three days. The only team from the GMC that was in action during the 9:15 PM hour was Sayreville.

For a while, the Bombers seemed entangled in a difficult struggle with Lenape Valley, but after only leading by six at 32-26 with 14:13 to play, Sayreville embarked on a decisive 13-0 tear over a 5:56 span that summed up the 30-13 showing by the GMC school in the second half, and won the game, 55-33. Arriving with about 17 minutes to go in the game, GMC Hoops saw Sayreville out in front by a score of 27-22 after leading at the half, 25-20. Neither team would score for a bit more than the first minute after the site’s arrival, but then Lenape Valley got on the scoreboard with a nice acrobatic move for a layup from the left side that made the score, 27-24 with 15:54 left. The Bombers then reeled off the next five points as Paul DeLaCosta came up with a three point play at the 15:05 mark for a 30-24 lead, and then Rob Pizzi netted a jumper from near the top of the key for a 32-24 lead.

Lenape Valley then got a steal, and drove in for a layup to cut the deficit to six again at 32-26 with a little over 14 minutes to go, but that would be as close as it would get for the rest of the contest. Pizzi then sparked the key run with a steal and an assist on a DeLaCosta layup that made the score, 34-26 with 13:24 to go in the game. DeLaCosta himself then handed out an assist of his own with a dish to James DeMild for a layup from the right side that put the Bombers up by ten at 36-26 with 12:40 to play. On the very next Lenape Valley possession, Pizzip swiped another steal, and passed off to DeLaCosta in the right corner for a three pointer that made it a 13 point lead at 39-26 with 12:25 left. There was a short lull in the scoring activity until DeMild came up with a layup at the 10:39 mark for a 41-26 Sayreville lead.

Twenty seconds later, Pizzi, who was all over the place on defense with not only numerous steals, but also a couple blocks in the second half, collected another theft, and passed to DeLaCosta for a jump shot that hit iron, but was picked up for an offensive rebound and putback by another Sayreville player to make the score, 43-26 at the 10:19 mark. The Bombers then capped the devastating rampage with a steal that created a fast break opportunity filled with quick passes culminating in a reverse layup by Pizzi for a 45-26 lead as Lenape Valley called for time with 8:17 left. From there, the reserves for both squads filled out the remaining time, and Sayreville closed the contest with a 10-7 showing to finalize the 55-33 victory.

Teams In Rutgers Overnight Camp I

PISCATAWAY, NJ–On Friday night, the first installment of at least two Rutgers Overnight Team Camps convened at the Rutgers Athletic Center. The camp will last from Friday night until Sunday afternoon with a ton of games on both Saturday and Sunday. There are 44 different squads from 35 different high schools from around the area including: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Four schools from the Greater Middlesex Conference have teams competing in this camp including: Piscataway, Sayreville, South Plainfield, and St. Joseph’s. GMC Hoops was unable to attend the opening night festivities on Friday, but was able to attend some of the action on Saturday night. Below are the teams competing in this year’s first overnight camp:

• Immaculata (JV)
• Immaculata II (JV
• Immaculata (Varsity)
• Piscataway (JV)
• Piscataway (Varsity)
• Sayreville
• South Plainfield
• St. Joseph’s
• St. John Vianney (JV)
• St. John Vianney (Varsity)
• Marlboro
• Middletown North
• Raritan
• Rumson Fair-Haven
• Point Pleasant Boro
• Point Pleasant Beach
• Hanover Park (JV)
• Hanover Park
• Morris Hills
• Walkill Valley (JV)
• Walkill Valley
• Passaic Valley
• Delbarton
• Vernon Township
• Teaneck
• West Milford
• Waldwick
• St. Josephs-Montvale
• Truman
• Mahopac (JV)
• Mahopac
• Holy Cross (JV)
• Holy Cross
• Nanuet
• Lenape Valley
• Rye Country Day
• Ridgewood (JV)
• Ridgewood
• Clarkstown-South (JV)
• Clarkstown
• Pearl River
• Copiague
• Holy Cross
• West Orange

GMC Hoops may try to head down to the RAC on Sunday during his lunch break to catch a bit of the action there in the afternoon.

Star-Ledger College Summer League–June 26, 2008–Results

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–On Thursday night, the first week of action completed at the 3rd annual Star-Ledger College Summer League over at the Barn on College Avenue in New Brunswick with another doubleheader. The two games featured Nelligan Sports Marketing against V.P. Builders in the opener followed by the nightcap involving D’Annunzio & Sons and Scarlet Fever. Nelligan and D’Annunzio came away winners as Bignell Planning remains the only undefeated team in the league after the first week of play.

In the first contest, Nelligan Sports Marketing rolled past VP Builders by a score of 102-81. Chris Gaston paced the winners with a game high 24 points while grabbing 15 boards for a double-double. Anthony Farmer, who was a standout at St. Augustine and now plays for Rutgers led VP with a team high 23 points while teammate and former Paterson Catholic big man, Ian Chiles (14 points) pulled down 8 rebounds. Bloomfield Tech graduate, R.J. Hall handed out 7 assists for the winners while Farmer dished five for VP Builders. Daryl Lampley, a former Linden sharpshooter, who now resides at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, collected 17 points and 4 assists for Nelligan while former Roselle Catholic standout and HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic All Star Bash Slam Dunk Champion in 2004, David Cherry picked up 16 points and 6 boards in a losing cause for VP Builders.

Then, in the finale, D’Annunzio & Sons rebounded from its difficult opening night loss to Bignell Planning in overtime on Sunday with a convincing rout of the Scarlet Fever, 97-73. Deshawn Mitchell of UNLV led the way for the winners with a team high 24 points while former St. Joseph’s standout, Sean Baptiste led all scorers with a game high 25 points. Rutgers big man from Life Center and Prep school in California, Hamady N’Diaye (12 points), came up huge on the glass with 17 while Baptiste, who averaged 6 rebounds a game in addition to his 18 points per game average this season at FDU, pulled down 11 boards for a double-double. Former Newark Eastside star, and current Rutgers standout, Corey Chandler, and recent Linden graduate and Houston bound, Desmond Wade shared the game high in assists with 5 each. Other notables from the game: Nick Smith, who is the current all time leading scorer at Colonia, and now plays at Stonehill, collected 12 points for the Scarlet Fever while Tomacz Kokosinski of Rutgers had 17 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals for D’Annunzio, and former Freehold Township standout Manny Ubila of FDU had 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the Scarlet Fever.

For more information on this league check out the College Summer League Page on NJ Hoops.

Bound Brook Summer League–June 26, 2008–Results

BOUND BROOK, NJ–On Thursday night, the first week of action completed at the 2008 Bound Brook Summer League at Bound Brook High School. The second night of games had a full schedule with contests beginning at 4:45 PM, and continuing at 5:45 PM, 6:45 PM, 7:45 PM, and 8:45 PM. Bound Brook and Manville had the night off with byes. Coming up with their second wins of the season already were J.F. Kennedy of Iselin and Warren Hills of the Skyland Conference’s Delaware West Division. Last season, Warren Hills qualified for the North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament and reached the quarterfinal round thanks to an low scoring upset win over Newark Shabazz, 27-26. Below are all the results:

• Piscataway 62–Rutgers Prep 56
• Somerville 62–Pingry 23
• Warren Hills 53–Bernards 35
• Union Catholic 40–Montgomery 30
• J.F. Kennedy 51–Immaculata 34

Action resumes in this league on Tuesday night, July 1st with another full slate of games. GMC Hoops hopes to be able to take in the nightcap between Piscataway and Montgomery. The site definitely has plans to be out on Thursday, July 3rd for games on that day. For more information on this league, check out the Bound Brook Basketball web site.

Teams In The 2008 Colonia JV League

COLONIA, NJ–On Thursday, June 26th, the Colonia JV League got underway with a full slate of games at 5:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:00 PM in the Colonia High School Gymnasium. Colonia JV and assistant boys basketball coach, Brian O’Lone, passed along the teams and complete schedule for the summer. Games are normally played on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings with the exception of next week due to the Fourth of July Holiday. Below are the teams competing in the league:

• Colonia I
• St. Joseph’s
• Perth Amboy
• Edison
• Cardinal McCarrick I
• Colonia II
• South Brunswick
• St. Mary’s of Elizabeth
• Metuchen
• Middlesex
• Cardinal McCarrick II
• Colonia III
• J.F. Kennedy

Note: There are two freshmen teams playing in this league: Cardinal McCarrick II and Colonia III. There is no Colonia Freshmen League this year.

GMC Hoops plans to take in some of the action from this league this summer starting next week.

Middlesex County College Summer League–June 24, 2008–Results

EDISON, NJ–On Thursday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to Middlesex County College to take in the lone game from the 6:00 PM hour there. Part of the chores the web site did was to get the rest of the scores from Tuesday night’s action. Although there were two games covered, and posted in the blog, there were also five other games that were played. Below are the results from those contests:

• Sayreville 38–Timothy Christian II 10
• Keyport 61–East Brunswick 37
• Perth Amboy Vo-Tech 49–South River 28
• North Brunswick 43–South Brunswick 35
• Somerset Vo-Tech 42–Bishop Ahr 37

With those games in the books, the majority of teams in the league have played a total of three games. Below are the latest standings:

• Perth Amboy Vo-Tech (3-0)
• North Brunswick (3-0)
• Franklin (2-0)
• Keyport (2-0)
• Highland Park (2-1)
• South Hunterdon (2-1)
• Timothy Christian I (2-1)
• East Brunswick (2-1)
• South River (1-2)
• South Amboy (1-2)
• Somerset Vo-Tech (1-2)
• Sayreville (1-2)
• Timothy Christian II (0-2)
• South Brunswick (0-3)
• Bishop Ahr (0-3)

GMC Hoops will have an article on the action at Middlesex on Thursday later, and plans to be out at MCC sometime during the week next week.

Star-Ledger College Summer League–June 24, 2008–Results

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–On Tuesday night, played resumed at the 2008 Star-Ledger College Summer League with another doubleheader for the second night of action this summer. GMC Hoops was not at the game since it was at Middlesex County College to take in two games in that league’s third night of action. Nevertheless, Jay Gomes of NJ Hoops still does a great job keeping up with all the action there, and posts the information on his web site. Jay also works hard behind the scenes to get players to come down and compete in the league, and he is a big reason behind the success of this league since its inception in the summer of 2006.

In the first game of the night, the Scarlet Fever edged Nelligan Sports Marketing by a score of 86-83. Former St. Joseph’s standout, and current FDU player, Sean Baptiste paced the winners with a monsterous game of 32 points, Chris Gaston (Fordham) and Duquan Cook (St. Bonaventure) both of Nelligan Sports Marketing shared the team high of 17 points in a losing cause. Jhamar Youngblood of St. Patrick’s fame, and currently at Rider joined former Sayreville standout and Rutgers walk-on, Kofi Genfi with 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Fever while Chris Gaston had a game high 14 rebounds for Nelligan. Youngblood also shared a game high in assists with R.J. Hall of Bloomfield Tech and Nelligan with four while former Linden star, and Houston bound, Desmond Wade collected 17 points and 4 rebounds for the Scarlet Fever. Tony Murphy of Norfolk State registered 14 points in a losing cause for Nelligan.

Then, in the nightcap game, Bignell Planning, fresh of its opening night, come from behind win in overtime over D’Annunzio & Sons, won its second straight to start the summer with a victory over AXA Advisors, 99-77. Leading the way for the winners was Charles Funchess, a Newark native, who plays at Paris Junior College in Texas, with 22 points while former St. Anthony’s star, and Rutgers bound guard, Mike Rosario, had a team high 21 points for AXA in a losing cause. Chipping in were Dana John of NJCU with 19 points, and Jheryl Wilson of NJIT with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Other leaders on the night were: Funchess, who also had 14 rebounds for a double-double while Jonathan Mitchell collected 9 for AXA. Former St. Anthony’s standout, Ahmad Mosby handed out 8 assists for Bignell while Mike Coburn of Mt. Vernon and Rutgers dished 7 for the losers.

Bound Brook Summer League–June 24, 2008–Results

BOUND BROOK, NJ–On Tuesday night, the 2008 Bound Brook Summer League got underway with a full slate of contests played at 4:45 PM, 5:45 PM, 6:45 PM, 7:45 PM, and 8:45 PM at Bound Brook High School. The recently expanded league had every team in action except two, which had byes: Piscataway and Pingry. This league, which was revived last summer after a hiatus of a couple years, has doubled in size from 6 teams to 12. Below are the results from the opening night of action on Tuesday:

• Rutgers Prep 44–Immaculata 34
• Bound Brook 58–Somerville 52
• Warren Hills 50–Montgomery 44
• Bernards 39–Manville 36
• J.F. Kennedy 33–Union Catholic 26

Action will resume on Thursday night with another full slate of games. For more details on this league, you can visit the Bound Brook Basketball web site.

Middlesex County College Summer League–June 24, 2008

EDISON, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops made a stop over to the Physical Education Center on the Campus of Middlesex County College for the third night of action from the 2008 Middlesex County College Summer League. Action in this league began a week ago on June 17th with most of the 15 teams playing in two games. On this night, there was a full slate of contests played at 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:00 PM. The web site managed to capture action from two of the seven games that were played including a future matchup from the GMC Gold between South Amboy and Timothy Christian I, and Highland Park versus South Hunterdon.

South Hunterdon Surges In Second Half To Down Highland Park, 56-49

In the first of the two games GMC Hoops took in, Highland Park was leading 28-19 with about a minute and a half to go in the first half. The Owls then got a field goal at the one minute mark to take a 30-19 lead, and that was how the first half ended as a last second shot by the Eagles from West Jersey was off the mark. After watching the final nine minutes of the first half between South Amboy and Timothy Christian I over on Court #3, the web site returned to action on Court #1 with 11:00 to go and Highland Park still leading, 36-29, but South Hunterdon was beginning to climb back into the fray with a 10-6 run over the first nine minutes to close the gap to single digits.

Moments after GMC Hoops sat down to take in the action, a Highland Park player scored a basket while drawing a foul, but missed the bonus free throw to convert the traditional three point play for a 38-29 lead at the 10:55 mark. Over the next 5:37, the Eagles put together a game deciding 18-2 surge to take a 47-40 lead with 5:18 remaining. The surge would prove to be too much for a Highland Park program, which is trying to turn things around after a difficult 2007-08 campaign with a 2-19 record, to overcome as the Eagles came away with the 56-49 victory. The South Hunterdon assault began with a field goal at the 10:15 mark for a 38-31 Highland Park lead. The Eagles then swiped a steal and drove in for a layup when a Highland Park player gave a hard foul. The shove drew ire from the South Hunterdon bench, which compelled the officiating crew to assess a flagrant foul on the Owls.

The result was a pair of free throws, and when you added a three pointer from earlier, the Highland Park lead was now down to two at 38-36 with 9:01 remaining. Sixteen seconds later, South Hunterdon came up with another steal, and converted that into a layup plus the foul for a three point play that gave the Eagles the lead at 39-38 with 8:45 to play. Almost a minute would pass before the next score occurred, and once again that would be courtesy of South Hunterdon with a field goal at the 7:52 mark for a 41-38 lead. On its next offensive possession, Highland Park got back on the board to pull within one on a nice give and go for a finger roll layup that made the score 41-40 at the 7:35 mark. Thirty-three seconds afterward, South Hunterdon answered with yet another steal that was taken the length of the floor for a layup and a 43-40 advantage with just a bit more than seven minutes to play.

The Eagles then furthered their lead with two free throws at the 5:48 mark for a 45-40 score, and then capped the rampage with another steal for a layin that gave them a seven point, 47-40 lead with 5:18 to play. Following a Highland Park timeout with 5:13 left, the Owls then got an acrobatic move for a score while drawing the foul for a three point play that made it 47-43 at the 4:25 to go. South Hunterdon then replied on a subsequent possession with a field goal at the 3:48 mark for a 49-43 edge. The Owls had a chance to get closer with two straight trips to the foul line at the 2:43 and 1:45 marks respectively, but went 0 of 2 and then 1 of 2 for a 1 of 4 effort overall that made the score just 49-44 as supposed to possibly a one possession game at 49-47. The Owls would get a layin to pull within three at 49-46 at the 1:24 mark, but the Eagles essentially put the game away with a key basket on a floater that made the score, 51-46 at the 1:05 mark.

From there, South Hunterdon then closed out the game with 5 of the final 8 points for the 56-49 win. With the victory, the Eagles move up to 2-1 overall while Highland Park falls to 2-1. Now both teams are tied with South Hunterdon holding a head to head tie breaker for playoff purposes.

Timothy Christian I Cruises By South Amboy, 52-36

In this battle of 1-1 teams, Timothy Christian, which has recently agreed with the GMC to join the conference starting in the 2010-11 season, had its Timothy Christian I team take on a future rival in South Amboy from the GMC Gold. After watching the final minute and a half of the first period between Highland Park and South Hunterdon, the web site took a stroll over to the other side of the gym to catch some of the action in this one. Upon arrival, Timothy Christian was leading already by a 16-3 score with nine minutes to go in the first half.

Fifteen seconds or so later, the Guvs got on the board with a field goal for a 16-5 Tiger lead at the 8:45 mark. On its next possession though, TCS I replied with a score of its own for an 18-5 advantage with 8:23 to play in the first half. Tim Simko then tried to get South Amboy going again with a feed inside for a layup attempt that drew a foul. Unfortunately for the Guv faithful in attendance at MCC, their team would come up empty with an 0 of 2 showing at the charity stripe with 7:15 to go in the half. The Tigers would then take advantage a little more than a minute later with a three pointer from the left wing for a 21-5 lead at the 6:07 mark. Following a Timothy Christian I timeout with 6:05 to go before the brief intermission, neither team scored for about 1:20 before South Amboy got back on the board thanks to a steal and a fast break that culminated in a Charmello layup for a 21-7 TCS lead.

Shortly after Timothy Christian I inbounded the ball, and brought it upcourt, Charmello struck again with a steal and assist on a field goal by one of the two O’Connor twins for a 21-9 TCS I lead with 4:31 left in the half. Charmello then made two from the foul line to trim the deficit down to ten at 21-11 with just inside four minutes to play in the half. The Tigers then scored the next three points including a one of two showing at the line for a 22-11 advantage at the 3:14 mark, and then a layup from the right side while picking up the foul (but missed the bonus free throw) for a 24-11 edge at the 2:35 mark. One of the O’Connor twins then did his best to get his team back into the contest by swiping a steal for a layup attempt, and drawing a foul that yielded one of two from the charity stripe for a 24-12 TCS I lead with 1:46 to go before halftime.

The Tigers then closed out the first half scoring with four straight points including an offensive rebound and putback for a 26-12 lead at the 1:33 mark, and a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to take a 28-12 advantage into the brief break. In the second half, it was more of the same although South Amboy did make it somewhat respectable at the end. After again watching the end of the South Hunterdon and Highland Park contest, the web site came over to witness the final 5:11 of action from this game. At the time of return, TCS I had pretty much maintained its lead with a 42-27 score at the 5:11 mark. A bit more than a minute later, Timothy Christian I struck for a layup from the left side for a 44-27 lead. Fifty-seconds after that, the Tigers were on the board again with a field goal for a 46-27 edge at the 3:10 mark. Then, following a South Amboy free throw thanks to a TCS I technical foul at the 3:06 mark, the Tigers took their largest lead of the contest thanks to some fine teamwork, and great passing for a 48-28 lead.

From there, South Amboy scored 8 of the final 12 points to make the score look better cosmetically as Timothy Christian I came away with a 52-36 victory. With the win, the Tigers moved into a tie with South Hunterdon and Highland Park with a 2-1 record overall while South Amboy fell to 1-2 on the young summer. GMC Hoops plans to be back out at MCC on Thursday to take in some more of the action from this league.

Middlesex County College Summer League–Week #1 Standings

EDISON, NJ–With the completion of play on Thursday night, June 19th at the 2008 Middlesex County College Summer League, the first week of action completed with a four way tie for first place. At the top are Franklin Township of the Delaware East Division of the Skyland Conference, and North Brunswick, Highland Park, and Perth Amboy Tech of the GMC with 2-0 records. Next is Keyport from the Shore Conference with a 1-0 mark. The Raiders did not play two games this week because they had a bye. After Keyport in the standings, there are five teams at .500 with 1-1 records, and then rounding out the league are five more squads that have yet to win so far this summer. Below are the complete standings as of the end of play on June 19th:

• Franklin (2-0)
• North Brunswick (2-0)
• Highland Park (2-0)
• Perth Amboy Vo-Tech (2-0)
• Keyport (1-0)
• South Hunterdon (1-1)
• East Brunswick (1-1)
• Timothy Christian I (1-1)
• South River (1-1)
• South Amboy (1-1)
• Timothy Christian II (0-2)
• Somerset Vo-Tech (0-2)
• Sayreville (0-2)
• South Brunswick (0-2)
• Bishop Ahr (0-2)