WARREN, NJ–For the first scrimmage of the 2007-08 season, GMC Hoops traveled out to Watchung Hills Regional High School to watch Piscataway take on two Skyland Conference teams in Somerville and the host school, Watchung Hills in a tri-scrimmage. These three teams faced off against each other last year in the same format, and then in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV State Tournament, Piscataway traveled to Watchung Hills, where it lost to the Warriors in the first round after the Chiefs won the 2007 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament. The GMCT crown was the first by P-Way in a dozen years.
The trip to Watchung Hills marked the first time that I had been at that school since my freshman year, which was South Plainfield’s final season in the Mid-State Conference before the Tigers joined the GMC for its inaugural season in 1985-86. Speaking of the Mid-State Conference, it was a reunion of sorts for the three schools, which were also part of the now long extinct conference. Back in the day, Watchung Hills and Somerville joined South Plainfield in the Raritan Division while Piscataway played in the Delaware Division with the likes of Franklin and Bridgewater East. Here is a breakdown to the best of my recollections of the two divisions in the Mid-State Conference from the time I was a kid:
Mid-State Conference–Raritan Division
- Bridgewater-Raritan West
- Hillsborough
- Somerville
- South Plainfield
- Voorhees
- Watchung Hills
Mid-State Conference–Delaware Division
- Bridgewater-Raritan East
- Franklin
- Hunterdon Central
- North Hunterdon
- Piscataway
So, for those of you who wonder why Piscataway plays Franklin every year at Thanksgiving, there is your reason. The two schools are old foes going back to the days of the Mid-State. For two years, South Plainfield played Watchung Hills on Thanksgiving Day after the Tigers rivalry ended with North Plainfield in the 1983 season. As we all know now, that rivalry has been renewed over the past six seasons. All three teams qualified for the state tournament last year as Somerville was in Central Jersey Group II. The Pioneers, seeded second in the tourney, earned a first round bye, and then defeated tenth seeded Carteret in overtime, 43-41 in the Quarterfinals. The Ramblers had come off an upset of seventh seeded Raritan on the road in the first round.
Then in the semifinals, Somerville defeated Shore Regional by a score of 43-34 before finally losing in the Championship to Ewing, 57-43 at South Brunswick High School. For years, Somerville had dominated play in the Bound Brook Crusader Christmas Tournament. From 1993 to 1999, Somerville had won the tourney every year after South Plainfield had won each year from 1987 to 1992. The Tigers and Pioneers dueled in the 2001 Championship with SPHS coming out on top. Both teams would go their separate ways with Somerville playing in the Union Catholic Tourney and South Plainfield playing in the John “Butch” Kowal Tournament when the Crusader Classic was discontinued in 2002. Ironically, the Bound Brook Crusader Classic is scheduled to return this season with Spotswood, Somerset Tech, North Plainfield, and Bound Brook all competing.
Getting back to the basketball scrimmage, all three teams played one another for two quarters each while one of the teams would take a break. Arriving late at the gym, I missed all but about two minutes of the first period of action between Somerville and Piscataway. From the action that I saw the rest of the day though, I would say that the Pioneers looked the best of the three teams. Somerville looked more in sync, shot the ball and executed in transition better, and made their foul shots. Watchung Hills started slowly, but by the final two periods of play including the Warriors’ final quarter against Somerville, and its final frame against the Chiefs, it began to play like the same Warrior team that GMC Hoops saw a great deal of at the
Piscataway had the toughest time of the three squads, but in all fairness the Chiefs were without the likes of James White, J.D. Griggs, Tristian Benjamin, and Thomas Bennett, who were all getting ready for their big showdown with Hunterdon Central in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV Football Championship at Rutgers on December 1st. With that said though, the Chiefs still had starters Omar Smith and Brian Waluk as well as reserves Jeff Adkins, Wayne Newsome, Scott Kinney and Amir Wells. Despite losing each period they played, the Chiefs were competitive for all but one quarter against the two other teams. In the two periods against Somerville, Piscataway lost by margins of 12-9 and 16-6 with the latter coming in a period that was played solely by reserves except Adkins, Newsome, and Kinney. Against Watchung Hills, the Chiefs played more competitively losing by 14-10 and 16-13 margins.
The Chiefs did have their moments with turnovers, which is to be expected for the very first scrimmage of the season. However, Piscataway, which had 19 combined over the three plus quarters of action, only forced seven by Watchung Hills and five by Somerville in the same time frame, and both the Warriors and Pioneers were playing in their first exhibition as well. P-Way shot only 12 of 38 from including 1 of 4 from three point range for 31.6 percent in the 26 minutes of scrimmage time seen by GMC Hoops. The most concerning issue was the foul shooting though as Piscataway only went 5 of 14 in the two periods against Watchung Hills, and 0 of 5 in the ten minutes seen against Somerville for a combined 5 of 19 for 26.3 percent. Bottom line, the Chiefs are going to need to do better in that department since there will be a lot of close games in the Red Division determined by the ability to make foul shots down the stretch. Key reserves are also going to have to step up and make plays. This was a good opportunity to see what the rest of the Chiefs besides their returning starting five could do. That’s because during the course of a particular season, starters and other key players may go down due to injury, academic ineligibility, or disciplinary reasons. Those times are where others such as Newsome and Adkins need to step up.
Piscataway will continue its scrimmage schedule over the next two weeks before playing host to Edison in its season opener on December 14th. Then, the Chiefs will take on Old Bridge, and then host South Brunswick in a key early season divisional matchup on December 20th.