SOMERSET, NJ–For the first time ever, GMC Hoops traveled to Rutgers Prep to watch the Metuchen Bulldogs take on the host school, Argonauts. On Saturday, Metuchen started out its scrimmage schedule against Mater Dei of the Shore Conference, and according to head coach, Rich Stoner, the team played alright, but didn’t shoot well. Last season, Metuchen had a bit of a down season with a 15-12 record, but still managed to finish third in the GMC Blue, and qualify for the Central Jersey Group I state tournament, where it reached the Final Four for the third straight year. Meanwhile, Rutgers Prep also had a down season after gradually becoming a power in Somerset County hoops. The Argonauts went 7-13 last season after losing the likes of Ronde Tucker, who transferred to Plainfield. Among those losses was an 80-52 defeat to South Brunswick on January 6th. Rutgers Prep, which is located right off of Easton Ave in Franklin Township, competes in the Patriot Conference with the likes of Timothy Christian, Ranney, Solomon Schechter, Pennington Prep, Princeton Day, and Wardlaw-Hartridge.
Some new faces on the Argonauts this season are former West Windsor-Plainsboro South standout, Jordan Robinson, and David McDaniel, who played JV ball for St. Joseph’s in 2006-07. Robinson is the younger brother of former St. Joseph’s player Nigel Robinson, who is now playing at Felician along with South Brunswick’s own, Devon Young. As a sophomore, Robinson led the Pirates of West Windsor Plainsboro-South to the Central Jersey Group IV state playoffs, where it lost in the opening round to North Brunswick. McDaniel played with the St. Joe’s Falcons at the 2006 Rebounds Fall League in Neptune, and started in the JV opener against South Brunswick, where he had a game high 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocked shots, and a steal in a 53-37 defeat to the Junior Vikings. Entering the game, the Bulldogs were without senior forward, Dejuan Miller, who is recovering from a liagment injury in his hand suffered in a football consolation game back on the weekend of November 10th. Coach Stoner stated that Miller will be ready by the season opener.
Considering that Miller was not in the lineup, and Chris Pisano is not playing this year, the Bulldogs look to be pretty tough. During the summer, the Bulldogs played at the 2007 TBSA Fall League, where they went 3-5, but in the playoffs, they defeated seventh seeded Edison, and gave a Steve Rennard less St. Joseph’s all it could handle before losing in the Quarterfinals. I saw Metuchen gradually improve during the course of the fall at the 2007 HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic. Although the Bulldogs finished at 4-6 overall in the league, they still qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seed, and more importantly, they beat Group IV schools in Hunterdon Central and Hillsborough, and close losses to Union County schools Plainfield of the Watchung Conference (55-46) and Roselle of the Mountain Division of the Mountain Valley Conference (46-38). The performance against Plainfield was the most notable since MHS didn’t have either Phil Lewis or Miller in the lineup that night, but with the improved poise of players such as Mark Switzer, Codey Preston, and Evan Carberry along with youngsters like Elijah Sellers and Nick Callas providing nice contributions, the Bulldogs put forth their best effort of the fall. Both Preston and Carberry ended up playing in the 2007 Fall-Ball Classic Boys All-Star Game.
The same poise from the veterans as well as the spark by the youngsters came together with the added help of Lewis, and Metuchen ended up playing very well in this scrimmage against Rutgers Prep. Early on, the Argonauts put the Bulldogs on the ropes as Jordan Robinson hit two threes, and scored eight points while the Somerset County team made all four of its three point attempts, and the GMC visitors committed seven turnovers over the first four minutes for a 16-4 Rutgers Prep lead. However, MHS showed surprising resiliency, and rallied with a 10-0 spurt to finish the quarter for a 16-14 first period Argonaut edge. In the second period, Metuchen opened up with four more unanswered points for a 14-0 tear over a span of 7:03, and wound up tying Rutgers Prep at 8-8 in the frame. Then came the third quarter where Metuchen dominated with a 19-6 showing for a 41-30 overall advantage. Rutgers Prep played much better in the fourth period, but Metuchen played its reserves for the bulk of the frame, and the Argonauts still only ended up winning by a 23-19 margin for a 60-53 edge in favor of Metuchen in the exhibition. Sellers provided a spark coming off the bench for the Bulldogs, he had entered the game in the first period when MHS was reeling, and his energy and defensive play helped the Bulldogs turn things around.
Carberry played very well also with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds along with four assists and a steal. For a sophomore, Carberry shows incredible poise, and despite whatever chaos an opposing defense provides, he takes his time out there, and doesn’t show any signs of being rushed. Lewis brought back memories of the 2005 team with his two blocked shots on plays underneath the Bulldog basket. Metuchen netted four threes on the game going 4 of 14, but with Codey Preston and Carberry as well as others, the Bulldogs have the capability of being more productive this season from the perimeter. Speaking of Preston, he gradually got into his rhythm as the scrimmage moved along, and ended up making 5 of 14 shots including a three pointer, and one of three from the foul line for 12 points along with five steals and three rebounds. Preston has a good combination of size, and skill, and can pass very well for a big man. If he can shoot more consistently from the perimeter, he will be a solid player for the Bulldogs. For the first three periods, the Bulldogs did a good job keeping Rutgers Prep off the boards, but in the final period, the Argonauts pulled down a few on the offensive glass for second chance opportunities. For the game, Rutgers Prep collected 14 offensive rebounds for seven second chance points.
Other than that, the Bulldogs real problem was turnovers. Despite settling down in the first period, and only committing two turnovers in the final four minutes of that frame, Metuchen ended up with a whopping 40 turnovers in 38 minutes of play (the first quarter was eight minutes while the last three were 10 minutes each). After the fast start by Argonauts with 6 of 7 field goals including a perfect 4 of 4 from beyond the arc in the first period, Rutgers Prep not only ended up with 12 first period turnovers, but also ended up shooting just 18 of 64 from the floor for 28.1 percent including 6 of 17 for 35.3 percent (2 of 13 the rest of the game). In addition, the Argonauts themselves had 32 miscues in the scrimmage. Two years ago, Metuchen’s biggest problem was playing defense. Despite the talented and athletic players they had including Marqus Blakeley, who now is starring at Vermont, two of the biggest problems the Bulldogs had with that team was turnovers and defense. Last year, the defense improved, and this year it appears even better. If Metuchen can limit their turnovers, and gel well together when Miller returns, the Bulldogs could be more of a problem than many think including myself.