Great Competition Over The First Two Weeks At TBSA
EDISON, NJ–Already two weeks have passed in the 2008 TBSA Fall League, and there have been a number of great games. GMC Hoops has only seen four contests (two each week), and all of them have either gone down to the wire, or were decided by single digits. For example, on Sunday night, J.P. Stevens held a six point lead late over Plainfield only to have the Cardinals pull out the win on a last second three pointer from the top of the key by Anthony Baskerville for the one point, 67-66 victory. With 1:08 to play, the Hawks led by six at 63-57 after senior forward, Kenny Bland netted two free throws. However, the Cards, led by a combination of pressure defense, and clutch play by Isiah Epps, went on a 7-0 run over a span of just 47 seconds for a 64-63 lead.
J.P. Stevens, which lost another close one last week to Weequahic of Newark and the Iron Hills Conference by the score of 50-45, had a chance to take the lead late when senior point guard, Tahir Swinton, who has made major strides this offseason, stepped to the line after being fouled on the floor. Swinton made the first one, and missed the second, but thanks to a lane violation by Plainfield, he got a second chance. He still missed the extra free throw, but Bland came to the rescue for an offensive rebound, and putback that put JPS in front by two, 66-64 with only 13 seconds to play. However, on the next Plainfield possession, the Cardinals gave their new coach, Jeff Lubreski plenty to smile about when Baskerville let fly from the top of the key for a trey that was true for a one point victory that brought back memories of another memorable Lubreski moment when Marquis Jones sank a 14 footer over St. Joe’s Kevin Joyce to boost South Plainfield past St. Joseph’s in the 2005 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Championship.
The Plainfield last minute rally has not been the only time this post season that the Hawks held a seemingly safe lead late in a game, and then lost this off-season. Back during the summer, JPS played Monroe at the 2008 East Brunswick Team Camp in June. With two minutes remaining in the contest, Stevens led by 12 points with two minutes left only to see the Falcons rally via the three point shot to not only force overtime, but also get the win. Although the North Edison school has lost each of its first two games this fall, it has played very competitively against very talented and athletic teams, especially when you consider that Swinton did not play in the opening night loss to Weequahic. Bland has played particularly well. His footwork, and the manner in which he is taking the ball to the basket has improved, and that has resulted in better shots down low, and in the paint. He has also shot well at the line. In about 20 minutes of action that GMC Hoops saw in the loss to Plainfield, Bland went 6 of 7 at the charity stripe. He will need to do that with the amount of opportunities he gets inside.
Meanwhile, the other GMC team that we’ve had the chance to get a look at over the first two weeks of the season is Colonia, which has a bit different look to its roster from the last time we saw the Pats during the summer at the Linden Summer League. The Patriots have fared better so far this season by splitting its first two games. On opening night, Colonia lost a close one to Columbia of Maplewood by a score of 44-38. This past Sunday night, the Pats evened their record at 1-1 with a single digit victory over Roselle of the Mountain Valley Conference, 43-37.
Nnamdi Usuwa is back in the lineup, and his presence down low has provided some much needed punch to a team that lost Brandon Hall to graduation this past June. In addition, Matt Wagner, a sophomore transfer from St. Joseph’s, will help fellow sophomore Dave Cole try to compliment senior guard, J.J. D’Amico in the backcourt. Usuwa has looked very good as well as Wagner in the limited amount of action the web site has seen of Colonia. Meanwhile, Cole has looked more aggressive on offense at times by taking it strong to the basket. As a team, Colonia has scored as many points as it has given up to its opponents over these first two games (81-81). The victory over the Rams, which are coming off a Central Jersey Group II Championship in 2008, was a nice win for Colonia, especially since it was without D’Amico in the lineup. The Patriots look again to be one of the contenders in the GMC although its dominance over the GMC White in recent years will be challenged with Cardinal McCarrick moving up from the Blue.