Led County College of Morris to Region 19 Division 2 Championship
Piscataway’s D’Ondre Dent, shown here in action for the County College of Morris against Raritan Valley College in December 2018, will be attending Nyack College in the fall after turning in a solid two seasons playing for the NJCAA Division II Titans of Region 19, and the Garden State Conference.
PISCATAWAY, NJ—While several former Greater Middlesex Conference boys basketball standouts were helping to guide Middlesex County College to a Region 19 Division III NJCAA Championship last March, another was leading the County College of Morris to the Region 19 Division II NJCAA title.
Former Piscataway boys hoops standout, D’Ondre Dent, turned in a solid sophomore season for the Titans of CCM as it defeated Rowan College of Burlington County in the semifinals (67-62), and then Lackawanna College in the Championship Game (83-76) for the Region 19 D2 title. Dent, who turned in a solid performance in a CCM win at Raritan Valley Community College back on December, will attend Nyack College of the CACC next fall.
This past season, Dent played and started in 27 games for the Titans, and averaged 27.2 minutes per game. The Piscataway native made 147 of 307 shots, or just under 48 percent from the floor. Dent also connected on 53 of 115 attempts from long distance for 46.1 percent, which ranked 9th in the country among NJCAA D2 men’s basketball players. He also ranked 34th in the nation at the foul line by making 88 of 106 attempts for 83 percent.
Dent also attained a 2.7 assist to turnover ratio, which placed him 23rd in the country. Overall, the CCM sophomore averaged 16.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per contest. Dent scored in double figures in 23 of his 27 games including 11 where he scored at least 20 points. He scored at least 30 points twice during the season: a 34 point effort versus Rowan College of Burlington County on December 11th, and a 30 point performance at Manor College of Pennsylvania on January 12th.
His 30 points versus Manor was during a stretch of six straight games where he scored 10 points or more with 20 or more in four of those contests. In a game covered by GMC Hoops on December 4th, Dent played 35 minutes and scored 27 points to help lead CCM past Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg. The Piscataway standout tallied those 27 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the floor including 3 of 8 from downtown while making 6 of 9 from the foul line. Dent also collected 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal while only committing two turnovers.
The County College of Morris finished the season at 23-5 overall. Including a 10-1 mark in the Garden State Athletic Conference and Region 19. After defeating Lackawanna for the Region 19 D2 Championship, the Titans lost to Erie Community College of New York, 66-60 in the District II Semifinals in Buffalo, New York. Erie went on to the NJCAA D2 Final Four before losing to eventual National Champion, Kirkwood of Iowa in the semifinals. CCM did manage to improve over the 2017-18 season by four games.
In 2017-18, the Titans of CCM finished 21-9 overall including a 13-4 mark in conference play. Dent helped contribute to a CCM squad that managed to defeat Raritan Valley in the Region 19 semifinals (91-80), but then lost to Ulster County in the District 12 Championship Game (76-74). Dent played in 26 games and started in 16 of those contests. He averaged 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Dent made 102 of 185 shots overall for 55 percent, which was 84th in the nation according to the NJCAA.
Dent played four years of varsity hoops and was a three year starter at Piscataway, and helped the Chiefs reach the GMCT Elite Eight for the first time in five years in 2017. The GMCT Quarterfinal berth ended up in a loss to then top seeded and eventual champion, St. Joseph’s, but it started three straight GMCT Elite Eight appearances that culminated with a 2019 GMCT Finals berth, the first since 2011 for P-Way. The Chiefs lost in the 2019 GMCT Championship to St. Joseph’s. Dent was one of the pioneers that helped turn the fortunes of Piscataway’s program after several years of mediocrity.
For the Chiefs, Dent played in 63 games over his four years including 24 his senior year. Dent made 141 field goals, 49 threes, and 126 free throws for a total of 567 career points, or exactly 9 points per game. Most of those points came in his senior campaign, where he scored 324 points on 76 field goals, 34 threes, and 58 foul shots for an average of 13.5 points per game. Dent will be joining a Nyack program that will be looking to improve on its 6-21 overall record in 2018-19.
The Warriors, which compete in NCAA Division II and the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, was 5-14 in conference play this past season. The year before, Nyack finished 7-19 overall including a 7-12 mark in the CACC. The 2017-18 season was still an improvement over the year before in terms of conference play as the Warriors went 7-19 overall, but only 3-16 in the CACC in 2016-17. Nyack plays in the North Division of the CACC against the likes of Bloomfield, Caldwell, Felician, Post, Dominican, and Concordia. Congratulations D’Ondre on your success at CCM, and best of luck moving forward at Nyack.