GMC Hoops Game of the Week–Week One–December 19-23, 2014

East Brunswick and North Brunswick Combine for Opening Day Thriller

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–For the third straight year, the East Brunswick Bears were entangled in an opening night barnburner.  After two straight seasons of going down to the wire against five time defending GMCT champion, St. Joseph’s, second ranked EB took on third ranked North Brunswick, a team moving up to the GMC Red after winning the GMC White three of the last four years.  The Raiders and Bears went at it at the EB Team Camp last June, and NBTHS took advantage of an EBHS squad that was playing without Matt Ross, and had another squad taking on Matawan at athe same time.

This time, East Brunswick was at full strength, and had three players score in double figures including Ross.  The junior guard had a game high 20 points on 3 two point field goals, 3 treys, and 5 foul shots.  Chipping in was fellow junior Mike Vick, who scored 13 while senior sharpshooter, John McHenry added 12 points including three trifectas.  East Brunswick only had six players get into the scoring column while North Brunswick had a more balanced attack with 8 different players getting into the scorebook including senior guard, Kishan Patel, who had a team high 16 points on five field goals and two threes.  Senior forward, L.J. Williams also had double figures with 10 points on 5 field goals.  

North Brunswick held a 17-9 edge in two point field goals, but EB had a 27-12 advantage in points scored from beyond the arc including a combined 7 threes by Ross, McHenry, and Vick.  The Bears also held a 13-7 advantage from the charity stripe.  The Raiders jumped out to a 12-5 first quarter lead, but East Brunswick outscored the home team by a margin of 37-26 over the middle two periods including a 20-14 edge in the third quarter.  Both teams played even in the fourth (15-15).  The game went down to the wire though before McHenry netted two free throws with four seconds remaining to give East Brunswick the win.  The game was one of five contests played in the GMC Red during the first week of the regular season that were decided by 7 points or less.  These two teams are also no strangers to one another when it comes to close games.

Back in the opening round of the inaugural Brunswick Classic on December 28, 2009, Matt Ross’ older brother Joe, a sophomore at EB at the time, connected on a jumper with 12 seconds left to give the Bears a 63-61 victory at EBHS.  Two years later, North Brunswick used a 15-3 tear to pull away from a 47-46 edge to eventually knock off the Bears by the score of 65-56 in the opening round of the 2011 Brunswick Classic at NBTHS.  Last year, an Amir Bell, Garry Baumer, and Carl Taylor led EB team had their hands full with a North Brunswick squad that battled to the end before the Bears won 43-42 thanks also to Matt Ross, who came off the bench for an injured Bell to drop in 15 points.  These two proud programs have also faced off in the GMCT and state tournaments as well.