Sayreville and North Brunswick Combine for Opening Night Classic
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Opening night of the 2016-17 Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball season had several exciting games. Fifth ranked St. Joseph’s rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat sixth ranked East Brunswick. Third ranked Old Bridge takes second ranked South Brunswick down to the wire before losing by nine. Piscataway edges Perth Amboy in a game where both teams scored over 160 points.
However, the honor of GMC Hoops Game of the Week goes to the obvious choice for week one. The double overtime classic between 10th ranked North Brunswick and top ranked Sayreville at North Brunswick High School. It was the first time, GMC Hoops was present for a double overtime game since the epic 2013 GMCT Championship won by St. Joseph’s over East Brunswick at the RAC.
The varsity game between Sayreville and North Brunswick was preceded by a JV game that also went down to the wire as the Junior Bombers rallied from a four point deficit early in the fourth quarter with an 11-5 spurt to win the game, 66-64. Early on, it looked like Sayreville was going to run North Brunswick out of its own gym. Sparked by a two handed dunk by Ryan O’Leary to open the game, and bolstered by two early threes from Henny Mautes, Sayreville took a 24-14 first quarter lead.
The Bombers extended the lead to 33-20 midway through the second, and led 45-35 at the half. However, in the second half, North Brunswick limited Sayreville to just 25 points while gradually chipping away at the deficit. Trailing by 11 after three periods, the Raiders scored 16 of the first 22 points of the fourth, and ultimately outscored the Bombers by a 20-9 margin including a putback and two free throws in the final minute by Quadir Butler for a 70-70 tie and overtime.
In the first extra session, North Brunswick jumped out to the early lead, and eventually led 79-76 with under a minute to go in the overtime. Then, Xavier Townes took over as he scored a layup while being fouled with 38 seconds left in the extra fame, and then added a free throw with three seconds left to force a second overtime with the score tied at 79-79. Ope Olaloko gave Sayreville the first lead of the second overtime by making one of two at the line.
Butler, who scored 17 points in the contest, then took over with a left handed layup for an 81-80 lead at the 2:47 mark, and a more acrobatic shot for another score and an 83-80 lead with 2:10 to play in the second extra session. O’Leary kept Sayreville’s hopes alive by connecting on a three pointer from the right wing to tie the score at 83-83 with about two minutes to play. However, the Bombers weren’t able to ultimately keep up thanks to foul troubles.
Several players went to the bench with five fouls including Jahsim Floyd, Jayson DeMild, Elijah Clark, and O’Leary. The depleted Bombers couldn’t stop North Brunswick the rest of the way as the Raiders got a go ahead score from Avery Claggett, and then free throws from Butler, Maneet Batra, Jordan Salisbury and Demond Miller for the 91-86 victory. Salisbury finished with 20 points while Adryan Salazar chipped in with 18 points.
Townes led Sayreville in a losing cause with 23 points while O’Leary chipped in with 21. Butler went 6 of 6 over the two overtimes, and 9 of 9 from the line from the fourth quarter on. Batra, who shook of injury in the second half to stay in the game, finished with 12 points for the Raiders. Both teams combined for 177 points in the game. It was truly a classic that GMC Hoops was happy to be a part of.