Here are highlights from the action in the first annual South Amboy Boys Alumni Game on the first Saturday in February 2017.
It was a special day at South Amboy Middle-High School on Saturday afternoon. For the first time ever, the South Amboy boys basketball team held an Alumni Game for both former girls and boys hoops players.
A number of former South Amboy boys hoops standouts were in attendance including: Ed Behnen (1,993 points), Brian Seres, Mark Simko, Larry Lenahan, Joe Charmello, Steve Poltrictzky, Tim Simko, Dustin Devoe, and Mike Zammit. These were among alumni from the period of 1990 to 2012 that were asked to participate. Former long time head coach, George Krzyzanowski was also there.
The boys game was a very competitive one in the end although at first, it seemed like the Gold Team was going to roll to an easy win. Led by the shooting of Devoe and Charmello, the Gold Team was winning by double digits in the first half, but the Purple Team battled back. The Purple Team first closed to within 65-60 with several minutes left, but Seres drained a triple from the left corner for an eight point lead.
The Seres three sparked a 9-4 run by the Gold Team for a 74-64 lead with 1:45 remaining. However, led by the shooting of Mark Simko, who sank four threes down the stretch in the second half, and the interior play of Lenahan, the Purple team scored the last 9 points of the game, and had a chance to tie late, but missed a three point attempt that was rebounded by Lenahan for a putback to round out the 74-73 final score in favor of the Gold Team.
Charmello led the Gold team in the win with a game high 27 points while Seres chipped in with 18 points and Devoe added 16. Lenahan led the Purple team in defeat with 26 points while Behnen added 21 and Simko chipped in with 14 including 12 in the second half. The two teams combined for 21 threes with the Gold team outscoring the Purple team by a margin of 39-24 from long distance.
Seres led all players with five threes while Charmello, Devoe, and Mark Simko each had four. Behnen had two treys while two players added treys. Both teams were only 3 of 5 from the foul line while the Purple team enjoyed a 46-32 edge in points scored within the arc. Lenahan had the most two point field goals with 13, Charmello had 7, and Behnen had 6.
Former South Amboy standouts, Tim Simko (4 points), Mike Zammit (4 points) and Poltrictzky (3 points) helped round out the scoring in the contest for both teams. Many of the players that competed in the contest were from the 2007-08 South Amboy team that won the school’s first ever division title, and reached the 2008 GMCT Quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, Cardinal McCarrick.