GMC Hoops Summary–East Brunswick Pulls Away From Colonia, 58-46

Bears Finish Game On 15-2 Tear For Victory

COLONIA, NJ–Following coverage of the GMC Gold tussle between Timothy Christian and Perth Amboy Tech, GMC Hoops traveled over to Colonia High School for the first time this season to see the Patriots in action against East Brunswick in a key GMC Red matchup.  After having its best start since moving up to the GMC Red several years ago, Colonia has struggled of late with two losses to South Brunswick and Old Bridge, teams that the Patriots had beaten earlier in the year.  Meanwhile, East Brunswick has been rolling since it was blown out on January 23rd at St. Joseph’s.  Since that loss, EB had won five straight entering Friday’s contest.

The first time that these two teams had met back on January 14th, Colonia battled EB in the first half, and only trailed by four at 24-20 heading into the intermission.  But, the Bears took over in the second half with a dominant performance as they outscored the Patriots, 41-19 over the final two quarters to come away with the 65-39 win.  This time, the game would be much closer, and wouldn’t be decided until the latter stages of the fourth quarter.  In a back and forth game that saw many lead changes and ties, Colonia scored the first five points of the final period including a three pointer by Brandon Haines for a 44-43 lead with a minute gone by.  For the rest of the game, the Patriots could only manage two more points as the Bears closed the contest on a 15-2 tear for the 58-46 win.

After a first quarter tie, East Brunswick outscored Colonia in each of the final three periods, but it wasn’t easy.  The Patriots had a six different players score including two that scored in double figures including Dez Jackson with 12 points and Haines with 11.  EB was able to counter though with a solid performance from Princeton bound point guard, Amir Bell, who scored a game high 18 points on six field goals and 6 of 8 from the foul line.  The Bears also had a more balanced attack with seven players getting into the scorebook including 6 that had at least 6 points.  Garry Baumer chipped in with 9 points while Carl Taylor and John McHenry added 8, and Matt Ross contributed with 7 while Addis Ralph helped out with 6.  EB had more two point field goals (13-11), scored more points from three point range (18-12), and had more points from the foul line (14-10).

East Brunswick jumped out to an early 6-4 lead at the 4:33 mark as Bell, Baumer, and Taylor each had two points.  Colonia responded with the next four points on scores by Pat Naguib (8 points) to take an 8-6 lead late in the period before Bell made two free throws to knot the score at 8-8 going into the second.  The game continued to be back and forth in the second with Colonia going on an 11-7 run to start the period for a 19-15 lead before EB finished the half on an 11-6 run that included two threes by Ross, a trey by John McHenry, and a two handed slam in the final seconds by senior forward Owen Summerer for his only points of the game and a 26-25 Bears lead at the intermission.  The third quarter started out with East Brunswick increasing its lead thanks to a 10-6 run that included two field goals from Bell, and threes by Baumer and Taylor for a 36-31 lead before Jackson scored on a layup and Colonia called timeout with 2:07 remaining in the period.

The score by Jackson sparked an 8-5 rally by the Patriots to pull within two before Bell, who scored 8 in the quarter,  knocked down a long two pointer from the right wing in the closing seconds of the third for a 43-39 advantage heading into the final period of play.  CHS then opened the final frame with a three by Haines, and then a jumper by Jackson for the 44-43 edge.  However, over the next two minutes and change, EB took the lead for good as Bell made two more foul shots, and Ralph canned a short jumper for a 47-44 lead with 4:48 left.  Ralph and Bell teamed up for scores again over the next 1:53 to extend the Bears lead to eight at 52-44 with just under three minutes to play.  Colonia had several chances to cut into the lead, but were unable to score as EB got stops including a steal by McHenry with 1:34 remaining.  From there, the Bears went on to win, 58-46.  The victory improved East Brunswick’s overall record to 11-3 including a 8-2 record in the GMC, and a 6-2 mark in the Red Division.  The loss dropped Colonia to 10-6 overall including an 8-5 mark in conference, and a 4-5 record in divisional play.