GMC Hoops Summary–Piscataway Tech Surges Past Amboy Tech, 58-49

Aziz Austin Returns to Lineup by Scoring 15 to Lead Balanced Raiders Attack

Piscataway Tech’s Kyle Wider battles Perth Amboy Tech’s Noel Garay for a rebound in the third quarter.

PISCATAWAY, NJ–Prior to the start of the 2014-15 season, some looked at the GMC Gold Division as a three way horse race between Dunellen, Perth Amboy Tech, and Piscataway Tech.  Fast forward to Friday night after Piscataway Tech’s victory over Perth Amboy Tech, and the Raiders, Patriots, and Destroyers are all jockeying for position down the home stretch of the GMC Gold schedule.  Utilzing a zone defense, P-Way Tech held Amboy Tech senior big man, Jordan Little to just 5 first half points while limiting senior guard Noel Garay to just three points in the second half to come away with a 58-49 victory.

It wasn’t easy for the Raiders.  Coming off a solid defensive effort against another top scorer in the state, Sean Darrar and his South River Rams on Wednesday evening, Piscataway Tech fell behind 7-0 within the first minute and a half of the game.  However, the Raiders rebounded with a 26-15 surge over the last 14:30 of the first half as Letrell West scored 8 of his team high 19 points for the game while Aziz Austin returned after sitting out the South River game, and scored 7 of his 15 points including a three at the buzzer to give P-Way Tech a 26-22 lead at the half.   The Raiders then had to withstand a 12 point onslaught from Little in the third, but managed to take a 36-34 lead entering the fourth.

There in the final period, West and Marc Fychok netted threes as Piscataway Tech scored 18 of the first 27 points of the frame to take a 54-43 lead with just under a minute to play.  Garay and teammate Pedro Gonzalez then netted threes while Aziz Austin helped seal the victory at the line.  The Raiders had a much more balanced attack in this one.  In addition to Austin scoring 15 points and West adding 19, Kyle Wider chipped in with 9 while Fychok added 8.  Frank Howard contributed with two baskets for 4 points including a putback midway through the second period to give P-Way Tech a 21-17 lead.  German Pimetel, the other Raiders big man, who collected 7 points and 11 boards in the victory over South River, also scored 4 points for the winners.  Amboy Tech didn’t have much scoring outside of Little (23 points) and Garay (13 points), who combined for 36 points.

Another big difference was at the foul line where Piscataway Tech was a near perfect 16 of 18 while Amboy Tech was only 10 of 20 including a 5 of 13 showing from the charity stripe by Little.  The Raiders also outperformed the Patriots from beyond the arc where they outscored their Gold Division rival by an 18-9 margin.   Both teams came out with zone defenses right from the outset.  Amboy Tech and P-Way Tech showed some 3-2 zone in the first half, and the Raiders went to a 2-3 in the second half.  The style of play was quite physical as P-Way Tech was determined to make Little earn many of his points from the foul line.  For the most part, the strategy worked.  Outside of the third quarter spree by the Patriots big man, he had to really battle to get his share of points.  

Perth Amboy Tech got off to a very nice start in this one by scoring the first 7 points.  The Patriots opened the game with a short jumper from the right baseline by Little for a 2-0 lead, and then Kyrie Byers got his only points of the game when he got his hands on a steal, and dribbled the rest of the way for a layup and a 4-0 lead as Piscataway Tech called time with just a little over a minute gone by in the contest.  Following the timeout, Garay got into the act with a three pointer for a  7-0 lead.  Fychok got the Raiders on the board with a triple from the left wing and then West followed up with a jumper to close the gap to 7-5 before Garay converted a three point play for a 10-5 lead.  P-Way Tech then ended the period on a 7-5 run as Austin and Wider netted a pair of free throws to narrow the deficit to 15-12.

The Raiders then opened up the second quarter by scoring 9 of the first 11 points including a three by West at the 5:40 mark, and a putback by Howard at the 3:47 mark for a 21-17 lead.  Amboy Tech rallied with 5 of the next 7 to pull within a point late in the first half, but Austin then sank a three pointer from the right side of the key just before the buzzer to give P-Way Tech a four point cushion going into the intermission.  At the break, Garay led all scorers with 10 points while West led the Raiders with 8 points and Austin chipped in with 7.  Piscataway Tech held a 12-3 advantage in points scored from beyond the arc and went a perfect 4 of 4 from the foul line while Amboy Tech was just 3 of 8.

Amboy Tech started the second half by going to its bread and butter in the third period.  The Patriots attacked the Piscataway Tech zone by getting the ball inside to Little, and he took advantage by connecting on five field goals and adding two foul shots for 12 points in the frame.  The 6’8″ center scored 9 straight points to open the third as Amboy Tech rallied to take a 31-28 lead at the 5:01 mark of the stanza.  From there, the game went back and forth for a bit with both teams exchanging leads before P-Way Tech, which outscored the Patriots by an 8-3 margin the rest of the third, scored the last three points of the period for a 36-34 lead.  In total, there were 5 lead changes and a tie in the period.  By the end of the third though, Piscataway Tech was starting to roll.

Scoring 8 of the last 11 points of the third, P-Way Tech pulled away even further in the fourth by opening the quarter on a 10-5 spurt capped by a three from West to take a 46-39 advantage with just under four minutes to play.  Perth Amboy Tech would score 3 of the next 5 points including two free throws by Lou Rodriguez at the 2:38 mark to pull within six at 48-42.  However, the Patriots were unable to get any closer.  Limiting Amboy Tech to very little, if any good scoring opportunities, the Raiders were able to get the rebound, draw a foul in its backcourt, and go to the line to make free throws to extend the lead to 54-43 with under a minute to play.  P-Way Tech was 12 of 14 from the foul line in the second half including an 8 of 10 performance in the fourth quarter.  Noel Garay and Pedro Gonzalez would hit late threes for Amboy Tech, but it was too little, too late as Piscataway Tech came away with the 9 point victory.

With the win, the Raiders improved to 11-4 overall on the season including a 10-2 mark in the GMC Gold, which ties them with Amboy Tech.  The Patriots fell to 11-3 overall with the loss.  Dunellen, which is coming off a 61-59 upset of Point Pleasant Beach at The Faber on Thursday night, didn’t play, and is 9-3 overall including a 7-1 mark in division play with make-up games scheduled against South River and Wardlaw coming to the Destroyers.  P-Way Tech and Dunellen also have a head to head matchup scheduled soon at The Faber.  With his 23 points, Jordan Little now has 931 points for his career to go along with 1,000 rebounds.

JV GAME NOTES:  Besides the varsity tilt between these two long time rivals, the JV squads also battled in a game that went down to the wire.  The score was tied at 50-50 with under two minutes to play.  Piscataway Tech took a 52-50 lead on a pair of free throws by Kyle Gregory with 1:23 remaining in regulation..  The Junior Raiders held that edge until they committed a turnover with under 30 seconds to play.  Amboy Tech then tied it on a layup that got a kind roll with 6.7 seconds left.  After a timeout, Gregory then took the ensuing inbounds dribbled up the left side of the court, and sank a jumper at the buzzer for a 54-52 victory.