UNION, NJ–On Wednesday night, GMC Hoops made its second trip up to the 2009 Kean Summer League at Harwood Arena on the main campus of Kean University. There are just ten teams playing in this league, but five of them are from the Greater Middlesex Conference including: Bishop Ahr, Monroe, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, and St. Joseph’s. On this night, the site covered four of the five games played, but got results from all five contests played. See those results as well as the latest standings. The first contest the site took in was between Morris Hills and Perth Amboy, which were already well into the second half when the site arrived. The next one went on simultaneously while Amboy and Morris Hills played as New Hope Baptist took on Roselle. The final two also went on simultaneously as Monroe battled Roselle on Court #1 while Sayreville took on David Brearley.
Perth Amboy Pulls Away Late To Prevail Over Morris Hills, 46-34
Once again, GMC Hoops arrived at the gym in the second half of Perth Amboy’s game. The site had been over to Linden on Wednesday night to see Colonia take on Watchung Hills after being at Elizabeth earlier in the day. Arriving with 4:37 to go in the contest, the site saw that Amboy was leading by a six point margin over Morris Hills, 38-32. Following a Panther timeout at the 3:51 mark, both teams went scoreless for a span of 2:10 before soon to be junior guard, Kearny Canela, fired in a three pointer from the left wing for a 41-32 lead with 1:41 to play. Amboy then went up by double digits thanks to a three on two fast break that was converted by Ariel Hilton at the 1:05 mark for a 43-32 lead. The Panthers then gave up a score before finishing off the win with a penetrate, and kick to the right wing for a trey that made the final score, 46-34. With the win, Amboy improves to 3-1 while Morris Hills slipped to 1-3.
New Hope Baptist Holds Off Late Challenge By Roselle, 50-47
For a while, it appeared that Roselle was going to get blown out of its game with New Hope Baptist. The team from South Orange/Maplewood took a 46-32 lead with 8:30 to go, and had the momentum and emotion on its side. New Hope Baptist then solidified its position with another score at the seven minute mark for a 48-32 lead. However, Roselle fought back with a 7-0 run over the next 2:21 to pull within nine at 48-39 with 4:49 to go. New Hope Baptist then got a field goal on its next possession to go up, 50-39, but Roselle answered with four straight points to close the gap to seven at 50-43 with two minutes to go. The Running Rams then made one of two from the line on a couple trips, and netted two on a third trip to the charity strip, but couldn’t get any closer as New Hope Baptist managed to escape with a 50-47 victory. With the win, New Hope Baptist improved to 2-2 overall while Roselle dropped to a winless 0-4.
Bishop Ahr Hangs On To Beat Undermanned St. Joe’s, 52-48
With some of St. Joseph’s more talented players down at the Hoop Group Elite Team Camp in Reading, Pennsylvania, the Falcons were forced to go with a more younger squad, but led by coach Eric Lemberakis, and the shooting of Brandon Dolan, St. Joe’s was able to give Bishop Ahr’s varsity squad all it could handle. The Falcons were also able to outhustle Ahr, particularly on the offensive boards despite having a size disadvantage. Nevertheless, despite all of that on top of nine first half turnovers, the Trojans were able to pull out a hard fought, 52-48 win to stay on pace with Monroe in the standings. For the game, the Trojans shot 17 of 33 from the floor overall for 51.5 percent overall including 4 of 6 from three point range. In addition, Ahr shot 15 of 20 from the line for 75 percent. Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s shot 17 of 40 from the field for 42.5 percent including 7 of 22 for 31.8 percent from long distance while making 7 of 10 from the foul line.
In other statistical areas, Bishop Ahr only outrebounded St. Joe’s by a 25-21 margin overall while the Falcons outdid the Trojans in offensive rebounding, 10-8. St. Joseph’s had more assists, 12-10, and fewer turnovers (8-14). BGA collected more steals (7-6) and blocks (4-3). Both halves were close in the end with Ahr getting two point edges in each for the four point victory. Bishop Ahr never held a lead bigger than nine points as there were seven lead changes and two ties throughout. The opening 2:33 of the contest was frenetic as Bishop Ahr jumped out to a 7-4 advantage as both teams combined for four lead changes. Darius Griffin (15 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the floor, and 4 of 5 from the line, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists) scored five of the seven points for Ahr including a three pointer and a field goal while Justin Peoples (10 points on 5 of 7 shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists, and a steal) got the other two with an offensive rebound and putback. The Trojans then added a free throw before Dolan struck for a pull-up jumper from the left wing for an 8-6 Ahr lead at the 13:56 mark.
Over the next 1:06, Bishop Ahr got the next four points including a lob pass by Peoples to Griffin for a one handed bank shot as he was fouled for a traditional three point play, and a 12-6 lead with 12:50 to go in the half. However, Dolan struck again for a three pointer from the right wing to close the gap to 12-9 at the 11:21 mark. Rob Gomulka (14 points on 3 of 4 shooting including a three, and 7 of 8 from the line along with 3 assists), a former St. Joseph’s student, then made two free throws for a 14-9 lead at the 10:05 mark, and a little more than a minute after that, Rashad Kilgore went to the line to make one of two for a 15-9 lead with 8:53 remaining before the intermission. The Trojans made a subsequent three pointer to go ahead by nine, but St. Joseph’s got a basket inside while drawing the foul. Despite missing the bonus free throw, the Falcons trailed by only seven, 18-11 with 6:23 to go in the period.
Over the next 4:19, St. Joe’s would outscore BGA by an 8-3 margin including three offensive rebounds by the Falcons on one possession that led to a jumper from the left wing, and a 21-16 BGA edge at the 2:14 mark. The Falcons, which had six offensive boards in the final 2:14 of the opening half, ended the period with a 10-5 run for the 23-21 Trojan lead at the break. In the second half, Bishop Ahr couldn’t pull away from St. Joseph’s as the Falcons actually took the lead once, and tied the game on a couple of occasions. Griffin opened the scoring with an offensive rebound and follow before Dolan responded with a three pointer for a 25-24 Ahr lead at the 18:27 mark. Dolan then sank another jumper for a 26-25 lead before Peoples helped Ahr take the lead back with a bucket that made the score, 27-26. St. Joe’s then tied the contest up at 27-27 with 14:26 to play on one of two from the foul line.
Beginning to notice the fierce challenge from the younger Falcons, Bishop Ahr finally got some sense of urgency, and reeled off seven straight points including a three pointer by soon to be sophomore, Roger Kilgore, a score by Griffin, and a breakaway layup by the younger Kilgore for a 34-27 lead with 12:11 to go. Over the next 1:19, St. Joseph’s fought back with four straight points including two free throws, and an offensive rebound and follow at the 9:52 mark for a 34-31 BGA edge. On Ahr’s next possession, Griffin handed out an assist when he found Gomulka on the left wing for a three pointer, and a 37-31 lead with 9:21 left. The Falcons answered though with four more points to close the gap to two before Griffin netted two free throws at the 6:45 mark for a 39-35 lead. St. Joe’s then got four more points including a baseline floater at the 5:33 mark to tie things up again at 39-39.
Bishop Ahr got the four points back including a layup off a drive from the left wing by Gomulka at the 5:09 mark that made the score 43-39 before Dolan struck for a three pointer to pull the Falcons back to within one at 43-42 with 3:49 left as St. Joe’s called for time. Following the timeout, Peoples put the Trojans back up by three with a layup as he was fouled, and then after missing the bonus free throw the soon to be senior forward got another score on a layup off an assist by Gomulka to put Ahr ahead by five before St. Joseph’s got another three pointer from the top of the key at the 1:25 mark that made the score, 47-45. Matt Bernocchi helped out with a pair of free throws to put Ahr back up by four with 57.1 seconds left, but after Gomulka made one of two at the line for a five point lead, Dolan connected again from three on the left side to draw the Falcons within two at the 9.2 second mark. Unfortunately, St. Joe’s couldn’t get any closer as Gomulka sealed the BGA victory with a pair of free throws at the 4.0 second mark as the Trojans won, 52-48.
With the victory, Bishop Ahr improves to 3-1 while St. Joe’s drops to .500 at 2-2.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop Ahr (3-1) | 23 | 29 | 52 |
| St. Joseph’s (2-2) | 21 | 27 | 48 |
Sayreville Dismantles David Brearley, 66-12
This contest wound up being the ugliest game of the evening a Group IV school, Sayreville took on Group I school, David Brearley of Kenilworth on Court #1 while Bishop Ahr and St. Joseph’s were going at it in the 8:00 PM hour on Court #2. The Bombers got off to a fast start, and continued to pull further away from Brearley, which was well back in the rear view mirror when the contest was over. In the first two minutes, Sayreville jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Then, over the next 1:41, the Bombers scored another four points including a breakaway layup by Mark Keir at the 16:19 mark for an 8-0 lead. Over the next 1:43, Sayreville put in another five points for a 13-0 lead. The Bears didn’t get their first points of the game until the 11:10 mark of the first half as Sayreville led, 18-2.
The Bombers would lead by as much as 27-2 before Brearley got a three pointer, and then scored the final 14 points of the half for a 41-5 lead. In the second half, Sayreville scored 8 of the first 11 points over the opening 4:14 of the period for a 49-8 lead with 15:46 to go. From there, Sayreville outscored David Brearley by a 17-4 margin the rest of the way for the 66-12 final score. With the victory, the Bombers moved back up to .500 at 2-2 while the Bears remained winless at 0-4.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sayreville (2-2) | 41 | 25 | 66 |
| David Brearley (0-4) | 5 | 7 | 12 |
GMC Hoops plans to be back out at Kean next week for more action.