BASKING RIDGE, NJ–The main event of the day for GMC Hoops on this day after Christmas was the Sepanak Tournament up at Ridge High School. The site saw both GMC teams that are participating in the tourney in action as Piscataway took on Immaculata in a renewal of a holiday rivalry during the afternoon, and Colonia battled the host school Ridge in the nightcap. It wasn’t a good day for the GMC as both the Chiefs and the Patriots lost putting the conference’s record against the Skyland at 0-3 to start the season.
Spartans Pound The Boards And Click At The Line To Defeat Chiefs, 70-58
When you’re a young team, like Piscataway is outside of senior forward Wayne Newsome and several reserves, you’re going to make some mistakes. The Chiefs did just that against an Immaculata team that took advantage in a 70-58 victory. P-Way was not only outrebounded on the boards by a margin of 40-29, but also turned the ball over 26 times. The Spartans, which only committed 15 miscues, led the from about the 4:30 mark of the first on. The Somerville based school went 28 of 40 from the charity stripe including a perfect 14 of 14 by junior guard, Darien McDuffie (team high 16 points along with 6 assists and 4 steals).
P-Way, led by Newsome, who had a game high 18 points along with 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, and a steal, didn’t give up though. With solid play from sophomores Tajae Sharpe (14 points) and Greg Davis (13 points), the Chiefs got to within six at 46-40 on two foul shots by Newsome at the 23.8 second mark of the third after trailing by 13 on two separate occasions. However, Kevin Doyle (9 points and 6 rebounds) scored on a jumper as time was running down in the third to make the score 48-40 heading into the fourth. Then, within the first 54 seconds of the final frame, the Spartans ran off six straight points including a McDuffie jumper from the right wing, and an Emmitt Hightower (10 points and 9 rebounds) layin from McDuffie for a 54-40 lead.
The Spartans increased their lead to 17 at one point in the fourth before the Chiefs rallied again with a 10-2 spurt that included two more free throws by Newsome and a layup by another sophomore, Tyjohn Young (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal) to close the gap to 61-52 with about two minutes to play. However, despite the intense fullcourt pressure by the Chiefs, Immaculata was able to hang on as McDuffie, who went 8 of 8 at the line in the fourth quarter alone, sealed the 12 point victory.
In the first half, Immaculata dominated the boards with a 23-10 showing including a 10-3 effort on the offensive glass. The Spartans also went to the line 18 times as P-Way picked up 11 first half fouls while committing 11 first half turnovers to Immaculata’s 7. The Chiefs only had three foul shot attempts in the first 16 minutes, and ended up going 13 of 15 from the charity stripe for the game. The Spartans did a solid job containing Newsome in the first half as the P-Way veteran was held to six points on 3 of 4 shooting from the field. Nick Santalutia played a solid game for Immaculata with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds as well as an assist, steal, and charge.
Ridge Holds Off Colonia To Advance, 52-49
The nightcap was a much closer affair, and perhaps the best game involving a GMC team on this first day of holiday tournament action (Monroe was upset by Brick Memorial in the WOBM Classic 56-53). Colonia, which played its third straight NJ Hoops Top 50 team to start the year, battled throughout against a Ridge team that was playing without sharpshooter Andrew Madlinger. Ridge jumped out on top early with a 10-5 lead before Colonia rallied to tie things up at 13-13 with 1:30 to go in the first on C.J. Gray’s first field goal of the game (started 1 of 5 from the floor). The Red Devils closed out the opening period with a 3-2 edge for a 16-15 lead.
In the second, Ridge took a 22-20 lead at the 4:03 mark of the second on two free throws by Conor Skea (team high 16 points and 10 rebounds) after Gray (game high 18 points, 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal) connected on a three pointer to tie things at 20-20 with 4:19 to go in the half. Colonia took the lead going into the locker room at halftime on an 8-0 run that included six points on two layups and two free throws by senior forward Justin Williams (9 points, 5 rebounds, and a steal). Nick Cefalo (12 points and 10 assists) netted two free throws at the 1:03 mark, and then, after a steal for a layup by Gray, put in a feed from Skea to make the score, 30-28 in favor of Colonia at the half.
Gray opened the third with a three pointer from Greg Jones (a point, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds) to take a 33-28 lead at the 7:35 mark, and despite junior point guard, Dave Cole picking up his third foul at the 6:12 mark, the Patriots actually held the biggest lead of the game at 38-30 with 5:30 to go in the third on a Matt Wagner (11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals) three pointer from the right wing off an assist by Jones. However, Ridge rallied with a 15-2 tear over the next 3:28 including one of two free throws by Skea, a foul line jumper by Cefalo, a layup by Tom Gambino (9 points, 5 rebounds, an assist, and a block), a jumper by Skea, and a steal for a layup by Cefalo to go back out in front, 45-40 with 2:02 remaining in the period.
Ridge couldn’t put the Patriots away though. Aubrey McGlaughlin got his only points of the game on a layup off a nice pass from Wagner to stop the bleeding and close the gap to 45-42 heading into the fourth. In the final period, Cole came back into the game, and immediately made an impact when he passed to Gray for a layin that pulled the Pats within one at 45-44. Cefalo, who was 4 of 9 from the foul line, missed the front end of a one and one at the 7:14 mark. Colonia couldn’t take advantage though. Despite a floater by Cole (8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, a steal, and a charge) that pulled the Pats within one again at 47-46, Ridge stayed in front.
Cefalo made one of two free throws that put Ridge up by two before Jones got his only point of the game with a one of two showing from the line at the 4:29 mark for a 48-47 Red Devils lead. Ridge then got a layup by Gambino off an assist from Christian Frisoli (7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals), and a layup by Frisoli himself off a drive and dish by Cefalo for a 52-47 lead with 3:30 remaining. Gray made two free throws to trim the deficit back down to three at 52-49 before Ridge called for a full timeout with 2:52 left. The Red Devils, which entered the game 2-0 after wins over Warren Hills and Bridgewater, had chances to put the game away, but kept things interesting as Skea missed the front end of a one and one with 1:58 left, and Cefalo missed both ends of the double bonus with 46.4 seconds left.
However, Skea picked up his teammate by grabbing a very important offensive rebound that allowed Ridge to take another 30 seconds off the clock before Colonia managed to get the ball back by forcing the Red Devils to step out of bounds with 16.1 seconds remaining. The Patriots then got the ball into their frontcourt before head coach, Chris Chiera called for time at the 10.8 second mark to set up a final play. Ridge was prepared though as it guarded against the three point shot, and forced Wagner to put up a difficult shot that went off the backboard and the backiron as time expired with the home team coming away with the 52-49 victory.
More details will be forthcoming in summaries later this week.