South Brunswick Downs Spotswood in Camp Finale
SKILLMAN, NJ–On Thursday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to Montgomery High School for the final day of action at the 2016 Montgomery Team Camp. The site took in four of the games played on the night including one contest involving GMC teams as Spotswood took on South Brunswick in one of the two nightcap games during the 8:00 PM hour.
In a back and forth game, South Brunswick broke away from a 23-23 first half tie with a decisive 13-0 tear over the last 4:50 to take a 36-23 lead at the intermission. Spotswood, which battled all game despite not having the likes of J.T. Vento and Justin Dekovics in the lineup, scored the first five points of the second half to drawn back within single digits again, but couldn’t get any closer as South Brunswick led by as many as 15 points before winning by 11 in a game that was stopped with under six minutes to play due to a player injury.
Meanwhile, in the three non-conference games, Watchung Hills of the Skyland Conference and both Nottingham and Lawrence of the Colonial Valley Conference came up winners. Watchung defeated Hillsborough (45-30) while Nottingham downed North Plainfield (50-41), and Lawrence rolled past the host school, Montgomery (63-48). In a battle between two Skyland Conference, Delaware Division schools, things didn’t start out too well for Watchung Hills.
Hillsborough jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Watchung Hills rallied with a 10-5 run to tie the game at 12-12. The Raiders then got two late scores in a 4-2 run and then blocked a Warriors shot to take a 16-14 lead into the intermission. Watchung Hills opened the half with a 12-2 tear over the first 8 minutes for a 26-18 lead with 13:05 left in the game. The Warriors continued to expand on that lead by scoring 13 of the next 20 points over an 8:35 span for a 39-25 lead. Watchung Hills then coasted to a 15 point win.
Things were a little bit more heated and high school in the Skyland-CVC clash between North Plainfield and Nottingham. A little more of a high scoring game between these two schools as the Canucks and Northstars were tied at 22-22 with 3:48 left in the half. With emotions overflowing, both teams got embroiled in a scuffle that took a few minutes to get under control while only scoring a basket each down the stretch for a 24-24 tie at the half.
Nottingham opened the second half with a wave of emotion and put together a 10-0 spurt over the initial 6:51 capped by a three from the top of the key for a 34-24 lead. After a North Plainfield timeout, the Canucks rallied with 6 of the next eight points to pull within 36-30 at the 13:32 mark. Unfortunately, NPHS was unable to get closer than 46-41 late as Nottingham made two pairs of free throws down the stretch to wrap up the nine point victory.
In the battle between Montgomery and Lawrence, the Cardinals jumped out to a 19-12 lead midway through the first half, and then embarked on a 23-10 surge over the last 10 or 11 minutes to take a commanding 42-22 lead at the intermission. Montgomery opened the second half with a 6-0 burst to close the gap to 14 at 42-28, but was unable to get much closer than 56-44 late before Lawrence closed the contest by scoring 7 of the last 11 points for a 15 point win. Below are the scores from some of the action:
Montgomery Team Camp–Some Results–June 16, 2016
- Watchung Hills 45-Hillsborough 30
- Nottingham 50–North Plainfield 41
- Lawrence 63–Montgomery 48
- South Brunswick 54–Spotswood 43
GMC Hoops thanks Kris Grundy of Montgomery HS for his help and hospitality on Thursday. We plan to wrap up this busy week of hoops with a trip out to Raritan Bay on Friday.