SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–On Thursday night, the first week of action concluded at the 2008 Raritan Bay Summer League over in South Amboy with a full schedule of games starting at 5:30 PM. After a scheduling snafu postponed action at the last minute on Wednesday night, four games were played on Thursday at the air conditioned South Amboy Middle/High School. In the first game held at 5:30 PM, South Amboy defeated the Scarlet Nets by a score of 30-18 in a contest from the 5th and 6th Grade Division. Then, at 6:30 PM, South Amboy edge Monroe by a score of 19-10 in a game from the 3rd and 4th Grade Division.
Like Tuesday, GMC Hoops came down for the final two games of the evening including the first contest covered by the site for the High School Division. At 7:30 PM, the Monmouth Breakers AAU team with players mostly in Monmouth County, and consisting of a large contingent of players from Middletown North, took on Sayreville in the High School game of the night. The Breakers played earlier in the week in the season opener against G-Force, and won 47-31. Meanwhile, Sayreville was yet to play this season. As a matter of fact, many of the high school teams will not be competing until the summer since they prefer to have their coach from the regular season coaching them. However, once play begins be assured that there will be a lot of great action from this division for the first time since the inaugural season of GMC Hoops coverage of this league in 2004. In the nightcap, Metuchen took on St. Stan’s of Sayreville in a 7th and 8th Grade Division contest.
Breakers Roll To Second Straight Win To Start Summer, 64-26
Greg Machos was very happy to finally catch some of the high school action from this league. The nice thing about the Raritan Bay Summer League this season is that it is starting so early. It gives GMC Hoops a chance to come down, and take in some of the action over here since there aren’t many opportunities to do so once the real summer league season kicks in during the middle of June. On top of that, when we do come over to take in some games, very rarely do we get the opportunity to see a high school matchup. So, when the Monmouth Breakers took on Sayreville in the 7:30 PM game, it was a rare treat for the web site.
The Breakers have a number of talented players. Most notably from a local, or GMC perspective, the Monroe tandem of Alex Vizcaino and Matt Gorham. Both of these players are quite familiar with the Raritan Bay Summer League since they competed here a couple years ago as 7th Graders going into 8th Grade along with teammates such as Kayshon Stroughn. During the regular season, Vizcaino played a pivotal role in Monroe’s victory over Woodbridge in the GMC Hoops Freshmen Game of the Week. In that February 1st matchup against the Little Barrons, Vizcaino came up with a game high 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the floor, and 3 of 4 from the line while also collecting 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds over the final two periods of play.
Moving along with the Breakers roster, Cory Soanes is perhaps the most talented player on the team. Roughly a 5’9″ guard, Soanes is highly touted, and will be playing basketball at St. Anthony’s next season. In addition to Soanes, Kyle Rean, the son of head coach, Ric Rean, comes from Matawan along with Brian Dailey while five other players come from Middletown North. The group of players from Middletown include: Chris Anderson, who clicked on two long range jumpers toward the end of the contest, his brother Matt Anderson, Tom DeGrushe, Rob Esser, and John Martens. As mentioned earlier at the top of this article, the Monmouth Breakers began their season on opening night with a game against G-Force, which is coached by Kareem Jackson. In a contest that was described by both Tom Reilly and Gary Lange of the Raritan Bay Summer League as a really well played contest, the Breakers were too much for G-Force in a 61-47 victory.
In this particular contest, Sayreville didn’t offer as much opposition as G-Force did. In the first half, the Breakers rolled out to a 25-11 lead. Then, after GMC Hoops arrived for the start of the second half, the Breakers continued to dominate with a 39-15 showing in the final period to win convincingly, 64-26. Over the first four minutes of the second half, the Monmouth Breakers scored the first eight points for a 33-11 lead. Highlighting the run was a field goal at the 19:50 mark for a 27-11 lead, a fast break opportunity that culminated with a short jumper by Soanes at the 17:27 mark to make the score, 29-11, a steal for a layup by Soanes with 17:07 to go in the contest, and then another steal by Soanes that led to another field goal by the St. Anthony’s prospect for a 22 point lead with 16:12 remaining in the contest.
Sayreville finally got on the board in the second half with a field goal at exactly the 16 minute mark to pull within twenty again at 33-13. The bucket sparked a 9-9 standoff between the two teams over the next 4:49 that made the score, 42-20 in favor of the Breakers with 11:11 left in the game. Following a timeout, the Monmouth based AAU squad finished off Sayreville with a 20-2 surge over the next 8:36 for an insurmountable 62-22 lead with only 2:35 to go. Highlighting the outburst was a one of two showing from the foul line by Dailey at the 6:16 mark, an offensive rebound and putback by Rean at the 4:49 mark, an assist by Vizcaino on a jumper by Chris Anderson at the 3:00 mark, and finally a long bomb of a three pointer from the right wing by Anderson at the 2:35 mark for the forty point advantage. Sayreville then closed things out with four of the final six points to round out the 64-26 rout. The Breakers are now 2-0 on the summer while Sayreville fell to 0-1.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monmouth Breakers (2-0) | 25 | 39 | 64 |
| Sayreville (0-1) | 11 | 15 | 26 |
Metuchen Notches First Win Of Summer, 40-18
In the final game of the night, Metuchen took on St. Stan’s of Sayreville in action from the 7th and 8th Grade Division. Entering the game, Metuchen was 0-1 after losing on opening night to Parlin by one point while St. Stan’s was playing in its first game of the summer. Like the game before it, this contest was not really that close. Metuchen, which was without the services of big man, Dorian Miller, jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first 8:48 of the game, and never really looked back as it lead 22-9 at the half, and cruised to a 40-18 victory.
At the start of the game, St. Stan’s got on the board first with a jumper from the right side that got a kind bounce at the 18:46 mark for a 2-0 lead. Aaron Lewis, who picked up the slack for the Bulldogs in Miller’s absence, responded right away on the very next possession with a drive from the right wing for a floater that tied the game at 2-2 with 18:33 to go in the first half. A little more than a half minute later, St. Stan’s took its final lead of the game with one of two from the foul line that made the score, 3-2 at the 17:55 mark. Then, Metuchen took over the contest with 10 straight points for a nine point lead. Sparking the spurt was an offensive rebound and putback at the 17:29 mark for a 4-3 lead. The same player would get the next score of the contest that was a result of hard work and hustle as an offensive rebound and save eventually turned into a foul line jumper for a 6-3 Metuchen lead with 15:01 to go in the game.
Another minute and a half, or so would pass before another score as Metuchen would get a steal, and convert it into a layup for an 8-3 lead at the 13:26 mark. About a minute after that, the Bulldogs were on the board again as nice ball movement lead to a jumper from the right wing for a 10-3 edge with 12:24 to go in the first half. Following a Buldog timeout at the 11:27 mark, Metuchen got another basket with a score in the paint for a 12-3 lead. Neither team would score for over three minutes before St. Stan’s ended its near ten minute scoring drought with a basket in the right low block while being fouled. Despite missing the bonus free throw for the traditional three point play, the Sayreville based Catholic school was now only trailing 12-5 with 8:02 to play in the first half.
Like the game against Parlin two nights earlier, scoring was at a premium for a while in the first half for Metuchen. The Bulldogs would finally end a nearly five and a half minute scoring drought with one of two from the foul line for a 13-5 lead with 5:39 to play before the intermission. Metuchen would have another opportunity to score when a player was fouled on a drive from the left side with 4:20 to go in the first half, but he misfired on the subsequent free throws so the lead remained at eight. Nearly a minute and a half later, St. Stan’s got a steal, and drove through the middle for a layup that closed the gap to six at 13-7 with 2:56 left in the first half. However, that would be the closest the Sayreville school would be for the rest of the game. Metuchen closed the opening period with a 9-2 spurt that was sparked by one of two free throws followed by an offensive rebound and putback of the missed foul shot for a 16-7 lead with 2:21 to go before halftime. The Bulldogs then scored six of the last eight points to take a 22-9 lead into the brief break.
In the second half, Metuchen doubled the output of St. Stan’s to increase its final margin of victory to 22. However, for a time in the final period of play, the game was close with St. Stan’s pulling to within an even dozen of Metuchen at 28-16 with about eight minutes left. However, the Bulldogs shut down their opponent with a 12-2 tear over the last 7:39 for the somewhat easy victory. Coming out of the intermission, Metuchen went right back to work with the first four points of the second half. Aaron Miller got both baskets including a breakaway layup off a nice rebound and outlet by a teammate at the 19:50 mark for a 24-9 lead, and then another breakaway layup some 20 seconds or so later for a 26-9 advantage with 19:31 to go in the game. Moments later, Ron Maderia, the head coach for St. Stan’s, called for time at the 19:26 mark. Following the timeout, St. Stan’s showed some resolved by storming back with four straight points of its own over a span of 3:30 including a steal for a layup that cut the deficit in half at 26-13 with 16:56 left.
Metuchen would get another score to go up by fifteen before St. Stan’s made one of two at the foul line with 15:50 remaining for a 28-14 lead. Over the next 8:11, both teams combined for only three points as Metuchen would net one of two from the charity stripe shortly after St. Stan’s got a field goal to make the score, 29-16. However, the Bulldogs would take over the rest of the game from there with 11 of the final 13 points for the 40-18 win. With the victory, Metuchen improved to .500 at 1-1 while St. Stan’s fell to 0-1. There are no games scheduled for Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday, but action will resume on Tuesday with a full slate of games starting at 5:30 PM.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metuchen (1-1) | 22 | 18 | 40 |
| St. Stan’s (0-1) | 9 | 9 | 18 |