MIDDLESEX, NJ–On Tuesday afternoon, the pre-season scrimmage tour continued as GMC Hoops went to Middlesex High School to see the Blue Jays in action. The Jays are out to prove something this upcoming 2007-08 season. After not making the state tournament for the past five seasons, and finishing the year 7-14 including a GMCT Play-In round loss at home to South Amboy, and six straight losses to end the year, Middlesex has worked hard in the off-season with a 8-1 regular season record, and three straight wins in the playoffs including a victory over Sayreville in the Championship Game at the 2007 Middlesex County College Summer League. Meanwhile, the JV competed in the Colonia JV Summer League, and lost to ninth seeded Sayreville in the first round of that league’s post-season tournament. Then, in the fall, the Blue Jays managed to get in the 2007 TBSA Fall League, and played five games in the add-in league as it compiled a record of 3-2 for the best record in that division.
In this scrimmage, the Blue Jays were taking on Cranford of Union County. The Cougars, a Group II school, now compete in the Mountain Valley Conference after being a member of the Watchung Conference for many years. With opponents on their season schedule such as Hillside, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Catholic, and Scotch Plains, the Cougars presented a formidable challenge to Middlesex, which is Group I. Our appearance at MHS, marked the first time we were there since the Thanksgiving Eve Football game played between the Blue Jays and the Dunellen Destroyers that Middlesex won, 8-6. Arriving late to the game so that I could work on the summary for Monday’s scrimmage between St. Joseph’s and Elizabeth, I sat down in the gym with about 1:15 to go, and Middlesex leading by a score of 9-6. Despite my late arrival, I didn’t miss much thanks to Dave Delnegro, who is our resident MHS Volunteer. Dave’s going into his third season covering Blue Jay games for the web site, and does a great job. He also was a member of Middlesex’s football team this fall.
Moving on to the scrimmage itself, both schools played six quarters including two by the JV squads. In the four periods played by the two varsity teams, Middlesex won three periods with the first quarter ending in a 12-12 tie. In that first stanza, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 10-2 lead before the Cougars ran off ten straight points to take a two point lead. Middlesex then scored the final points to even things up. MHS won the second quarter, 13-8, the third by a 17-15 margin, and the fourth by nine, 19-10. Overall, Middlesex got the edge in this one by outscoring Cranford, 61-45. In the two periods of JV action, the story was the same as well with the two schools drawing even in the first, but Middlesex winning the remaining frame, 14-4 for a 20-10 edge in that portion of the exhibition. Over the final, 17:15 of the varsity scrimmage, the Blue Jays outscored the Cougars, 40-27 to come away with the overall edge. In that same time frame, Middlesex connected on 17 of 26 shots overall for a scorching 65.4 percent including 13 of 20 from two point range for exactly 65 percent, and 4 of 6 from beyond the arc for 66.7 percent. The only shooting blemish during that span by the Jays was a 2 of 5 effort at the charity stripe for 40 percent. On the other hand, Cranford was 11 of 24 from the floor for 45.8 percent while making 5 of 6 at the line for 83.3 percent.
In other statistical departments, Middlesex had more rebounds (21-9), offensive boards (5-4), assists (12-6), steals (8-3), and turnovers (8-13). Cranford had more blocks while neither team drew a charge in the 17:15 of the scrimmage observed. The Blue Jays made the most of scoring opportunities converting the 13 Cougar turnovers into 12 points while scoring four second chance points on the five offensive rebounds. Middlesex also executed the break very well scoring 14 of their points in transition. On the other hand, Cranford only had six points off the eight Blue Jay miscues, and no second chance points. The Cougars did score eight points on the fast break. For the scrimmage, John Stockton was simply scintillating with 22 points along with three rebounds and an assist. In the time watched, the elder Stockton connected on 3 of 4 from three point range, and one of two from inside the arc for 4 of 6 shooting overall and 11 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist. Junior Ryan Farley also performed well with 5 of 6 shooting and 1 of 2 at the line for 11 too to go along with 2 rebounds and 2 steals. The forward ultimately finished with 11 points, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a block according to the total stats compiled by our MHS Volunteer. Nick Fariella chipped in with 4 of 6 shooting from the floor for 8 points along with a steal, and a rebound during the two plus quarter stretch, and ended up with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.
Sophomore center, Mark Stockton, had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists in the exhibition including 2 of 2 from the field and one of two at the line for 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal in the time that I watched. Billy Lester (3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block), Mike Perone (3 points, 2 assists, a steal, and a rebound), and Mike Fincher (2 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals) rounded out the fine team effort by the Blue Jays. From what I saw in the scrimmage, I couldn’t help, but walk away from it feeling impressed by the way Middlesex played. The Jays shot the ball well, particularly from the perimeter, and their execution was superb, especially the passing by the big men Fariella, Mark Stockton, and Farley. Even Fincher had a nice dish for a layup in the JV scrimmage. Particularly noteworthy was Middlesex’s ability to run and finish the break as well as the team’s fine job in converting turnovers forced. This is a nice veteran group that had a good off-season, and because of that was considered in the web site’s Top 15 during the recent predictions and their subsequent revisions. According to the Blue Jay Volunteer, Middlesex defeated Delaware Valley in addition to Matawan Regional and Northern Highlands, which makes them at least 4-0 in the pre-season after today’s action. Honestly, now, after seeing them play today (and mind you I didn’t get to see them play much during the summer and fall due to overlapping schedules for several of the summer leagues, and early start times for the Jays at TBSA in the fall), I feel that MHS is capable of being a Top Ten team.
Of all the teams that I’ve seen so far that have been on the borderline, Middlesex as well as Monroe proved that they belonged. Middlesex has better perimeter scoring while Monroe played better defense. Both teams handled the ball well. Monroe had 17 turnovers, but in four quarters played while Middlesex had eight in a bit more than two periods. However, relative to Metuchen, North Brunswick, Edison, and Dunellen, I believe that these two teams need to go to the head of the line. But, there are still some concerns about both, particularly Middlesex. Much of that is not only due to the 7-14 record last season, but also the fact that the team finished with six straight losses to close out the year. One day, Middlesex can play with the likes of McCarrick and Bishop Ahr, the next they can fall to the depths of despair against the likes of Highland Park. Furthermore, the Jays haven’t made the state tournament since the days of Howie Horowitz, and that season, MHS was still below .500 at the end of the year. The key will be how the Blue Jays do early on. Important games to watch for are on December 17th against Spotswood, and December 20th versus Metuchen. Both these opponents are in that three, four, five order in the GMC Blue. Over the past three seasons, Middlesex has gone 1-5 versus the Chargers with their last victory coming on the road in Spotswood on January 20, 2005. Moreover, against Metuchen, the Blue Jays are also 1-5 with their last win coming against the Bulldogs at home on January 28, 2005 by a score of 65-54. On top of that, Middlesex has the Mike Shello Tournament in Dunellen coming up over the holidays, which has always ended up in the past with the Jays losing to their Route 28 rival and nemesis, Dunellen for the tourney title.
Middlesex needs to do well in these four games not only to make a better case for themselves, but more importantly, to avoid putting themselves in a precarious situation around the time of the state tournament cutoff, where they need to win out, and have to come up with victories over Blue Division favorites and contenders, Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop Ahr. Moreover, the Jays, which have a good shot to finish at least third in the Blue in 2007-08, need to take care of the Bulldogs, Chargers, and Mustangs first before talking of higher aspirations such as knocking off McCarrick and Ahr, and getting the respect they feel they deserve.