EDISON, NJ—GMC Hoops traveled out to The Basketball Shooting Academy over on Carter Drive in Edison to check out the final two sets of games on opening night in the 2007 TBSA Fall League. The games, which were played at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM respectively on Courts 2 and 3 matched up Trenton and Bishop Ahr, Colonia and Elizabeth, J.P. Stevens and Bridgewater, and Roselle Catholic and Timothy Christian. The featured game of the four, and of the night for the web site was between J.P. Stevens, which was coming off a superb summer league season with an undefeated record at the 2007 TBSA Summer League, and a berth in the Championship Game of the post-season tournament, where it lost to Piscataway, and also an appearance at the HBC Metro Classic at Seton Hall University back in June, where it defeated Holy Trinity of New York, and lost by only four to CBA. The first two games that were covered began at 7:00 PM, and were toward the end of the first halves respectively by the time of our arrival.
Trenton Pulls Away Late To Defeat Ahr, 63-57
In the first 7:00 PM game that was on Court #2 between Bishop Ahr and Trenton was a back and forth affair with both teams standing toe to toe and giving the other team its best shot. Upon arrival at TBSA, BGA was up by one with six minutes left, 16-15. Trenton got a score to take the lead at 17-16, but then the Trojans got a three point play on an ensuing possession for a 19-17 advantage. Following that pivotal play, the Tornadoes, which hail from the Colonial Valley Conference based mostly in Mercer County, took control of the contest with an 11-4 tear to finish the half for a four point, 28-24 lead. The spurt was capped by transition scores on back to back possessions. The first field goal came off a break set up by a missed Trojan shot that was rebounded by Trenton while the second score was created by a steal by the Tornadoes that was converted into a layup.
In the second half, Bishop Ahr fought hard to stay close by outscoring Trenton by a 27-24 margin over the first 16:42 of the second half to pull within one at 52-51 with 3:18 remaining in the game. However, like the first half, Trenton went on a decisive tear by outscoring the Trojans 9-1 over a span of 2:22 to take a commanding 61-52 lead with less than a minute left. The Tornadoes, which are participating in the TBSA Fall League for the second straight year, started the final assault with an offensive rebound and putback at the 2:41 mark to make the score, 54-51. Following a missed jumper by Matt Fiorino for BGA at the 2:02 mark, Trenton came back down the floor off the defensive rebound, and scored again for a five point, 56-51 edge. A little more than a half minute later, Trenton, which is a perennial power in Central Jersey Group IV, scored again on a three point play to make it 59-51.
Derek Figueredo of Bishop Ahr did what he could to stem the tide as he was fouled on a subsequent possession, and made one of two at the charity stripe for a 59-52 Trenton lead, but the Tornadoes would push their advantage up to nine with a tip in off two offensive rebounds to make the score, 61-52 with 0:56 remaining. Figueredo, who scored all of the final six points for BGA, netted a pair of free throws following an offensive rebound on a miss by Mike Williamson at the 22 second mark. Trenton was fouled on the next possession, and made a pair at the foul line with 0:20 left for a 63-54 lead. Figueredo then closed out the scoring for the game with a three pointer from the right wing to make it a 63-57 final. Trenton, which will play Timothy Christian in its next game on September 16th at 7:00 PM, moves up to 1-0 while Bishop Ahr, which will take on Bridgewater next Sunday at 6:00 PM, falls to 0-1.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trenton (1-0) | 28 | 35 | 63 |
| Bishop Ahr (0-1) | 24 | 33 | 57 |
Elizabeth Early Second Half Spurt Proves To Be Difference, 37-35
While Bishop Ahr and Trenton were going at it on Court #2, another traditional state powerhouse was battling a team from the GMC. Elizabeth, a team that had been the subject of some controversy early on in this current offseason, took on Colonia. It was the first time that these two teams had faced off since Justin Chiera was a senior, and Colonia was competing in the Elizabeth Holiday Tournament. The game provided an opportunity to touch base with new Elizabeth head coach, and former South Brunswick head coach, Chris Balent, who informed GMC Hoops that the Elizabeth Summer League will return in 2008. Returning to the contest, Colonia took a 17-16 lead at the half only to fall behind for good early on in the second half.
The Minutemen, which hail from the rough and tumble Watchung Conference, which had four of its teams in the Final Four of the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV bracket including: Elizabeth, Linden, Plainfield, and Irvington, embarked on a decisive 11-0 tear to start the second half for a 27-17 lead with 16:40 left in the game. Colonia attempted to rally back with two straight field goals including an acrobatic drive for a layup from the left side to make it a 27-21 Minutemen lead with 13:54 remaining. A little more than a minute and a half after that, Elizabeth netted a pair of free throws to push its advantage back to eight at 29-21 with 12:14 left. Forty-five seconds later, Colonia’s Brandon Hall, the only Patriot starter that showed up and played in the contest, was fouled, and converted both of his charity shot attempts to trim the deficit again to 29-23 with 11:33 to play. For over two minutes neither team scored before Elizabeth grabbed an offensive rebound over reserve Jeff Mentzel for a layup and a 31-23 lead.
The Minutemen raised the lead to double figures on a score down low that made it 33-23 with 7:43 to play as Colonia called for time. Following the timeout, the Patriots put together a rally that made the game interesting down the stretch. Elizabeth, which was held scoreless for nearly six minutes, had to hang on as CHS got a basket at the 3:00 mark to make it an eight point game at 33-25, and then after Elizabeth ended its scoring drought, the Pats scored five straight points including a three by Hall to trim the gap to 35-30 with 1:21 to play. Colonia could have cut into the lead even further, but on the subsequent possession, Mentzel misfired on a layup attempt with just under a minute left. His teammates would pick him up though by forcing a turnover, and scoring a layup from the left side for a 35-32 Elizabeth lead with 45 seconds to go. The Union County school put the game away though with an offensive rebound and follow at the 0:19 mark to make it 37-32, and although Hall would sink another three point basket from the left corner with three seconds left, it wasn’t enough as Elizabeth hung on for the 37-35 victory.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth (1-0) | 16 | 21 | 37 |
| Colonia (0-1) | 17 | 18 | 35 |
Roselle Catholic Survives Early Struggles To Roll Past Timothy Christian, 54-25
In the only game of the four covered that didn’t involve a GMC team, Roselle Catholic staked Timothy Christian of Piscataway to an 11-4 advantage before closing out the half with a 15-4 rally to take a 19-15 halftime edge. Then, in the second half, the Lions of the Mountain Valley Conference, led by the likes of Brendan Trelease and Matt Henn, continued to roll with a 35-10 onslaught that capped a 50-14 turnaround for the 54-25 win over the Tigers of the Patriot Conference. TCS, which is known for the famous Waszaj brothers, who dominated hoops at the small Christian School off of Stelton Road in Piscataway, scored the first two field goals of the game at the 18:40 and 17:41 marks respectively. Following a Roselle Catholic timeout at the 16:39 mark, the Tigers, which compete against the likes of prep schools Wardlaw-Hartridge, and Ranney, scored seven of the next eleven points to take an 11-4 lead with 11:07 to play in the first half.
Over the next 5:32, Roselle Catholic scored ten unanswered points including an offensive rebound, and putback at the 6:39 mark for its first lead of the game, and then another score at the 5:35 mark for a 14-11 lead. The Lions, which have been one of the top programs in Union County over the years, closed out the opening half with five of the last nine points for a 19-15 lead going into the brief intermission. In the second half, Roselle Catholic began things with five straight points within the first minute for a 24-15 lead, and then added six more in the ensuing 2:09 to take a 30-15 advantage with 16:52 left. The Lions then coasted from there with a 24-9 surge for the dominant, 54-25 victory. Roselle Catholic, which will take on Colonia next Sunday at 7:00 PM, raised its record to 1-0 while Timothy Christian, which will face Trenton next week, dropped to 0-1.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roselle Catholic (1-0) | 19 | 35 | 54 |
| Timothy Christian (0-1) | 15 | 10 | 25 |
Bridgewater-Raritan Clicks On All Cylinders To Defeat Stevens, 52-38
Of the four games on Sunday night at TBSA, this was perhaps the most intriguing. A young and upcoming J.P. Stevens team with a talented junior class taking on Bridgewater, a perennial power in Central Jersey, the Skyland Conference, Somerset County, and statewide Group IV. The Panthers have always been a tough club to crack. Led by long time head coach, Tim Ortelli, BRHS has always had some of the top shooters in Somerset County, and despite losing great players to graduation over the years such as likes of Hamby, Katz, Capers, McNally, and Goodwin, the team always finds a way to come out on top each year in the Somerset County Tournament. The 2007-08 season will be a tough one again for Bridgewater with the likes of Immaculata, Franklin, Watchung Hills, and Hillsborough to compete with in the Delaware East Division of the Skyland Conference, but the Panthers won’t make any excuses.
Meanwhile, J.P. Stevens is a program looking to get up to the level that Bridgewater is on. The Hawks are trying to recapture some of the old glory from the days of Newsom, Provato, and Bowen back in the late 1980s. It has been quite some time since J.P. Stevens qualified for the state tournament although the team made a nice run back in the 2003-04 season, and in that same year, made a Cinderella run through the 2004 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament before losing in the Quarterfinals to Cardinal McCarrick in overtime. With the likes of Kenny Bland, Myles Reuben, Nick Pol, and Tahir Swinton coming into their junior years after dominating the GMC as freshmen, and having returning players such as Alex Cacoilo, Patrick Lem, Conner Medler, and Matt Margon, the Hawks may have a team that can compete with the big boys in the GMC Red in 2007-08.
Things started out promising for the Hawks as Bland, who is coming of age, and more importantly, is raising his game to another level, nailed a three pointer from the right wing to open the scoring at the 19:21 mark. Being very active early, Bland came up with a blocked shot on a subsequent Bridgewater-Raritan possession at the 18:57 mark. However, the Panthers quickly took control of the game with eight straight points including a score on the left low block at the 17:32 mark, a score at the 16:23 mark, and an offensive rebound and putback from the left side for an 8-3 advantage at the 14:43 mark. JPS got some of that back with a score that made it 8-5, but Bridgewater raised its lead back to five with a pair of free throws following a foul inside by the Hawks to make it 10-5 at the 13:16 mark. Both teams would combine for only a point over the next 3:18 as Stevens cut into the Panther lead a bit more at 10-6 a little more than halfway through the first half.
J.P. Stevens cut into the lead even further as Patrick Lem found Myles Reuben in the high post, and fed him a bounce pass, which he converted for a score off a spin move for a layup down low to make it 10-8 with a little more than eight and a half minutes to go before halftime. However, it started to rain threes as the Panthers got three straight trifectas for a 19-8 lead. The first one came from the right wing at the 7:27 mark to make it 13-8. Then, about 40 seconds later, the Panthers scored on another three as the Bridgewater player made a nice fake step inward, and then pulled back for a three from the right wing for a 16-8 lead at the 6:49 mark. Finally, the Panthers struck again for a trey that compelled JPS to call for time trailing by eleven with 6:17 to go in the half. Following the timeout, the Hawks scored six of the next seven points including a steal for a breakaway layup by Reuben at the 5:12, and a Reuben assisted short, but high arching baseline jumper from the left side by Bland at the 2:47 mark to make it a six point game at 20-14.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as Stevens would get the rest of the way as Bridgewater-Raritan closed out the first half with six straight points for a 26-14 advantage at the intermission, and then the Panthers began the second half with another three pointer from the left corner for a 29-14 lead at the 19:47 mark. The trey sparked a 6-2 run to open the second stanza that included two one of two trips at the foul line, and a layup at the 16:48 mark for a 32-16 lead. JPS would attempt to climb back into it with a rally in the form of an 8-2 spurt over the next 4:03 to close the gap to 34-24 with 12:45 remaining. Bland started the comeback effort with a jumper from the right side for the first Hawk field goal of the second half to make it 32-18. Then, Nick Pol came up with four straight points including a jumper from the left side to make it 32-20, and a bank shot off a steal and assist by Lem following a pair of Panther free throws at the 14:00 mark to make the score, 34-22 with 13:20 to go. Tahir Swinton capped the rally with a layup that made it a ten point game at the 12:45 mark.
With its lead down to ten, Bridgewater-Rartian reasserted itself to finish off the Hawks. Over a span of 10:25, the Panthers outscored the Hawks by a 16-7 margin to take a commanding 50-31 advantage with about two minutes left. J.P. Stevens did what it could to make the game more respectable as Swinton came up with a nice baseline drive and dish for an assist on a short jumper by Bland at the 1:40 mark to make it 50-33, and then the junior point guard, who was ineligible last season as a sophomore, made a three point play as he scored on a layup while being fouled at the 1:20 mark to make it 50-36. Both teams then exchanged scores down the stretch to round out the final 52-38 Bridgewater-Raritan victory. With the win, Bridgewater, which will play Bishop Ahr next Sunday, raised its record to 1-0 while J.P. Stevens, which will take on another Delaware East Division squad from the Skyland in Montgomery next Sunday, dropped to 0-1.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater (1-0) | 26 | 26 | 52 |
| J.P. Stevens (0-1) | 14 | 24 | 38 |
Other results from earlier in the evening included: Montgomery edging Monroe by four points in the first game on Court #2 while St. Joseph’s defeated Notre Dame by 12. At 6:00 PM, Piscataway cruised by North Hunterdon with a 14 point win while Cardinal McCarrick downed Warren Hills by a slim four point margin. Here are the complete standings after Week #1:
- Bridgewater (1-0)
- Cardinal McCarrick (1-0)
- Elizabeth (1-0)
- Montgomery (1-0)
- Piscataway (1-0)
- Roselle Catholic (1-0)
- St. Joseph’s (1-0)
- Trenton (1-0)
- Bishop Ahr (0-1)
- Colonia (0-1)
- J.P. Stevens (0-1)
- Monroe (0-1)
- North Hunterdon (0-1)
- Notre Dame (0-1)
- Timothy Christian (0-1)
- Warren Hills (0-1)
GMC Hoops plans to be back out again at the 2007 TBSA Fall League when play resumes on Sunday, September 16th. Games to be covered are yet to be determined.