vs. 
Late Sunday afternoon, the 2022 Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals will have its fourth and final game of the day between top seeded St. Thomas Aquinas and 9th seeded Piscataway. These teams last met in the 2019 GMCT Quarterfinals when 5th seeded Piscataway knocked off 4th seeded Aquinas, then Bishop Ahr (62-55) en route to its last finals appearance, where it lost to St. Joe’s (49-46).
No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas (23-1)–Coaching Staff
[mstw-cs-table staff=2021-22-st-thomas-aquinas-coaches]
No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas (23-1)–Team Roster
| Player Name | Jersey No. | Position | Height/Weight | Year | High School | College | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrell Pitts | 0 | Guard/Forward | 6'4/190 | Junior | |||
| Adam Silas | 1 | Guard/Forward | 6'3/185 | Senior | |||
| Kamal Lee | 2 | Guard | 6'0/165 | Junior | |||
| Jaquan Harris | 3 | Guard | 6'4/185 | Senior | |||
| Samar Abdullah | 4 | Guard | 6'0/180 | Senior | |||
| Jaden Kelly | 5 | Guard | 6'3/175 | Sophomore | |||
| Sherief Guinyard | 10 | Forward | 6'6/180 | Junior | |||
| Jayden Young | 11 | Guard/Forward | 6'3/170 | Junior | |||
| Jadyn Defense | 12 | Guard | 5'9"/160 | Junior | |||
| Davon Grant | 20 | Guard | 6'1"/210 | Sophomore | |||
| Chris Santner | 21 | Center/Forward | 6'9/200 | Junior | |||
| Phillip Unangast | 22 | Forward | 6'6/185 | Sophomore | |||
| Jalen Pichardo | 23 | Guard/Forward | 6'6/195 | Junior | |||
| Tyler Kadi | 24 | Guard/Forward | 6'1"/185 | Senior |
No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas (23-1)–Season Schedule
[mstw_team_schedule team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference-white-division,greater-middlesex-conference,non-conference season=2021-22]
No. 9 Piscataway (11-9)–Coaching Staff
[mstw-cs-table staff=2021-22-piscataway-coaches]
No. 9 Piscataway (11-9)–Team Roster
| Player Name | Jersey No. | Position | Height/Weight | Year | High School | College | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaiden Parks | 1 | Guard | 6'0/170 | Senior | |||
| Jerrick Hargrove | 2 | Forward | 6'4/190 | Senior | |||
| Jonathan Carman | 3 | Small Forward/Power Forward | 6'3/175 | Junior | |||
| Kasir Hart | 5 | Guard/Forward | 6'3/180 | Senior | |||
| Dylan Samuel | 10 | Guard | 5'10/160 | Junior | |||
| Elijah Timberlake | 11 | Guard | 6'0/140 | Junior | |||
| Aaren Austin | 12 | Guard | 6'1/170 | Senior | |||
| Jayden Williams | 13 | Guard | 5'11/165 | Sophomore | |||
| Jaiden Corley | 14 | Guard | 6'0/175 | Senior | |||
| Logan Smith | 20 | Guard | 6'0/165 | Sophomore | |||
| Jalen Thomas | 21 | Center | 6'4/225 | Junior | |||
| Nate Pinheiro | 23 | Forward | 6'2/170 | Sophomore | |||
| Aleksander Sitkowski | 24 | Center | 6'3/200 | Sophomore | |||
| McKensi Brown-Mytil | 30 | Forward | 6'3/175 | Junior |
No. 9 Piscataway (11-9)–Season Schedule
[mstw_team_schedule team=piscataway league=greater-middlesex-conference-red-division,greater-middlesex-conference,non-conference season=2021-22]
No. 1 St. Thomas (23-1) vs. No. 9 Piscataway (11-9)–Common Opponents
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2021-12-18′ last_dtg=’2021-12-19′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference-white-division season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-01-06′ last_dtg=’2022-01-07′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference-white-division season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-01-11′ last_dtg=’2022-01-12′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference-white-division season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-02-01′ last_dtg=’2022-02-02′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=2771 league=greater-middlesex-conference-white-division season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-02-03′ last_dtg=’2022-02-04′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=piscataway league=greater-middlesex-conference season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-01-15′ last_dtg=’2022-01-16′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=piscataway league=greater-middlesex-conference-red-division season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-01-24′ last_dtg=’2022-01-26′]
[mstw_league_schedule_gallery team=piscataway league=greater-middlesex-conference season=2021-22 first_dtg=’2022-02-11′ last_dtg=’2022-02-12′]
No. 1 St. Thomas (23-1) vs. No. 9 Piscataway (15-7)–Recent History
Since Darius Griffin has taken over the Piscataway program, the Chiefs and Trojans have played each other twice including most recently in the 2019 GMCT Quarterfinals. The two teams split both games:
- February 17, 2019–GMCT Quarterfinals–#5 Piscataway 62–#4 St. Thomas Aquinas 55
- January 30, 2017–Regular Season–St. Thomas Aquinas (then Bishop Ahr) 72–Piscataway 64
Key Players
St. Thomas Aquinas
- Adam Silas: 6’3″ Sr. G/F with 754 career points, and averaging 19.2 ppg this season.
- Jaquan Harris: 6’4″ Sr. G/F with 561 career points, and scored 11 points in his only game versus Sayreville this year on February 8th.
- Terrell Pitts: 6’4″ Jr. G/F with 443 career points, and averaging 13.9 ppg this season.
- Jalen Pichardo: 6’6″ Jr. G/F with 517 career points, and averaging 10.2 ppg this season.
- Kamal Lee: 6’0″ Jr. G with 211 career points, and averaging 8.4 ppg this season.
- Sherief Guinyard: 6’6″ Jr. F with 449 career points, and averaging 6.0 ppg this season.
- Jaden Kelly: 6’3″ So. G with 222 career points, and averaging 9.5 ppg this season.
- Samar Abdullah: 6’0″ Sr. G with 527 career points, and averaging 8.0 ppg this season.
- Chris Santner: 6’9″ Sr. F with 78 career points, and averaging 5.0 ppg this season.
Piscataway
- Jalen Thomas: 6’4″ Jr. C with 335 career points, and averaging 14.0 ppg this season
- Jonathan Carman: 6’3″ Jr. F with 174 career points, and averaging 14.2 ppg this season.
- Jaiden Corley: 6’0″ Sr. G with 208 career points, and averaging 13.9 ppg this season
- Logan Smith: 6’0″ So. G with 100 career points, and averaging 6.3 ppg this season.
- Aaren Austin: 6’1″ Sr. G with 243 career points, and averaging 7.1 ppg this season.
- Kasir Hart: 6’3″ Sr. G/F with 113 career points, and averaging 5.3 ppg this season.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS vs. PISCATAWAY DID YOU KNOW?
Aquinas head coach Bob Turco and Piscatway head coach, Darius Griffin are no strangers to each other. Prior to Griffin becoming an assistant coach to Antoine Allen at Piscataway in 2012-13, he had served as an assistant coach to Turco when he took over at Notre Dame.
Turco has led two different schools to GMCT Finals: Monroe (2010) and St. Thomas Aquinas (2020). He won his first GMCT crown with Aquinas in 2020. Turco, the older brother of former St. Joseph’s and Middlesex County College, and current Kean head coach, Dave Turco, led Monroe to three GMCT Final Fours: 2006, 2009, and 2010.
Griffin will be leading P-Way to its fourth GMCT Elite Eight appearance since taking over the program in 2016-17. He has led the Chiefs to one GMCT Finals appearance, which was in 2019 where they lost to St. Joseph’s. Piscataway had back to back North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 semifinal appearances under Griffin as well in 2018 and 2019.
Prediction:
The Chiefs like many of the teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference will have their work cut out for them against top ranked Aquinas, which may have Jaquan Harris return before this year’s GMCT is over. Regardless, the Trojans beat all three common opponents the two schools have played: Colonia, Edison, and St. Joseph’s.
In addition, Aquinas beat Edison at Cangelosi Gymnasium on February 1st (71-37) and Colonia on February 3rd (68-54) while the Chiefs recently lost at Colonia 71-48 on February 11th. Piscataway has its share of athleticism and talent, and won’t back down, but Aquinas has all of that in bunches.
One match-up that will be worth watching will be how sophomore guard Logan Smith handles Aquinas’ pressure. Smith has the ability to make plays, score, get opposing defenders into foul trouble, and get to the foul line.
Final Score: St. Thomas Aquinas 80–Piscataway 65