Good afternoon. I’m trying to get myself back into writing stuff for the blog and the web site again. I had not been into doing much in terms of the GMC Hoops web site because I was not feeling well, and was trying to put together all the weather video stuff from the past several months that I compiled with my outdoor webcam. Anyway, I have posted video highlights from the Fourth Quarter of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III sectional semifinal game between Colonia and Rahway, and also posted a couple articles submitted by our Middlesex Volunteer from earlier in the season. These were posts that he had given well after these games happened so I was too busy with other stuff to post them right away. My apologies for that.
Well, the past several weeks of state tournament playoff coverage were quite sad in some respects to cover for me. I happen to see the final games of two extraordinary players to play in the Greater Middlesex Conference these past few years. At the end of February, I gave a < href="http://www.gmchoops.com/taking_it_to_the_rack.htm">tribute to Metuchen’s DeJuan Miller, who played his final game when the Bulldogs fell to South Amboy in the final minute, 59-56 in the first round of the Central Jersey Group I State Tournament. It also happened to be the final game that I saw the beloved Guvs play. South Amboy, which would lose to Asbury Park in the next round, had a magical season with four of its five starters all seniors. Some of which I first saw play just months before their freshman year at the Raritan Bay Summer League.
Which brings me to my next tribute. The first time I happened to see Brandon Hall play was in the Summer of 2004 at the Raritan Bay Summer League. It happened to be the first season that GMC Hoops was covering the league, which is run by Tom Reilly and Gary Lange, and has given us glimpses at a number of younger players including Hall over the years. I only saw Hall play once that summer in a game that matched Colonia’s squad coached by Bubba of the HawksBasketball Fall-Ball Classic, and had other players such as Edison’s Ron Lordi and Bishop Ahr’s Kevin Uszenski. I was impressed with the kid. He seemed much more mature than he was for his age. The only problem that stood in his way was the fact that Zach Rosen was the point guard for the Patriots. However, knowing the fact that then head coach, Ken Pace always had a knack for playing freshmen on the varsity including Rosen, Nick Smith, and Justin Chiera, I felt that it was quite possible that he would be on the varsity roster at some point during the 2004-05 season.
I would always get these e-mails from time to time asking about what I thought of Brandon Hall. I don’t know who was sending these e-mails, and I sometimes wondered about that, but Hall would get his chance to play some varsity that season when Rosen went down with an injury. Although Hall played well, it was Rosen’s team so when the sophomore came back, he took the helm, and Hall went back to the bench. Inevitably, Hall would become the Patriots’ floor general. Prior to the start of the 2005-06 season, Rosen, who also was a pitcher at CHS, was injured in a scrimmage against Linden, and was out for the reason of the season. Hall was slotted to start against Monroe at MTHS in a game that was covered by the site on opening night that season. In the contest, Hall struggled while Monroe center, A.J. Rudowitz flourished, and the Falcons embarked on their historic season under the direction of then first year head coach, Bob Turco with a 53-49 win while Colonia appeared to be a team in disarray. Later on that opening weekend, Pace e-mailed me stating that one of his players had quit the team.
The following week, the Patriots lost their second game of the season to Cardinal McCarrick, and were uncharacteristically 1-2 to start the season. Then came the 2005 Joe Silver Tournament, and the Patriots magical season began to take shape. The Pats went on to win the holiday tourney by defeating Snyder of Jersey City, and the host school Hillside in one of the biggest surprises of the early season. The tourney success bolstered Colonia’s confidence, and the team began to regain the swagger and fine play it had demonstrated during the summer at the Linden Summer League. Colonia would end up the GMCT Champions that season defeating top seeded Metuchen in the Championship, 55-46, advanced to the Semifinals of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III Semifinals before losing to Newark Westside, and finished 23-4. The team would only lose two more games during that season after the 1-2 start. Besides losing to Westside, the only game the Pats fell in was in overtime to a Woodbridge team that had put together an incredible run to make the state tourney that year. One of the keys to the turnaround of Colonia’s fortunes was the play of point guard Brandon Hall.
Hall, who made numerous turnovers in the opening night loss to Monroe, had improved tremendously over the course of that season, and earned the 2006 GMC Hoops Most Improved Player of the Year Award. It had finally become his team, and players such as 2006 GMCT Most Valuable Player, Jeff Totin, benefited tremendously. From that point on, Hall was a fixture in GMC Boys Basketball as well as Colonia, which compiled an 89-22 record over Hall’s four seasons. The team won at least a share of the GMC White each season including this past campaign, and made it to at least the GMCT Elite Eight each season with Final Four berths in three of those seasons in addition to the GMCT crown in 2006. Then, there was last season, where Colonia won its first sectional championship since current head coach, Chris Chiera was a player. The Patriots, which have reached the semifinal round of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III Sectional in each of the four years Hall attended CHS as well, won the title by defeating Union Hill in a double-overtime thriller, 83-81.
Like in his sophomore campaign, Colonia endured some trials and tribulations during the course of 2007-08, but the team under the stewardship of Hall found a way to rebound, and not only get the job done, but even overachieve to some extent. To defeat a Rahway team that had only lost to St. Patricks (79-66), and knock off J.P. Stevens in the GMCT Quarterfinals, were fine accomplishments by the same squad that had lost one of its key players earlier in the season, and lost several tough games around the midpoint of the year. With the graduation of Hall in June, not only will the GMC lose a great player, but Webster’s Dictionary will have to make a new addition to its definition of the term Winner. It will need to add Brandon Hall’s name.