SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops made a quick stop over at the Raritan Bay Summer League over in the air conditioned confines of the South Amboy Middle/High School Gym to take in the final night of action in this abbreviated week. Graduation ceremonies will be taking place at the school so no games will be played on Wednesday and Thursday. The web site only managed to take in one game on this night although one of the league directors, Tom Reilly said that the best game of the season, which went to triple overtime, had been played earlier. The contest feature in this blog entry was between CJEOTO, which is coached by Ian Turnbull, and St. Stan’s of Sayreville from the 7th and 8th Grade Division.
CJEOTO Cruises Past St. Stan’s, 60-34
Upon arriving in the gym at South Amboy, GMC Hoops sat down to see CJEOTO, which has helped produce such talent as Arman Wilson of South Brunswick, already in the lead by a score of 9-6 with approximately 15 minutes to go in the first half. About a minute or so later, CJEOTO scored a layup to take an 11-6 lead. Applying full court pressure, CJEOTO was able to manufacture a turnover that was in the form of a steal, and was converted into a layup for a 13-6 St. Stan’s lead. Following a St. Stan’s timeout with 13:20 to go before halftime, CJEOTO got on the board again with a steal for a layup that pushed the margin up to nine points at 15-6. The lead would grow to be eleven points as the Franklin Township based team got another field goal to go up by a 17-6 count.
St. Stan’s would try to climb into the matchup again by scoring the next three points including one of two at the free throw stripe to make the score, 17-7 at the 7:30 mark, and then a layup at the 6:16 mark that closed the gap to 17-9 with 6:16 left in the half. CJEOTO would get a score of its own to move back up by ten at 19-9, but then St. Stan’s got those two points back on a nice pass to set up a field goal for a 19-11 CJEOTO lead with 4:23 left. Following another basket by CJEOTO, St. Stan’s retaliated once again with a fine pass off the inbounds for a layup and the foul, but the Sayreville school couldn’t connect on the bonus free throw for a 21-13 score with 3:13 to go before the intermission.
Over the final two plus minutes of the first half, CJEOTO began to pull away with a 10-4 spurt that included a steal for a layup with 2:03 to go in the half, two free throws at the 1:45 mark, and a 6 of the final 8 points of the period thanks to pressure defense for a 31-17 halftime lead. In the second half, CJEOTO came out firing with a 16-0 tear over the first eight minutes of the second half to take a commanding 30 point lead, 47-17. The run included one of two free throws at the 18:45 mark, an offensive board and putback at the 16:55 mark, a layin at the 15:27 mark, and another field goal with 12 minutes to go. From there, St. Stan’s would outscore the Franklin Township squad by a 17-13 margin, but the damage had already been done in this 60-34 rout.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| CJEOTO | 31 | 29 | 60 |
| St. Stan’s | 17 | 17 | 34 |