BOUND BROOK, NJ–For the third time this summer, GMC Hoops traveled over to Bound Brook High School to take in the final night of action in week number four of the 2008 Bound Brook Summer League. On this night, the web site saw both GMC teams competing in this league in action. First, Piscataway was playing Pingry at 6:45 PM, and then J.F. Kennedy took on undefeated Warren Hills at 7:45 PM. There were also three other games involving teams outside the GMC. See details on those results and the latest standings.
Piscataway Rolls Past Pingry, 51-27
Prior to the contest between J.F. Kennedy of Iselin and Warren Hills, GMC Hoops managed to catch the final minutes of the game played between Piscataway and Pingry. The Chiefs recently suffered back to back setbacks at the hands of Somerville on July 3rd, and to Bound Brook on July 8th, but have since won two in a row including a 61-41 victory over Bernards, and a 59-34 rout of Manville. Pingry, which is coached by former Bridgewater standout, and New Brunswick head coach, Jason Murdock, is looking to find someone to fill the void left behind by the graduation of all time leading scorer, Jeff Tannenbaum.
The web site joined the action with three minutes to go, and Piscataway in command. The Chiefs took a 26-15 lead at halftime, and then started the second half with a 20-12 showing for a 46-27 lead. Following a Pingry foul at the 1:48 mark, P-Way got a three pointer from the top of the key that made the score, 49-27 with 1:36 left. Murdock called a timeout for the Big Blue a couple seconds later, but following the stoppage, the Chiefs got a nice swat for a block that went out of bounds despite great hustle by another Piscataway player at the 1:10 mark. P-Way then had another opportunity to score at the 37.4 second mark with a bank shot attempt from the left low block that drew a foul, but missed both foul shots. Piscataway would then close out the scoring in the game with a steal and dish underneath for a layup as the Chiefs won, 51-27.
With the victory, Piscatway improves to 5-2 while Pingry drops to 2-4.
Warren Hills Remains Unbeaten With Win Over JFK
The featured GMC Hoops matchup of the night was between J.F. Kennedy and Warren Hills, which was looking to stay undefeated. The Blue Streaks, which compete in the Hunterdon and Warren County dominated Delaware West Division of the Skyland Conference, qualified for the North Jersey Section 2 Group III tournament this past season, and won its first round game with a 27-26 victory over Shabazz. However, during the off-season, the team learned that its head coach, Chris Walker, who played at South Plainfield High School during the early 1980s, and coached as an assistant at his alma mater during the 1992-93 season after also being an assistant at St. Peter’s and Scotch Plains, is not returning to coach at the school next season. Nevertheless, Walker’s imprint on the team is obvious. They are well coached, and on top of that, they are a team with a lot of size, which makes it no surprise that they are undefeated so far this summer.
On the other hand, J.F. Kennedy has been up and down this off-season. The Mustangs started out strong with two wins out of the chute, but then three straight losses before defeating Manville on July 10th. JFK has a lot of young talent that it is trying to cultivate with head coach Chris Banos, who guided the school to its first double digit win season in at least five seasons. Joe Marciano, the younger brother of Vince Marciano is the key player on the squad with his nifty drives to the basket that compliment his perimeter game. His efforts have gained the respect of many opposing coaches in the league so far this summer. Kennedy battled hard in the first half after yielding a 15-0 run by the Blue Streaks for a 17-5 deficit. JFK closed out the opening period with a 12-7 effort over the final 10:08 to pull within seven at the intermission, 24-17. However, in the second half, Warren Hills pulled away after the Mustangs drew to within four on a layup at the 14:10 mark that made the score 29-25. The Blue Streaks then embarked on a decisive 14-3 tear over a 7:40 span to take a 43-28 lead, and ultimately win.
Warren Hills got on the board first after grabbing the rebound off a missed fast break layup attempt by Marciano. The Blue Streaks gave an outlet pass upcourt for the easy layup, and a 2-0 lead with just 13 seconds gone by in the contest. Jack Frost, no relation to the one with the wintry bite, then hustled to grab an offensive rebound that kept a subsequent JFK possession alive, and then dished to Marciano for the layup to knot things up at 2-2 with 18:42 to go in the first half. Frost then struck again 35 seconds later with a three pointer from the left wing for a 5-2 lead with 18:07 to go in the half. Just when things began to look up for Banos, the son of referee George Banos, and his Mustangs, Warren Hills brought them crashing down to reality with a key surge that helped decide the outcome of the contest. The 15-0 tear over a 7:22 span started out innocently with a pair of free throws at the 17:30 mark that made the score, 5-4.
Picking momentum though, the run grew. The Blue Streaks took the lead for good with a nice kickout to the left baseline for a jumper that made the score, 6-5 at the 16:09 mark. Warren Hills then followed that up with a nice move from the left wing for a layup, and an 8-5 edge with 15:18 to go in the half. The Warren County team then doubled JFK’s scoring output to this point in the game with a nice pass down low to their big man for a layup as he was fouled. Although the big man failed to convert the traditional three point play, Warren Hills was now up 10-5 with 14:33 to go before halftime. The Blue Streaks didn’t stop there either with a fast break that was capped by a dish to the right for a layup and a 12-5 lead at the 13:45 mark. The assault continued after a brief lull as Warren Hills then scored again on a three pointer from just to the left of the top of the key for a 13-0 tear, and a 15-5 advantage with 11:21 remaining in the first half. A little over a minute alter, the run was capped off by the big man as he poked the ball way, and picked it up for a layup, and a 17-5 lead with 10:08 to play before the break.
Kennedy finally put an end to the run with a field goal at the 9:48 mark that closed the gap to ten again at 17-7. The Mustangs then got a stop, and had a chance to cut the lead even further when a Blue Streak player got his hand in the way of a handoff in the right high post for a steal, and drove the length of the floor for a layup, and a 19-7 edge with 8:45 to go in the half. JFK would get on the board again with a pump fake, and drive along the baseline for a jumper, and a 19-9 Warren Hills lead at the 7:37 mark. Marciano then followed that up with a nifty drive for a layup that rolled in as he was fouled, but he missed the bonus charity shot, and the score stood at 19-11 in favor of the Blue Streaks with 5:07 to play in the half. However, Warren Hills would get three of those points back when its big man scored a layup while being fouled for a conventional three point play, and a 22-11 lead at the 3:38 mark.
JFK then closed out the first half with 6 of the final 8 points including a Marciano drive to his left off a hard screen set by Nick Spoganetz for a jumper at the 2:12 mark, a nice move for a jumper at the 23 second mark, and a pair of technical free throws by Marciano with no time left on the clock to pull his team to within seven at halftime, 24-17. During halftime, and the first five minutes or so of the second half, GMC Hoops took a break from the action to speak with Bound Brook coach, Anthony Melesurgo, who has done a great job not only turning his program around, but also putting together this year’s league, which is a nice blend of teams from a number of conferences including the Colonial Hills Conference, GMC, Mountain Valley Conference, Patriot Conference, and the Skyland Conference.
Returning to action, the web site picked things up again at the 15:07 mark with Warren Hills still in the lead, 29-23. Thirty-three seconds later, the Blue Streaks had a chance to go up by eight, but Spoganetz came up with a huge charge. Then, the Mustangs took advantage of the forced turnover with a layup that closed the gap to four at 29-25 with 14:10 to play. However, that would be as close as Kennedy would get the rest of the game. Warren Hills would embark on a decisive 14-3 spurt over the next 7:40 to put the game away. The run began with a nice pass in the paint for a layin, and a 31-25 lead at the 13:40 mark. It continued with a short jumper set up nicely by an inbounds pass at the 12:25 mark for a 33-25 lead. The Blue Streaks then got a three pointer from the right wing at the 11:10 mark to go up by double digits again, 36-25. The Mustangs would then get their only points of the stretch with a trey of their own at the 10:51 mark for a 36-28 Warren Hills advantage.
Despite missing two foul shots at the 10:10 mark, Warren Hills would maintain its momentum by scoring the next seven points including two free throws by its big man at the 9:20 mark, a three pointer from the top of the key at the 7:45 mark, and a drive across the key from the left wing for a scoop shot layup, and a 43-28 lead with 6:30 to go. A half minute later, and with Warren Hills still leading by 15, GMC Hoops decided to leave early to try to catch some action from the TBSA Summer League. The Mustangs would then close the game with a 20-11 showing to narrow the final score to 54-48 as Warren Hills improved to 6-0 on the summer while JFK slipped below .500 to 3-4.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warren Hills | 24 | 30 | 54 |
| J.F. Kennedy | 17 | 31 | 48 |