MIDDLESEX, NJ–On Friday, December 5th, GMC Hoops traveled over to Middlesex High School off Route 28 in Middlesex Borough to watch a tri-scrimmage between Woodbridge, Jonathan Dayton, and the Blue Jays. It was our first really good opportunity to see the Barrons under new head coach, Antwaan Patterson, who previously served as an assistant coach in Roselle.
Overall, the Blue Jays dominated the scrimmage. They outscored Woodbridge 20-2 in the first quarter, and 16-5 in the second period for a 36-7 landslide. On top of that, the Blue Jays outscored Dayton Regional of Springfield by a margin of 11-4 in the opening period, and 21-4 in the second for a 32-8 outscoring there. Middlesex looked like a well-oiled machine in mid-season form even though it was the very first scrimmage of the year. In the other scrimmage between Dayton and Woodbridge, the contest was much closer, and tightly contested. In the first period the Bulldogs won by a margin of 14-11 and the second by a 14-10 edge for a 24-21 overall advantage.
As the scores indicated, Middlesex was the best, followed by Dayton, and then Woodbridge. However, keep in mind that this is only the first scrimmage of the year for these teams. Nevertheless, MHS lived up to its pre-season GMC Hoops Top Ten ranking with its solid effort. Mike Perone looked very good as did Ryan Farley. Mark Stockton put in a steady performance. Mike Colacci had some problems from the perimeter, but still managed to knock some down. On the other hand, Woodbridge had some struggles. Although the JV players provided some fire in the second period of their scrimmage with Middlesex, the Barrons had problems taking care of the basketball, and making shots. For example, the Barrons were just 1 of 7 from the floor in the first period with 8 turnovers while Middlesex made 8 of 11 shots, and 4 of 5 from the line while committing only two miscues.
There were some bright spots though. Blair Dolphin showed a lot of hustle and determination, Gerard Bullock is making progress on the defensive side of the ball by working harder there, and Jose Enger battled on the boards. As a team the Barrons had a very nice sequence of offense during their scrimmage against Jonathan Dayton with great ball movement, but they got impatient, and it resulted in an errant pass by Bullock that led to a score at the other end for the Bulldogs. One big problem that Woodbridge has had over the past several seasons is the lack of teamwork on offense. There has tended to be too much selfishness at times, and that has hurt the Barrons. Defensively is also another area of concern. Woodbridge has been among the bottom in scoring defense over the past several years.
There is talent in Woodbridge, and the team has the potential to get better with a new coach, and some new talent such as the son of former Carteret star, Keith Hughes, and Kyle Pearson giving the JV squad some energy. The Barrons will need to take some lessons from this scrimmage, and look to improve.