NEPTUNE, NJ–On Monday night, GMC Hoops traveled down to Rebounds again, and this time saw three contests. The first one was between Monroe and St. John Vianney, and the other two involved the two squads from G-Force. We will have more details on these games later, but first, the site wanted to take an overall look at the league after Week Four action.
Starting off, we take a look at the latest standings from the league. In Division A, Neptune won the showdown over Manchester in a battle of the only two undefeated teams in the league. However, Asbury Park defeated Toms River North to improve to 3-1. So, now while Neptune remains the only undefeated team in the league, Asbury Park is now tied with Manchester for second place in the division at 3-1. In addition, the Bishops, which have only lost to Monroe, still have upcoming games on the schedule against Manchester and Neptune. Behind them is Manasquan and Monroe at 2-2 with the Purple Birds losing to Manchester (2-0 forfeit) and Manasquan (54-53). The Warriors on the other hand, have now won two straight after losing their opener to Neptune (49-41), and then falling to St. John Vianney (53-44) in Week Two. Bringing up the rear of Division A are St. John Vianney (1-3), G-Force Gold (1-3), and Toms River North (0-4).
Moving on to Division B, there is a bit more separation between the teams, but it is still very crowded with two of the teams still tied at 3-1 while five of the other six teams all within a game of first place at 2-2. The only team that is not really in contention right now is Jackson Liberty at (0-4). Toms River East and Second Baptist Church share the lead at 3-1. The Raiders, which are guided by former South Brunswick head coach, Tom Carpenter during the regular season, defeated Jackson Liberty (54-21) while Second Baptist Church, which lost its opener to G-Force Black (59-52), has now won three straight. Speaking of G-Force Black, they dropped a 51-42 decision to Lacey on Monday night for its second straight loss after an 2-0 start to even up at 2-2. Lacey is also 2-2 as well as Academy Charter, Ocean Township, and Mater Dei. G-Force Black is behind Lacey and Ocean Township in the standings after head to head losses to those teams.
Looking at the results from Week Four more closely, the contests weren’t as competitive as in past weeks. Of the eight games that were played on Monday night, five of them were decided by 13 points or more. Monroe though continues to play very competitive basketball with its third game of the Spring decided by a point. The Falcons are 2-1 in those three games with the only loss to Manasquan. One of the three blowout games of 22 points or more was Manasquan’s 65-39 victory over G-Force Gold. The Warriors were only leading by a 42-36 margin when they called timeout with 7:41 to play. From that point on, they dominated with their size, athletic ability, and shooting as they outscored G-Force Gold by a 23-3 margin to end the game.