NORTH EDISON, NJ–As the Greater Middlesex Conference season wound down, Greg Machos of GMC Hoops paid a visit to Perth Amboy High School to take in the consolation and championship games of the 2009 Perth Amboy/GMC Tournament. Once again, Bishop Ahr was a final four team as it won in the consolation over Monroe. This past season, the varsity went 15-6 in a season that was supposed to be another rebuilding year to many outside of Ahr circles. However, continued great talent from the lower levels helped contribute to the schools third straight GMCT Elite Eight berth.
That trend is likely to continue. After having a squad that went 17-6 overall in 2007-08, and earn a share of the GMC Blue Division title, BGA won the Blue outright this season. Meanwhile, the 2007-08 JV team was 20-3 and the freshmen team was 20-4. The Trojans have been laying a solid foundation at the lower levels with the 2007-08 varsity team that won their division title as freshmen, and earned the top seed in the 2005 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before being upset in the Round of 16 by J.P. Stevens. The following year, this year’s varsity group, reached the Championship Game of the 2006 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before losing handily to Stevens. The past three seasons, Bishop Ahr has played in the consolation game losing to Spotswood in 2007 while defeating New Brunswick in 2008 and Monroe in 2009. Overall, Ahr has appeared in the last four Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tourney Final Fours.
This year, the freshmen team finished 17-5 overall while the JV was only 15-4. For the first time in four years, the Junior Trojans didn’t even make it to the Elite Eight after three straight final four appearances, and two straight finals berths in the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament. This past season, the JV was 15-4 overall, and made it to the round of 16 as a five seed, but then was upset by Cinderella story, Carteret, which as a 21st seed, reached the Elite Eight before losing to eventual champion, Monroe to finish its season at 13-10. With the likes of Darius Griffin, Manny Krogmann, Justin Peoples, Matt Bernocchi, Nick Napurano, and Rob Gomulka returning along with continued solid talent from the lower levels, the Trojans have a good shot of reaching at least its fourth straight GMCT Elite Eight in 2009-10.