SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops ventured over to South Amboy Middle/High School to take in the first night of action from the 2009 Raritan Bay Summer League. This is the sixth straight summer that the web site is covering this league, which has provided great competition as well as a glimpse of future stars in the Greater Middlesex Conference. On this night, the site was only able to capture the nightcap of the opening day tripleheader, but it still got all the results from the three games played. In the nightcap, two teams from the 7th and 8th Grade Division went at it as Monroe faced off against East Brunswick. For a while, particularly in the first half, the contest was close and back and forth. However, in the second half, Monroe pulled away with a 25-15 showing for the 39-26 victory.
Monroe Pulls Away In Second Half From East Brunswick In 7th and 8th Grade Action, 39-26
It was a cold and rainy night in South Amboy as GMC Hoops showed up at the Middle/High School to take in the final game of the night. The weather was more like late March rather than late May. Perhaps league co-director, Gary Lange, should consider selling some hot cocoa and pretzels as well as the regular items he offers at his refreshments stand. Like the weather, the offenses were a bit chilly as well. Only combining for a total of 12 points over the first 12:29 of the contest, Monroe and East Brunswick were entangled in a low scoring affair that only saw 13 more points for the duration of the first half as the Falcons took a 14-11 lead over the Bears at the intermission.
GMC Hoops arrived with 7:31 to go in the first half, and from that point until the end of the period, both teams combined for three lead changes and two ties before the intermission. Neither team had a lead bigger than four points. Despite the nip and tuck theme to the game, Monroe appeared to be in control. First the Purple Birds went ahead 7-5 with a field goal, and then after EB tied things up at 7-7 with 7:05 remaining in the half, Monroe went ahead 9-7 on a field goal at the 6:44 mark. East Brunswick then committed a turnover when a player was caught with his foot on the out of bounds line at the 6:23 mark, and then following a 30 second timeout at the 6:16 mark, Monroe went up by four as Chris Germano fed Nick Isola with a pass for a layup that made the score, 11-7 with six minutes to go before the brief break.
The Bears then responded with four straight points of their own including a floater at the 4:52 mark that ended a 2:13 scoring drought, and then after a scoreless string of 3:13, tied the game up on an offensive rebound off a blocked shot by Davis, and a follow that made the score, 11-11 with 1:39 to go before the half. Monroe then took the lead for good with a score underneath that made the score, 13-11 at the 1:09 mark, and then one of two from the foul line by Infosino for a 14-11 lead with 24.7 seconds remaining. Davis then closed out the half with another blocked shot at the 15.4 second mark. Following the short intermission, the two teams resumed play in the second half with Monroe scoring the first six points to make it a 9-0 run over a span of 3:44 to take a 20-11 lead.
The Falcons got started quickly with a steal by Hope, who handed out an assist on an Isola layup as he was fouled for a 16-11 lead with just nine seconds gone by in the half. Isola had a chance to raise the lead to six, but missed the bonus free throw. Thirty-three seconds later, Isola, who has improved a great deal since last summer, picked up a loose ball at halfcourt, and went in easily for another layup that gave Monroe an 18-11 lead with 19:18 to play. The Purple Birds then had another transition scoring opportunity that they couldn’t convert, and that provoked the East Brunswick coaching staff to call for a timeout with 18:51 to go. Following the timeout, a little more than a minute passed before the Falcons got on the board again. This time, Monroe took advantage of its size when Isola kept a possession alive by tapping out a rebound off a missed shot by Germano. Monroe then got the offensive board, and the ball went to Germano for a short jumper from the right side of the foul line for a 20-11 lead at the 17:55 mark.
East Brunswick fought back though with five consecutive points of its own including two free throws at the 17:11 mark, a layup at the 15:32 mark, and one of two free throws at the 13:42 mark for a 20-16 Monroe lead. The Falcons then went back up by six on a nice drive and dish that led to a Salzer bucket with just under 13 minutes to go in the game. Fifty seconds later, Monroe got on the board again thanks to an offensive rebound and follow at the 12:05 mark that made the score, 24-16. The bucket sparked a 7-0 run that basically gave Monroe enough breathing room for the rest of the contest. With 11:30 to play, the Falcons got a layup from one of its reserves for a ten point lead, and then went up by 13 at 29-16 midway through the second period. EB then scored four of the next five points over a span of about four minutes to close the gap to ten at 30-20 before Monroe called a timeout at the 6:08 mark in order to avoid a turnover.
The Bears then made it a 6-1 run, and made a nice defensive play when a player blocked a three point attempt by Brendan Germano with inside five minutes to go. Both teams would continue to exchange scores, but East Brunswick had the edge over a 1:38 span by outscoring the Purple Birds, 6-4 for a 34-26 Monroe lead at the 3:14 mark. Chris Germano netted a jumper from the right wing, but EB responded with a floated from the right baseline to highlight the scoring during this period. A little more than two minutes later, Monroe put the icing on the cake when Isola got a rebound, and threw out an outlet pass to Chris Germano, who then drove in from halfcourt on the left side to flip in a score for a 36-26 lead at the 1:06 mark. Then, after Davis made one of two at the line, Isola closed out the scoring in the contest with an offensive rebound and putback for the 39-26 Monroe victory.
With the win, Monroe starts the season on a good note with a 1-0 record while East Brunswick drops to 0-1. GMC Hoops will be back out at the Raritan Bay Summer League on Wednesday night for the only two contests of the evening.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe (1-0) | 14 | 25 | 39 |
| East Brunswick (0-1) | 11 | 15 | 26 |