HILLSBOROUGH, NJ—After taking in the Championship Game of the 2009 Middlesex County College Summer League, GMC Hoops got back on the road, and traveled up 287 North to Route 22 West, and over to Route 206 South into Hillsborough to take in the last night of regular season action at the 2009 Hillsborough JV Summer League at Hillsborough High School. It was the first visit that the site made to the league, which has two schools from the Greater Middlesex Conference competing. It was quite a lively crowd on hand for the two contests covered. The first matchup was between the two schools from GMC: East Brunswick and Middlesex. The game was a 7:00 PM start so the site was only able to see the last few minutes of the contest. Then, in the nightcap, two teams from the Skyland Conference went at it as Montgomery battled North Hunterdon.
East Brunswick Edges Middlesex On Late Score, 41-39
Due to the length of the contest at MCC, and the time to travel over to Hillsborough High School, GMC Hoops was only able to see the final two minutes of action in this one. Both these programs had JV teams in the Colonia JV Summer League in past years, but now are competing in the Hillsborough League. This game served as a preview since the two teams were paired up for the opening round of the playoffs, which was scheduled to take place on Monday, July 27th. This contest was a battle between big and small, but it was a very competitive one. Middlesex, a Central Jersey Group II school from the GMC’s Blue Division, was taking on one of the bigger schools in the GMC, East Brunswick, a Central Jersey Group IV school.
Both programs have been working hard at improving at the lower levels in recent years. As a matter of fact, both East Brunswick’s freshmen and JV squads reached the Elite Eight rounds of their respective tournaments. Meanwhile, Middlesex recently had teams at all levels garner double digit win seasons in the same year. With two minutes to play in the game, East Brunswick led by three points, 39-36. The Junior Bears had just converted a three point play for the difference. Almost 45 seconds later, Middlesex pulled within two with a one of two showing at the line for a 39-37 EB lead at the 1:17 mark. On its next possession, East Brunswick had a chance to go ahead by four, but missed the front end of the one and one with exactly a minute to play. Middlesex got the rebound, came down court, and had a couple opportunities to score. Even though they had pulled down two offensive rebounds, the Junior Jays couldn’t convert, and were forced to call timeout with 28 seconds left in order to avoid a turnover.
Following the timeout, Middlesex exploited a lapse in the East Brunswick defense, and cashed in with a layup underneath off an inbounds play at the 26 second mark to square the game at 39-39. After an East Brunswick timeout with 19 seconds to go, the Junior Bears inbounded the ball from the sideline, which was touched passed to a cutting teammate for a layin, and a 41-39 lead with 15 seconds left. The Junior Blue Jays then got the ball, and came down to either tie, or take the lead. However, a three point attempt taken from the right wing with four seconds remaining was off the mark, and EB emerged victorious by a 41-39 margin.
North Hunterdon Overcomes Early Obstacles To Defeat Montgomery, 29-27
In the nightcap, Montgomery from the Delaware East Division of the Skyland Conference took on North Hunterdon from the Delaware West Division of the Skyland. Both teams are Group IV schools although Montgomery has experienced significant growth in its school population since the late 1980s. As of 1987-88, the Cougars were a Group I school that competed back in the Colonial Valley Conference. Back then, Montgomery struggled to compete only getting several wins per season. Now, the program is much bigger and more competitive. The Cougars qualified for the Central Jersey Group IV tourney this year, where it lost to Monroe in the Quarterfinals after being Colts Neck on the road in the opening round. Last season, Montgomery knocked out North Brunswick in the opening round. North Hunterdon qualified for the state tourney for the first time in a number of years, but was eliminated in the first round by Plainfield in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV bracket.
This game was a low scoring affair, and somewhat a tale of two different halves. In the first half, the Junior Cougars made six of its first seven shots to take a 12-4 lead at the 11:11 mark, but then North Hunterdon took over with an 8-5 finish to the first half followed up by a 17-10 showing in the second half for the 29-27 victory. For the game, Montgomery shot 11 of 24 for the game including 3 of 7 from beyond the arc while making 2 of 5 from the line. On the other side of the ledger, North Hunterdon shot 10 of 27 from the floor including 0 of 3 from long distance while making 9 of 14 from the line. In other statistical areas, Montgomery held edges in turnovers (13-14), assists (6-5), and blocks (3-1) while North Hunterdon had advantages in rebounds (24-10), offensive boards (13-3), steals (5-4), and charges (2-1).
The Junior Cougars started out strong over the first 8:49 of the contest. Shooting 83 percent from the field at the beginning, Montgomery was able to forge an eight point lead. Neither team did score though until the 17:47 mark when the Junior Cougars made a layup while being fouled, but missed the bonus foul shot for a 2-0 lead. Montgomery added two more scores for a 6-0 lead before the Junior Lions got on the board for the first time in the game with a jumper from the foul line at the 15:10 mark for a 6-2 score. There would be a lull in the scoring for nearly three minutes before Montgomery exploited a lapse in North Hunterdon’s defense to get an easy layup off the inbounds underneath at the 12:21 mark for an 8-2 lead. The Junior Cougars then added a drive for a layup, and then a steal for another layup for a 12-4 advantage with 11:11 to go in the first half.
Following a Junior Lion timeout, there would be another scoring drought over approximately 3:05 before North Hunterdon got on the board with a nice entry pass for a layup, and a 12-6 Montgomery lead at the 8:06 mark. The Junior Lions then added an offensive rebound and follow to close the gap to four before the Junior Cougars committed a turnover at the 5:10 mark. Two minutes later, North Hunterdon got on the board again thanks to another nice entry pass for a layup, and a 12-10 Junior Cougar lead at the 3:10 mark. Montgomery had a chance to give itself some breathing room, but misfired on the front end of a one and one at the 2:04 mark. Then, on its very next possession, North Hunterdon tied the game up with a layup while being fouled. With the missed bonus free throw, the game was knotted at 12-12 at the 1:39 mark.
Montgomery finally put a halt to the 8-0 Junior Lions run with a layup at the 52 second mark to take a 14-12 lead, and then capped the opening half scoring with a three pointer from the left side in the last half minute of the period for a 17-12 lead at the intermission. Going into the brief break, Montgomery was 8 of 14 from the floor including 1 of 2 from three point land while missing both free throw attempts, and committing 6 turnovers. The Junior Cougars, however, was only 2 of 7 over the final 11:11 of the half. Meanwhile, North Hunterdon was 6 of 16 from the floor including 0 of 2 from three point range, and missed all three of its free throws while making ten turnovers. One key stat that would help decide the outcome was North Hunterdon’s huge advantage on the boards with a 14-7 edge in rebounds including a 9-2 advantage on the offensive glass.
In the second half, the shooting woes continued for Montgomery as they only made 3 of 10 shots in the second half for a 5 of 17 showing over the last 31:11 of the contest. Meanwhile, North Hunterdon shot only 4 of 11 from the floor in the second half, but sank nine of eleven foul shot attempts over the last 20 minutes, and that along with the rebounding proved to the difference. The Junior Lions scored first in the second half by going to the line, and netting both free throw attempts at the 19:23 mark to close the gap to 17-14. A little more than a minute later, Montgomery drilled a three pointer from the left wing to go ahead by six again at 20-14 with 18:20 remaining. The Junior Lions responded with four straight points before the Junior Cougars answered back with a nice bullet pass underneath for a layup, and a 22-18 lead with 16:15 left.
Over the next 2:13, North Hunterdon scored four more points including two free throws at the 14:02 mark to knot the game up for the second time at 22-22 with 14:02 left. The Junior Lions then made it a 10-2 run on a nice pass down low for a layup, and their first lead of the game at 24-22 with 9:42 left after a scoring lull of nearly five minutes by both teams. Forty-seven seconds later, North Hunterdon had a chance to go ahead even further, but missed both free throw attempts at the 8:55 mark. Nearly a minute and a half later, the Junior Lions redeemed themselves by drawing a foul on an offensive rebound and follow attempt that produced two free throws at the 7:21 mark. After Montgomery missed the front end of a one and one with 5:02 left, North Hunterdon capped its decisive 14-2 tear with two more foul shots at the four minute mark for a 28-22 lead. Montgomery would close the game much like it started with a 5-1 burst, but couldn’t get any closer than two points as the Junior Lions came away with the 29-27 win.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Hunterdon | 12 | 17 | 29 |
| Montgomery | 17 | 10 | 27 |
GMC Hoops plans to be back out at Hillsborough on Wednesday night.