SOMERVILLE, NJ–On Sunday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to Immaculata High School to take in the final two games from the first night of action in the fall league there. As mentioned previously, there are 18 teams competing in this league including five from the Greater Middlesex Conference.
This league involves teams from five different counties including Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, and Somerset. Due to scheduling conflicts with work, the site wasn’t able to see any of the GMC teams in action. However, thanks to Chris Fox, we were able to get the results from all the games as well as the updated standings.
On this night, the site saw two contests involving teams from the old Skyland Conference and the Colonial Valley Conference. In the first matchup, Franklin Township, a team that petitioned to join the GMC earlier this year, took on Hunterdon Central while in the nightcap, Montgomery battled West Windsor-Plainsboro South of the CVC.
Franklin Downs Hunterdon Central, 44-35
There are a lot of things happening with Franklin basketball as well as Warrior athletics in general these days. As mentioned earlier, Franklin applied to become a member of the Greater Middlesex Conference earlier this year only to have its request rejected by the Skyland Conference. The case is set up for appeal to a special committee of the NJSIAA sometime later this year. One thing for sure has happened to Warrior hoops, and that is the program has a new head coach, former Bridgewater-Raritan coach, Tim Ortelli, who continued the winning tradition at BRHS after the late Vaughn Stapleton passed away in 1993.
On Sunday night, the Warriors were entangled with an old Mid-State Conference rival in Hunterdon Central, which continues to dominate Hunterdon/Warren County basketball. The Devils, which knocked off New Brunswick in the Quarterfinals of the Bound Brook Summer League playoffs this past summer, gave Franklin all they could before bowing out, 44-35. After a 14-11 score at halftime, both teams combined to put up 54 points over the final 22 minutes with the Warriors getting the lion’s share in a 30-24 showing to pull away with the nine point win.
Franklin got things going with a nice jumper at the 20:39 mark for a 16-11 lead. A half minute later, the Warriors went in for a basket, and drew a foul from behind that resulted in one of two from the foul line for a 17-11 lead at the 20:09 mark. Neither team scored for a little over a minute before Franklin made a nice pass upcourt that led to a fast break layup, and a 19-11 lead with 18:53 to go. The Warriors then capped the 7-0 run to start the second half with a drive from the left side for a layup while being fouled, but missed the bonus free throw for a 21-11 lead with 18:16 left. Hunterdon Central ended their scoring drought with a three pointer from the right wing about a minute later to pull within seven at 21-14 with 17:16 remaining.
A little more than a minute and fifteen seconds later, Franklin got on the board again with two free throws for a 23-14 lead at the 15:58 mark before the Red Devils netted another three from the top of the key to cut the deficit to six at 23-17 with 15:45 to play. Points became hard to come by for the next 5:36 as Franklin scored three of the four points in that time frame to expand its lead to 26-18 at the 10:09 mark. Twenty-five seconds later, the Warriors added a one of two showing from the line for a 27-18 lead with 9:44 left.
Hunterdon Central continued to struggle while Franklin increased its lead over the next 3:04 with a 6-3 showing to take a 33-21 lead with 6:40 to go. Franklin maintained that lead with two free throws at the four minute mark for a 37-25 score before the Devils rallied with an 8-4 burst that closed the gap to eight at 41-33 with 49 seconds remaining. Hunterdon Central couldn’t get any closer though as the Warriors scored three of the final six points to win, 44-35. With the victory, Franklin begins the fall at 1-0 while Hunterdon Central starts out at 0-1.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin (1-0) | 14 | 30 | 44 |
| Hunterdon Central (0-1) | 11 | 24 | 35 |
Montgomery Dominates West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 63-27
Early on, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, which is the defending Central Jersey Group IV Champs, tried to make a game of it. Shooting only 1-8 from the field early on, the Pirates trailed 14-4 with seven minutes to go in the first half. However, the Colonial Valley Conference team rallied with an 8-2 run including two threes to pull within four at 16-12 with 4:05 remaining in the half. Unfortunately, it would be as close as the Pirates would get for the rest of the game as Montgomery not only closed the half with a 7-2 spurt for a 23-14 lead at the intermission, but also started the second half with a 26-2 rampage in the first 8:45 to take a commanding 49-16 lead, and go away with a 63-27 victory.
Montgomery, which outscored WWPS by a 40-13 margin in the second half, made 26 of 53 shots from the floor for 49.1 percent including 5 of 15 from long distance while connecting on 6 of 9 from the foul line. On the other hand, the Pirates really struggled. West Windsor-Plainsboro South only made 9 of 45 shots for 20 percent. The Pirates were actually more successful from three point range (5 of 12 for 41.7 percent) than two point range (4 of 33 for 12.1 percent). At the line, WWPS made just 4 of 6 shots, but other statistical areas pointed at an even wider disparity. In the turnover department, the Cougars only committed 11 miscues while forcing 17. The rebounding difference was even bigger as Montgomery outrebounded the Pirates by a 37-24 margin including an 11-9 edge on the offensive glass.
The Cougars also had more assists (22-8), steals (16-5), and blocks (9-4). Neither team drew a charge in the contest. The game started out slowly for both teams as Montgomery jumped out to a 4-1 lead despite going 1 of 7 from the field while West Windsor-Plainsboro South committed several turnovers, and were 0 of 2. The Cougars got four more points to go up 8-1 before the Pirates got their first field goal of the game on a three pointer at the 12:35 mark. Over the next 5:35 though, it appeared Montgomery was on the verge of breaking the game open with six straight points including two free throws at the 11:45 mark, and a jumper at the 7:00 mark for a 14-4 lead. However, the Pirates showed some resolve.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South, which made 3 of 5 from beyond the arc in the first half, put together its best run of the game including a three at the 5:53 mark, and its first two point field goal at the 4:05 mark to cap an 8-2 run to pull within four at 16-12. Montgomery would have nothing of it as it used its decisively bigger lineup, stronger fundamentals, and experience to put the game away by first scoring seven of the final nine points of the first half, and then blowing the game open in the final period. At the break, Montgomery was only 9 of 28 from the floor including 2 of 8 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Pirates were only 5 of 21 from the floor overall. In the second half, that changed dramatically.
Over the final 22 minutes, Montgomery shot 17 of 25 from the floor for 68 percent including 3 of 7 from downtown while limiting West Windsor-Plainsboro South to just 4 of 24 shooting. The Cougars zipped out to a fast start in the final half with 6 of the first 8 points to take a 29-16 lead as the Pirates called for time at the 19:33 mark. The timeout wasn’t the tonic for WWPS as Montgomery reeled off another ten points for a 16-2 tear, and a 39-16 lead at the 15:49 mark when the Cougars made wholesale substitutions. Even the reserves got into the act with a couple threes over the next 4:34 to make it a 26-2 surge, and a 33-4 rampage over a span of 12:50 since the Pirates had closed to 16-12.
Leading 49-16, Montgomery was never threatened after that as its reserves got a good dose of playing time, and took advantage with a 14-11 showing to round out the 63-27 rout. With the win, the Cougars begin the fall at 1-0 while the Pirates start out at 0-1. GMC Hoops will be back out at either Immaculata or Raritan Valley Community College for the final games of the evening on Sunday.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery (1-0) | 23 | 40 | 63 |
| West Windsor-Plainsboro South (0-1) | 14 | 13 | 27 |