EDISON, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to the Physical Education Center on the main campus of Middlesex County College after work to see the Blue Colts again in action against Sussex County Community College. This was the second time this season that the site was seeing Middlesex in action. The first time was in MCC’s season opener against Globe Tech of New York. The Knights, from Region XV of the NJCAA won easily, 104-73. See details as well as video highlights from that game. This was the fourth game of the season for Middlesex, which entered the game at 1-2 after defeating Atlantic Cape Community College (91-54) on November 21st at home, and losing to Bergen Community College (89-77) on November 24th on the road.
Sussex, which entered the contest with a record of 1-3, was playing its fifth game of the season, and was coming off a victory over Union County College (72-66) on November 24th. For a while, this appeared to be an easy victory for Middlesex. The Colts jumped out to a 33-21 lead with 5:01 left as Colonia’s J.J. D’Amico connected for a three pointer from the right wing at the 7:04 mark while Ramadan Shabazz and Arman Wilson added field goals. On the defensive side of the ball, the Colts looked tough as they forced a shot clock violation. However, the Skylanders wouldn’t go away. They outscored MCC by a 12-8 margin the rest of the half including a three point play at the 3:24 mark to close the gap to 41-35 at the intermission. D’Amico was a bright spot for the Colts with a short jumper in traffic, and then a three pointer during the late first half stretch.
In the second half, Middlesex appeared to get itself back on track again with a 19-5 surge over the first 5:33 to go up by a score of 60-40. Despite Jeff Ashamole picking up his third foul of the game at the 18:30 mark, the Colts scored the first four points of the half on layups by Wilson (unassisted) and Shabazz (from Shamai Santiago) for a 45-35 lead. Then, over the next 2:17, Santiago added a three pointer and a conventional three point play to make it a 12-2 run, and a 53-37 lead as Sussex called for time with 16:13 remaining. MCC then finished off the early surge with a three pointer by Wilson, another field goal from Santiago, and a layin by Woodbridge’s Deryk Lockett for a twenty point lead with fourteen and a half minutes remaining. Sussex refused to quit though.
The Skylanders continued to battle back and hang around. Buoyed by the fact that Middlesex’s three big men: Ashamole, Edwin Guerra, and Shabazz all fouled out, and Wilson had to be assisted off the court after suffering an apparent ankle injury, the visitors from Northwest Jersey rallied back with a 47-32 showing the rest of the way to pull within four points in the final minutes. The play of former South Plainfield standout, Santiago saved the day though for Middlesex. The sophomore, who originally attended Division II school, Gannon, scored at least 21 points in the second half including a perfect 8 of 8 from the line over the final 2:27 while teammate Yusuf Leary made 3 of 4 in the final 25 seconds to seal the narrow 92-87 win.
It was a much needed win for Middlesex, but there were times in the second half where the team lost its concentration including a pass in the backcourt that went out of bounds when Sussex was making its run. The Colts did find a way to hang on, and did very well at the line by going 12 of 14 as a team over the final two and a half minutes of the contest. However, the Colts can’t afford making mistakes and getting their big men into foul trouble when they take on Brookdale Community College later in the week. With the victory, MCC evens its record at 2-2 while Sussex drops to 1-4. GMC Hoops plans to see the Colts again on December 10th when they play Northampton Community College from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Before that though, the site looks to head out to Kean University on Wednesday night to see the Cougars take on the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers Camden.