SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On Tuesday night, the GMC Blue and Gold Division teams went back at it with six games on the schedule. J.F. Kennedy had a bye while all the other teams in these two divisions were in action. Piscataway Tech played the lone non-conference game as it traveled up to Denville to take on Morris Tech. It was the second time in just four days that Morris Tech was playing a team from the Gold Division. On Friday, the Morris County school took on Amboy Tech, and lost 75-51. This game wasn’t much better as the Raiders got their second straight win, and third of the season with a 62-41 victory on the road. The win helped the GMC improve to 42-27 overall against opponents outside Middlesex County this season.
Moving over to the rest of the Gold Division, Dunellen turned in its best performance of the season in a showdown with South Amboy at the Faber. The Destroyers outscored the Guvs by a 34-14 margin over the middle two periods to break away for a 17-15 first quarter edge to take a 51-29 advantage into the fourth. Senior forward, Jonard Hall and sophomore guard, Sean Gibney led the way for DHS, which is now 5-0 in divisional play, and 5-3 in conference. Hall (24 points) and Gibney (14 points) combined for 17 of 24 shooting from the floor and 38 points in the 65-41 victory while senior guard, Luke Francisco chipped in with 12 points. Joe Charmello scored a team high 16 points for South Amboy. The win was huge for the Destroyers, which have squeaked by in three of their four previous division wins. The victory gave Dunellen a two game lead in the Gold, which is essentially a three game lead since the Destroyers beat the Guvs twice. Playing against the Carteret’s of the world does have its benefits for DHS.
Elsewhere in the Gold, East Brunswick Tech got a much needed victory as it avenged an opening day loss to Perth Amboy Tech with a 66-54 victory on the road in Perth Amboy. The win snapped a four game losing streak for the Tigers, and evened EBVT’s record at 5-5 on the season. Homer James turned in a dominant performance with a triple-double of 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 steals for the winners while Mike Hardy added a double-double himself with 16 points and 10 boards to equal a career high. Freshman Elijah Ford chipped in with 10 points while Robert Brown added 9. E.B. Tech and Amboy Tech are now tied for third in the Gold with a 2-3 mark while the Patriots fell to 4-6 overall. Hopefully, the Tigers will use this victory to get on a good roll while Amboy Tech will need to win against South Amboy on Thursday to avoid digging too deep a hole for itself with respect to a state playoff berth.
Jumping up to the GMC Blue, there were three contests on tap in the division. Playing its second game in two days, Bishop Ahr may have been a bit drained after its emotional victory against East Brunswick on Monday. The Trojans edged the Highland Park Owls by five, 55-50 at HPHS. For the second straight game, Darius Griffin and Justin Peoples each tied for game high honors. This time both had 11 points while junior forward, Pat Widdoss chipped in with 9 points. Senior guard, David Webb, had a game high 19 points while Nate Smith chipped in with 10 in the losing effort. The difference in this one was the first quarter as Ahr outscored Highland Park by a 14-9 margin while the other three periods ended in ties. The Trojans led by as many as 11 twice, but the Owls battled back to get within three at the 4:00 mark, and as close as five with less than a half minute left.
The Owls are better this season, and this loss can be a moral victory if the lessons from it are taken into account, and applied the rest of the season. Highland Park has lost three of its last four, and is 5-7 on the year now, but still have time to win games and qualify for its first state tournament berth since the 2005-06 season. Meanwhile, Ahr has to feel good that it avoided a complete letdown against the Owls, and can now move on to play the likes of Middlesex, Spotswood, and Metuchen. The Trojans are playing much better basketball, and are better equipped for the second half of a season where there is not many easy nights in the Blue. Metuchen continues to play well with its second victory over Middlesex in just the past ten days. The Bulldogs, which defeated the Jays by a score of 60-42 on January 9th, had a bit more of a difficult time on the road, but still managed to come away with a 50-41 victory to improve to 8-3 overall on the season.
Junior guard, Mike Crusco continues to lead the way for the Bulldogs with a team high 13 points while Vinnie Sardone chipped in with 9 including four in a key second quarter that saw Metuchen take a five point halftime lead. Elijah Sellers also contributed with 8 points along with 8 assists in the victory. Terrell Mayers continues to live up to his strong potential with another double digit scoring effort for Middlesex. The senior forward collected 15 points while teammate Adam Wells chipped in with 13 in the loss. The win not only helps the Dawgs keep pace with Ahr and Spotswood, but also gives it a virtual two point cushion for third place in the GMC Blue ahead of Middlesex thanks to its two wins. Since starting the season at 0-2 in the GMC Blue, Metuchen has won four of five in divisional play. Just another team starting to fulfill its potential in the GMC.
Finally, Spotswood defeated South River for the second time this season with a 96-69 rout on Tuesday night. The Chargers jumped out to a 33-8 first quarter lead, and never looked back in the victory. Spotswood was led by senior Tyler Osofsky, who registered a game high 29 points in the win while senior center, Allen Kuiper, chipped in with 17 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. Mike Liming (16 points) and Cody Pace (12 points) also scored in double figures for the winners while Shawn Fenton got a team high 19 points in a losing cause for the Rams. Brandon Walsh and Gavin Campbell also chipped in for South River with 15 and 12 points respectively. Both of these teams can certainly put up a lot of points, but the Chargers are a better team defensively. The Rams are improving though, and with a win at Wardlaw on Wednesday are at 7-7 overall, there best season since 2004-05.