SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–There were only four games on the schedule Thursday as much of the GMC took a break. Two games were in the Blue Division and two were in the Gold Division. GMC Hoops took in one of those two GMC Gold games when it traveled up to Perth Amboy to see Amboy Tech host the South Amboy Govenors.
The Guvs fell behind 16-9 at one point in the first as the Pats went on a 10-2 spurt for the lead. However, South Amboy spent the next quarter and a half or so dominating the game with a 25-9 surge to take a 34-25 lead with three minutes to play in the third. Amboy Tech bounced back several times over the final 11 minutes of the contest including a 7-0 run to end the third to trail 34-32. The Guvs went back up by seven as Joe Charmello, who had a game high 23 points, got a layup and a three pointer for a 39-32 lead, but the Patriots responded with five straight points including Jesse Crespo’s second three of the game to make it 39-37 at the 6:00 mark. South Amboy went up again by seven on another 5-0 run including one of two from the line by Luke O’Connor, and steals for layups by Mike Arway and Charmello for a 44-37 lead.
Amboy Tech, which had to battle on without Rashad Adams for a good portion of the second half due to foul trouble, rallied again as Anthony Pena got his only points of the game on a three pointer, and Malcolm Batts (team high 16 points) hit two free throws to make the score 44-42 with 1:51 left. However, the Governors hung on for the win with 4 of 6 free throws over the final 43.3 seconds. See more details on this game in the blog. In other Gold Division action, East Brunswick Tech outscored Piscataway Tech in three of the four periods including a 19-9 showing in the first for a 57-33 win. Mike Hardy scored 14 points including nine in the first while Rob Brown collected a game high 17 points. Luis Mota scored a team high 14 in the loss for the Raiders, which had its two game winning streak snapping. The Tigers are now a game over .500, and have won two straight after losing four in a row.
Moving up to the Blue, J.F. Kennedy avenged an early season loss at home to Highland Park by defeating the Owls 67-51 at HPHS on Thursday. Rasheed Howard led the way for the Mustangs with 22 points on ten field goals and two foul shots while Joe Marciano added 15 points on three field goals, a trey, and six foul shots. A.J. Pichalski scored in double figures for JFK with 10 points on five field goals while Jordan Toczynski chipped in with 9 on three trifectas. Football standout, Nate Smith scored a team high 19 points for the Owls while David Webb, another star on the gridiron added 14 in the loss. Highland Park is yet to win at home this year (0-5) while Kennedy improved to 7-5 overall including a 2-5 mark in the Blue Division. The Owls, which are now three games under .500 this season, have lost three straight and 6 of 8 since starting the season at 3-1.
And last, but definitely not least, the Spotswood Chargers have set up a showdown on Monday night in Spotswood with Bishop Ahr after handing Metuchen a 63-57 defeat. Give the Bulldogs credit though. After being blown out by Spotswood on the road to start the season (66-39), Metuchen showed resolve this time by rallying from a 15 point deficit to tie the game up in the fourth quarter. In the end though, the Chargers would prevail as Tyler Osofsky scored a team high 17 points to lead four players that scored in double digits for Spotswood. Allen Kuiper (15 points and 11 rebounds), Cody Pace (14 points) and Mike Liming (11 points) also contributed in the win. Mike Crusco led Metuchen with a game high 18 points while Evan Carberry added a double-double of 13 points and 12 boards.
The win puts Spotswood at 10-1 overall and 7-1 in division as well as 8-1 in conference play. It adds more separation for Bishop Ahr and the Chargers from the rest of the division, which has been very competitive this year from top to bottom. Metuchen has definitely made great strides though. Even in defeat, this game was a good one to learn from for the Bulldogs, which have won four of six division games since an 0-2 start, and those two losses were to the two top teams in the division (Bishop Ahr 56-52) and Spotswood (63-57) by a combined total of 10 points.