SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On Wednesday night, there was a slate of ten games involving teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference. Two were non-conference games while the others were divisional battles. The GMC split its two non-conference games as St. Joseph’s fell to St. Anthony’s while South River defeated Wardlaw. With those two games in the books, the GMC is now 43-28 versus non-conference opponents, and has gone 38-21 since getting off to a 5-7 start.
St. Joseph’s gave St. Anthony’s all it could handle in a 54-41 loss. The third ranked team in New Jersey, led by several Division I players including Derrick Williams (Richmond), Eli Carter (St. Bonaventure), and Devon Collier (Oregon State), only led 41-36 after three quarters, but the Falcons couldn’t make a shot. St. Joe’s went 1 of 15 from the floor including a 1 of 10 effort from beyond the arc in the final period as the Friars, which were coming off a loss against Westchester of Los Angeles in a showcase in Massachusetts that involved three teams from New Jersey, pulled away with a 13-5 effort for the victory.
The Falcons, which actually forced 17 turnovers while committing only 6, were led by senior guard, Andrew Morgan, who scored a team high 18 points while teammate, Steve Rennard chipped in with 13. The loss was the first by St. Joseph’s in the state of New Jersey. Williams led all scorers with a game high 28 points for St. Anthony’s. In the other non-conference battle, South River defeated Wardlaw by a score of 83-65. SRHS won this battle of Rams by outscoring Wardlaw in every period. Four players scored in double figures for South River including Shawn Fenton, who had a team high 18 points.
Chipping in for the victors was Xavier Foster (16 points), Larry Smith (15 points), and Brandon Walsh (14 points). Ian English led Wardlaw with a game high 24 points while Jordan Del Sol added 19, and Justen Davis contributed with 18 points. The victory put South River back up to .500 at 7-7 on the season including a 3-1 mark against non-conference opponents. Outside the GMC Blue, South River is 6-1 this season. Meanwhile, Wardlaw dropped to 2-9. If South River can steal some games in the GMC Blue, they could make the state tournament. Regardless, the season has been a success since they’ve gotten more wins in a season than they have had in the past several years.
Moving on to the division games, there was a full slate of games in the GMC White, and this web site saw two of them. Monroe played Colonia in a 5:30 PM game followed by a contest between New Brunswick and Sayreville at the brand new NBHS off Route 27. The Patriots gave the Falcons another challenge trailing 14-7 early only to rally to take a 17-16 lead early in the second quarter. Monroe retook control though with a 12-7 finish to go into the locker room ahead 28-24. In the third quarter, both teams went back and forth as the lead vacillated between three and six points. The Falcons, which were led by senior forward, Timmy Brix with 16 points and 10 rebounds, led 44-39 going into the fourth after the elder Brix scored a layup in the waning moments of the third.
Timmy Brix then hit a key three pointer early in the fourth to increase the Falcons lead to seven at 49-42. Sophomore Danny Brix and senior Kenny Pace added layups to increase the advantage some more at nine, 53-44. Monroe went on to win by a score of 58-48 for its sixth straight victory to improve to 10-2 on the season while Colonia dropped to 2-8. You can read more details on this game in the blog. After the game, GMC Hoops took the long trip along Cranbury Road (CR 535) to Route 18 North, and then to Route 27 South to make its first appearance at NBHS’ new gym. The Zebras were taking on the Sayreville Bombers, the team that won in the previous meeting between these schools on opening night.
Sayreville jumped out to a 17-13 lead in the first quarter, and led by one at the half (26-25) before Milton Pittman put New Brunswick ahead briefly early on in the third with a layup. From there, the Bombers outscored the Zebras by a 27-11 count including 10 points by Tarif Jackson, and 9 points from Jarrell Smith to take a 53-38 advantage. Sayreville then scored the first six points of the fourth including an unconventional four point play at the 6:40 mark for a 59-38 lead. Nigel Scott then led New Brunswick the rest of the way with 11 points during a 14-7 spurt to close the game out with Sayreville winning 66-52. Smith scored a game high 20 points while Jackson chipped in with 15 for Sayreville. Pittman had a team high 16 points for New Brunswick while Scott added 15. You can read the summary on this game as well view analysis and video in the blog.
In other action from the White, South Plainfield nearly pulled off a huge upset on Wednesday when it took on Cardinal McCarrick at SPHS. The Tigers led by eight with under two minutes to go when the Eagles rallied with an 11-2 tear for the win. Sophomore guard, Dana Raysor, scored on a follow with seven seconds left to propel Cardy Mac to the win. Raysor scored seven of his nine points in the game during the rally. Mo Isaac led the Eagles with a team high 11 points while fellow senior Craig Thomas chipped in with 10. Owolo Benjamin led all scorers with a game high 16 points for South Plainfield while teammate Iyanosa Ogbevoen added 11 in the loss. The victory helped McCarrick move into sole possession of second place in the White with a 5-3 mark.
There was an upset, however, in the GMC White Division on Wednesday. Carteret, which handily defeated Dunellen on Saturday night (59-31) pulled out an overtime win over North Brunswick (71-65). D.J. Hamlet led the Ramblers with a game high 24 points while Xavier Fuller pulled in a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds while Nasheed Hamlet, who netted a three pointer, and scored a layup in the overtime, ended up with 12 points. Shaquille Jackson contributed with 9 points and 10 boards. Four players scored in double figures for North Brunswick including Tait Pirkle (18 points), who forced the game into overtime by making three free throws with under 30 seconds left, Dion Rogers (20 points), Mark Gibson (13 points), and Dillon Salva (10 points).
The victory helped the Ramblers get back up to .500 at 5-5, and it was the third upset of the season for Carteret, which lost to North Brunswick (57-40) on opening night. The Raiders, which began the season at 5-1, have now lost five of their last seven. Jumping up to the red, there weren’t any close games on Wednesday night with the smallest margin of victory being 15 points. Piscataway avenged its opening night loss by downing Perth Amboy (58-43). Senior forward, Wayne Newsom, who is averaging a double-double this season, came up with a game high 27 points along with seven rebounds, and three blocked shots in the win while fellow senior Rahman Ruff chipped in with 11 points. Kearny Canela led the Panthers with a team high 13 points while Kent Encarnacion chipped in with 10. P-Way moved back up to .500 for the win, and is showing plenty of fight while Amboy has lost six straight, and 9 of 11 since defeating the Chiefs back in December.
East Brunswick defeated Edison for the second time this season with a 71-35 victory at the Eagles Nest. The Bears, which were coming off a loss on Monday at Bishop Ahr, jumped out to a 23-9 first quarter lead, and never looked back. EB outscored EHS in each period as 11 different players broke into the scoring column. Sophomore forward Mike Summerer led the Bears with a team high 12 points while junior John Genco and senior Mauro Tucci chipped in with 10 points. Sophomore Greg Grippo led all scorers with 16 points for Edison. EBHS (10-2) joined three other teams in the GMC with 10 wins on Wednesday night. The other three are St. Joseph’s (10-3), Monroe (10-2), and McCarrick (10-3). Those three teams reached the GMCT Final Four last year. East Brunswick’s depth could help them go a long way come tournament time in February and March.
South Brunswick continues to play well considering the fact that junior guard, Kory Sanders is out with an injury, and the Vikings have so many young players. The Vikes improved to 5-5 overall, and 5-3 in the GMC Red with a 49-34 victory on the road at J.P. Stevens. SBHS broke away from a 14-12 first quarter lead with an 18-4 effort in the second to take a 32-16 halftime lead. From there, the Vikings never looked back as sophomore forward, Nick Muha led the way with a game high 15 points while freshman forward, T.J. Taylor chipped in with 8. The Hawks had two players score in double figures as Kyle Herron (14 points) and Brandon Ahmed (13 points) accounted for 79 percent of the offense in the loss.
Finally, Old Bridge got a combined 39 points from senior forward Tyler Abad (21 points) and sophomore forward Isaiah Velez (18 points) in a 71-45 victory over Woodbridge. Joe D’Amico chipped in with 13 points while sophomore Julian Daley added 10 points in the victory. The Knights, which improved to 8-4 overall on the season, and 6-3 in the GMC Red, outscored the Barrons in each period. Keith Hughes led Woodbridge in a losing cause with 11 points while freshman guard, Duquan Bailey chipped in with 8. It was the second time this season that the Knights defeated the Barrons. Old Bridge won at Woodbridge on opening night, 56-50. The Knights are an unbeaten 4-0 at home while they’ve won three straight. After slipping a bit following a 4-0 start, Old Bridge has showed some resilience, which could be a key ingredient to be a contender in the GMC.