EDISON, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to Middlesex County College after work to take in all three 8:00 PM round of games from the seventh night of action at the 2010 Middlesex County College Summer League at the Physical Education Center on the main campus of MCC. The site also captured a little bit of action from all three of the 7:00 PM games, which ended late. All six contests involved teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference including Keyport played Bishop Ahr on Court #1, J.P. Stevens battled Roselle Park on Court #2, and Perth Amboy Tech took on Timothy Christian on Court #3 at 7:00 PM. Then, at 8:00 PM, Keansburg took on East Brunswick Tech on Court #1, South Amboy battled East Brunswick on Court #2, and in perhaps the best game of the evening, South River faced off against South Hunterdon on Court #3.
Keyport Remains Unbeaten By Rolling Past Bishop Ahr, 45-18
This game was all but over by the time GMC Hoops arrived on the scene to see the 8:00 PM round of games. Keyport garnered a 38-15 lead with 4:15 to play, and then scored seven of the last ten points including a three pointer from the left wing at the four minute mark for the 45-18 victory. Bishop Ahr rounded out its scoring with a foul line jumper that rolled in at the 3:33 mark. Keyport was able to keep pace with East Brunswick at 7-0 on the summer with the win. BGA dropped to 2-5.
J.P. Stevens Edges Roselle Park For Third Straight, 33-26
After spending a week at the East Brunswick Team Camp, and losing both games as a result here at MCC, the Hawks got back to their winning ways last week with two straight wins, and continued to play well with a third straight victory on Tuesday night. J.P. Stevens defeated Roselle Park in a battle of two 4-2 teams by the score of 33-26. This contest was the closest of all the contests played at 7:00 PM. The Hawks were winning 31-24 with 3:10 to go in the contest when the Panthers got a score to draw within five at 31-26 with 2:26 remaining.
Roselle Park, which defeated Monroe in another barnburner last week, had a chance to pull closer when it picked up a steal with a little more than a minute to play, but turned the ball back over. JPS bailed out the Panthers by immediately turning the ball back over. Roselle Park then attempted a three pointer that missed, and the ball went out of bounds to Stevens. Although the Hawks didn’t cash in, they were able to swipe a steal and score a layup with 36 seconds left to round out the 33-26 victory. With the win, JPS improved to 5-2 on the summer while Roselle Park dropped to 4-3.
Perth Amboy Tech Wins Second In A Row, 51-35
This game was not that close either as Amboy Tech may have made a case for itself as being the class of the GMC Gold in 2010-11 by handily defeating Timothy Christian by the score of 51-35. Expect these two teams to be battling it out for division honors along with South River when the regular season gets underway. In addition, GMC Hoops was informed by a Amboy Tech parent that the game against Keyport last week got out of hand due to the officiating in the first half. Regardless, the Patriots have gone back to their winning ways after losing two straight with two victories in a row to improve to 5-2 on the summer. Timothy Christian drops to 1-6.
East Brunswick Tech Falls To Keansburg, 21-14
This was a rather low scoring affair with both teams combining for just 35 points including 16 in the first half alone as East Brunswick Tech came away with a 9-7 lead. However, the Titans of Keansburg outscored the Tigers by a 14-5 margin in the second half to secure the 21-14 win. E.B. Tech did not score a single point over the final 16:15 of the contest after netting one of two foul shots for a 14-11 lead.
Keansburg, on the other hand, took advantage of its opportunities. After missing both free throws at the 14:20 mark, the Titans got an offensive rebound, which they eventually converted with a score down low at the 13:47 mark for a 14-13 Tigers lead. Nearly a minute and a half later, Keansburg scored again on a layup to take the lead for good at 15-14 with 12:18 to play. East Brunswick Tech continued to flounder on offense as it was called for a carry at the 11:54 mark.
However, Quincy Ross helped the defense keep things close until the final three and a half minutes. Ross blocked a shot at the 9:00 mark to keep the Keyport lead at one. However, the Titans managed to pull away with six points in the final 3:26. A three pointer from the top of the key sparked the key late run, and then the 21-14 victory was sealed with a one of two showing from the foul line at the 28 second mark, and two foul shots at the 24 second mark. With the win, Keansburg improved to 4-3 on the summer while E.B. Tech dropped to 2-5.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keansburg (4-3) | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| East Brunswick Tech (2-5) | 9 | 5 | 14 |
East Brunswick Continues To Roll At MCC With Lopsided Win Over South Amboy, 47-14
This game was an ugly one, and typical of contests between haves and have nots. The East Brunswick Bears rolled out to a 27-6 halftime lead, and never looked back in a 47-14 rout of South Amboy. East Brunswick, unbeaten at 6-0 coming into this game, jumped out to a 9-1 lead in just the first 4:29. South Amboy didn’t get its first field goal until the 1:31 mark when Mike Zammit swiped a steal for a layup to make the score 25-4 in favor of EB.
Nick Kales was another bright spot for the Guvs as he made one of two from the line at the 7:04 mark, and then drew a charge at the 2:06 mark. However, those were few and far between for the Guvs, which are still looking for its first win. South Amboy only managed two field goals and two foul shots in the entire first half. Although the scoring picked up for South Amboy in the second half, East Brunswick was in cruise control with a three pointer at the 10:40 mark for a 39-10 lead.
From there, the Bears, which outscored the Guvs by an 8-4 margin the rest of the way, spread the floor out, and ran time off the clock and settled for easy baskets in a 47-14 win. With the victory, East Brunswick improved to a still unblemished 7-0 while South Amboy, a late entry into the league, remained winless at 0-7.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Brunswick (7-0) | 27 | 20 | 47 |
| South Amboy (0-7) | 6 | 8 | 14 |
South Hunterdon Edges South River To Continue Winning Ways
Once again, the site saved the best for last on this Tuesday night at Middlesex. The game over on Court #3 in the 8:00 PM hour could be a preview of the 2011 Central Jersey Group I State Tournament with South River making the bracket and winning a first round game last season while South Hunterdon qualified for the second straight year after not making it since 1989, and reaching the championship game before losing to two time winner, Asbury Park (73-57) at home. The Lambertville based squad got off on the wrong foot with a defeat on opening night to J.P. Stevens (59-40). Since then though, the Eagles have reeled off six straight wins including a hard fought, 40-39 win over the Rams.
GMC Hoops picked up the action with 10:41 to go in the first half, and the score tied at 12-12. South River was playing without the services of Larry Smith, but the Rams did their best to make the game competitive. Tyler Harris put the Rams out in front with a one of two showing from the foul line at the 8:45 mark, but South Hunterdon countered with two foul shots for a 14-13 lead at the 8:07 mark. Gavin Campbell gave the Rams the lead again with a nice post move in the right low post for a short turnaround jumper at the 6:57 mark that made the score 15-14. South Hunterdon then netted one of two from the line at the 6:12 mark for a 15-15 tie.
Following a timeout, South Hunterdon appeared to be poised to take control of the contest with good ball movement on the offensive end, but missed a shot on a good look. Then, after an offensive board, the Eagles failed to score again, and Campbell hustled to knock the ball out of bounds off a South Hunterdon player at the 4:46 mark. Campbell then gave the Rams the lead again at 17-15 with a putback at the 3:30 mark. However, South Hunterdon, which lost to the Rams in a contest almost to the very day last summer at MCC, scored seven of the final eight points of the first half to take a four point lead into the brief intermission.
First, the Eagles netted two foul shots at the 2:14 mark to tie the game at 17-17. Almost a minute and a half later, South Hunterdon took the lead again with a three pointer from the left side for a 20-17 advantage with 50 seconds to go in the half. After Xavier Foster made one of two from the line at the 41.9 second mark, the Eagles came right back down and scored on a layup while being fouled with 30 seconds to go. Although it missed the bonus foul shot, South Hunterdon managed to have a 22-18 lead at halftime. GMC Hoops went to watch the other two games during the 8:00 PM hour including East Brunswick Tech and Keansburg, and South Amboy versus East Brunswick. So, when the site returned there was only a bit more than three minutes left.
With 3:05 to play, South River had chipped into the South Hunterdon lead, but still trailed, 36-35. The Rams would get a score at the 2:40 mark for a 37-36 lead, and could have gone up by more, but Campbell missed the jumper after getting an offensive rebound at the 2:25 mark. Campbell’s miss was typical for the Rams, which didn’t seem to get a lot of breaks. Foster also missed a number of shots from up close. Nothing seemed to fall for the Rams when the game was on the line. South Hunterdon then came up with a three pointer for a 39-37 lead with 2:01 to play. The Rams had a chance to tie, but missed on a jumper with 1:10 left.
Following a South River timeout at the 1:08 mark, South Hunterdon broke the Rams pressure for a layup attempt that drew a foul, and produced one of two from the line for a 40-37 lead at the 57.6 second mark. The Rams had a couple chances to pull within one, but Foster missed a layup, and Harris couldn’t put in the follow before the ball went out of bounds to South Hunterdon at the 39.1 second mark. South River was able to draw within one though when it got the ball back and utilized three offensive rebounds for a layup that made the score 40-39 with 15.2 seconds remaining. After another Rams timeout at the 13.5 second mark, South Hunterdon missed a front end of a one and one with 7.6 seconds left, but South River’s shot at the buzzer went off the front of the rim as time expired.
With the victory, South Hunterdon improved to 6-1 while South River fell to 3-4 on the summer at MCC.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Hunterdon (6-1) | 22 | 18 | 40 |
| South River (3-4) | 18 | 21 | 39 |
GMC Hoops plans to be back out at Middlesex County College next Tuesday night.