CARTERET, NJ–On Tuesday, GMC Hoops began its scrimmage coverage with a trip to Carteret High School to see the Ramblers in action against the Panthers of Roselle Park. After not making the playoffs two seasons ago, not only did the Ramblers return last year, but they made a big splash with victories over third seeded Somerville and sixth seeded New Brunswick to reach the semifinals before falling at Millburn in the North Jersey Section 2 Group III state tournament last March. CHS lost a number of key players from that team including Xavier Fuller (Kean University), Shaquille Jackson, and Dakar Hamlet to name a few.
In total, Carteret lost nine players to graduation from last year’s team, which finished up at 12-13 overall, 10-10 in conference, and 6-8 in the GMC White. They do have several players coming back though including two juniors and two seniors. Among the players coming back for Carteret this season, junior Avery Carter, seniors Devon Byrd and Alejandro Rodriguez. However, the Ramblers have a good JV squad coming up from last year. In 2009-10, the Junior Ramblers reached the semifinal round of the 2010 East Brunswick JV Tournament before losing to top seeded Piscataway (52-49), a team that only lost two games all season. In addition, Carteret moved down from the GMC White to the GMC Blue, where it should be a contender to win the division. Arriving after 4:30 PM, the site arrived just in time to take in the first period of action between the two JV teams.
Carteret took a 3-0 lead early on a three pointer from the left side. Roselle Park made two free throws for a 3-2 score before the Junior Ramblers added another basket for a 5-2 lead at the 4:45 mark. Unfortunately for this year’s edition of the Junior Ramblers, Roselle Park pitched a shut out the rest of the way, and scored the final four points for a 6-5 quarter win. Then, the varsity squads took over again. The third quarter of action saw neither team score for the first 1:25, but the Ramblers controlled the ball for much of the time. Then, Carteret got a steal off an inbounds underneath Roselle Park’s basket for a layup, and a 2-0 lead. The Ramblers gave up a score to the Panthers at about the 6:03 mark, but they came back to get a layup at the 5:45 mark, and then another steal for a score for a 6-2 lead at the 5:29 mark. CHS then got four of the next six points including another transition layup off a steal for a 10-4 lead at the 4:24 mark.
The Ramblers continued to dominate the period in front of a very large and rowdy crowd at Carteret. CHS got four more points including another layup off a steal to prompt Roselle Park to call timeout with 3:32 to go in the period with the score 14-4. Over the next 2:42, the Ramblers scored seven of the next nine points including a three pointer from the left side for a 17-6 lead, and then a nice pass down low to the right low block for a layup. Carteret had a 21-6 lead before Roselle came back with a field goal at the 45 second mark, and then a conventional three point play at the 9.7 second mark for a 21-11 CHS lead. That was how the third period of the scrimmage ended as Carteret won the frame by ten.
The fourth period started out much like the third had pretty much been with Carteret scoring four of the first six points including a layup in transition by the Ramblers at the 6:04 mark. After a CHS timeout at the 5:18 mark, the Ramblers weren’t able to get a three to go down, and the Panthers came down and scored on a drive through the middle for a layup to tie the score at 4-4 with 4:23 remaining. Roselle Park had a couple opportunities to go ahead, but had a three pointer go in and out, and then turned the ball over twice in transition. The Panthers finally went ahead with a jumper from the left corner for a 6-4 score at the 2:45 mark. RPHS then drew a foul at the 1:59 mark, and made both free throws for an 8-4 edge. By this point in the period, Carteret’s reserves were in the game, and Roselle Park was taking advantage with a blocked shot on defense, and then a layup following a Carteret turnover for a 10-4 lead with 1:15 remaining.
After a Roselle Park drive for a layup with 12 seconds remaining, the Rambler varsity wrapped up their scrimmage with a layup at the five second mark for a 12-6 final score in favor of the Panthers. CHS scored all of its points on field goals. Over the two periods that were covered by the site, the Ramblers had 13 field goals in fact including a three pointer. Many of the Carteret points came in transition as well. The JV squads then came out for their second and final period of action. Once more Carteret jumped out to the lead on a layup, but Roselle Park’s JV squad answered with a jumper from inside the arc on the right wing to tie things up at 2-2 with 5:30 remaining in the period.
The Junior Panthers then took the lead on a drive through the key for a layin and a 4-2 lead at the 3:57 mark, and added another layup down low for a 6-2 lead with 2:50 remaining. RPHS wrapped up the period win with a layup at about the 30 second mark for an 8-2 advantage, and scored another layup with less than ten seconds to go for the 10-2 quarter victory. Roselle Park’s JV won both periods by a combined score of 16-7.
Carteret has always had good defensive teams and athletic players. The key will be for this years team whether or not, they can get good offense, especially from the perimeter. Good outside shooting has eluded the Ramblers since Jose Rodriguez and Wlifredo Fuerte graduated from the school in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Only Al Tampa stood out as a perimeter threat for the Ramblers in recent years. If not, the defense will have to create opportunities to get the Ramblers running in transition for easy baskets.