NORTH EDISON, NJ–On Friday afternoon, GMC Hoops traveled over to Wardlaw Hartridge for the first time in several years to see the scrimmage between the Rams and the Argonauts of Rutgers Prep. The Rams are looking to improve on their 6-15 season last year while the Argonauts have a couple GMC players that transferred including Edison’s Greg Grippo and St. Joe’s Greg Patton.
Wardlaw head coach, James McGowan, is very enthusiastic about joining the GMC. Playing in the Patriot Conference for many years, the Rams played schools that were much bigger. Now in the GMC Gold, the Rams have a chance to be more competitive. In addition, Wardlaw-Hartridge has everybody back this year including senior Ian English, sophomore Justen Davis, and junior Jordan Del Sol. In 2009-10, English led the team in scoring with about 16 points per game as a junior while Davis chipped in with about 14 per contest as only a freshman. McGowan believes that if Davis can stay healthy, he could end up being a 1,000 point scorer. Wardlaw also got a transfer in from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City that will run the point.
Despite the struggles last year in McGowan’s first season, the Rams actually improved over the previous year. In 2008-09, Wardlaw was only 1-20. Wardlaw-Hartridge also finished the season strong last year by winning four of its last six. Among those victories were a 58-50 win over Perth Amboy Tech on February 4th, and a 44-41 decision over Piscataway Tech on February 5th. Although Wardlaw didn’t play any basketball over the summer, the Rams did compete in a very good fall league in Linden. Wardlaw went up against the likes of fellow GMC member Woodbridge, Linden, Seton Hall Prep, and St. Peter’s Prep among others. McGowan said that despite the high level of competiton, his team “held its own.” Besides English, Wardlaw is very young with a lot of sophomores and juniors.
Entering this scrimmage, Wardlaw played in two exhibitions against McNair Academy of Hudson County and Arts of Newark. The Rams won both scrimmages. In one of the scrimmages against McNair, English scored 31 points including 9 of 11 from beyond the arc. McGowan feels very confident that his team will be competitive, but after the tremendous success the team had in the previous two scrimmages, he needed to give them a character building lesson, and an idea of how much farther the squad needed to go to get better. The scrimmage against Rutgers Prep under former Bridgewater-Raritan head coach, Tim Ortelli, was the character building lesson he was looking for.
The Argonauts dominated the scrimmage. The Somerset based school won all four periods, and outscored Wardlaw 91-34 in the scrimmage. Rutgers Prep did a solid job shooting the ball making 34 of 68 shots including 13 of 21 from three point range. The Argos started out the scrimmage by hitting 5 of their first 6 shots including four from downtown. Meanwhile, Wardlaw was limited to just 12 of 48 shooting including 3 of 19 from beyond the arc. At the foul line, Rutgers Prep was 10 of 14 while Wardlaw was 7 of 9. The Rams lost the turnover battle (18-16), and were outrebounded by a 40-15 margin including a 16-2 advantage on the offensive glass. Rutgers Prep also had more assists (23-6) and steals (9-6). Wardlaw did have a slight edge in blocked shots (5-4).
Leading the way for the Argonauts was Edison transfer, Greg Grippo. The junior, who had earned GMC Hoops Player of the Week honors as a sophomore at EHS, scored 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the floor including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, and also a 6 of 7 effort from the line. Grippo also collected 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. For Wardlaw, English led the way with a team high 14 points on two threes, three field goals, and 2 of 3 from the line while Davis added 11 points on 4 of 9 from the floor, and 3 of 4 from the line. Davis also picked up 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Right away, it was looking like Rutgers Prep’s day in the first period.
The Argonauts jumped out to an 8-0 lead on two threes and a field goal before Wardlaw called timeout with 5:25 left in the period. Following the stoppage, Rutgers Prep added two more threes for a 14-2 advantage before another Rams timeout was called midway through the period. Grippo had one of the four threes during this run. The Argos then scored five more points including two foul shots by Grippo before they called for time themselves with a 19-7 lead. The visitors from Somerset then closed out the period with 14 of the last 18 points for a 33-11 quarter edge. Wardlaw was more competitive in the second, but Rutgers Prep was still too much for the Rams with an 18-9 edge. The Argos shot 19 of 37 overall from the floor in the first half including 8 of 11 from beyond the arc. Grippo had 13 points over the first two periods on 4 of 5 shooting including 2 of 2 from three point range, and made all three of his foul shots. Grippo also collected 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists.
Things would get much worse before they would get better for the Rams. RU Prep won the third period by a margin of 20-2. Wardlaw was held without a field goal for the entire period. The only points came on two free throws by Davis. In the final frame, Wardlaw played the best out of all four quarters, but RU Prep still won the period by a margin of 20-12. The JV then played for three periods, and the Junior Argonauts won all those quarters as well. Rutgers Prep won the first stanza by a 15-4 margin, recorded an 18-0 shutout in the second, and closed out the scrimmage with a 21-7 decision in the third for a 54-11 overall edge.
This game was part of a learning curve for Wardlaw. It was a very tough test for them since Rutgers Prep looked very good. The Argonauts are a superb shooting team that play disciplined basketball, and will be even better under the direction of Ortelli. English and Davis were bright spots today. Davis had some nice moments defensively with some blocked shots that got the crowd into it for a bit. The sophomore also had a couple nice baskets while being fouled including one he converted for a three point play. Del Sol struggled, and may have pressed at times. It was the first time ever that I had a chance to see this group of Rams play. GMC Hoops tried to see them last year in the game that they won over Perth Amboy Tech, but the game started earlier than thought, and we ended up missing the game.
Wardlaw and Timothy Christian are going to be good additions for the league, especially in a GMC Gold Division that is trying to raise its level of competition. Keep in mind that TCS was 6-1 against the GMC Gold teams last year while Wardlaw was 2-4 (2-6 if you include TCS). The Tigers lost a lot from last year’s team due to graduation, but still have double-double machine Kristian Svendsen as well as perimeter threat Dan Decker. One final note, before the scrimmage started, GMC Hoops had the chance to speak with former Rutgers Prep head coach, Dick O’Connell, who coached at the school for 45 seasons, and won 703 games. The site also had a chance to speak with former St. Peter’s player and assistant coach, Ryan Shellhammer, who is now on the staff at Rutgers Prep as the JV coach. Shellhammer still checks out the site.