Complete Undefeated Season With 56-49 Win Over Hillsborough
EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ–After hanging on to defeat fifth seeded St. Joseph’s in the semifinals on Thursday night, there was only one obstacle left in the way of the top seeded Junior Bears of East Brunswick High School. Defending champion, and sixth seeded Hillsborough had defeated third seeded South Brunswick and second seeded North Brunswick in the previous two rounds.
East Brunswick’s first undefeated JV season did not look promising when Hillsborough led 25-10 in the first half of the 30-team East Brunswick Invitational Tournament in EB on Saturday. But, after trimming the gap to 27-21 at the half, then starting the third quarter with a 12-2 run, the Bears were able to finish the season at 21-0 with a 57-49 win.
Freshman Gary Baumer pumped in 18 points for EB and sophomore Danny Leung added 11 points. Hillsborough had a strong post player in Tyshon Murdock, who led the Raiders with nine points. Hillsborough finished the season with a 19-2 record.
EB is coached by long-time coach Mark Motusesky. The Junior Bears defeated Monroe, Colonia (55-39), St. Joseph’s (57-52), and Hillsborough (57-49) to claim the title. It was the first JV Tourney title for East Brunswick since defeating top seeded South Brunswick in the 2004 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament Championship.
This year was the ninth time in the past 10 years that East Brunswick’s JV squad reached the Elite Eight round of the EB/GMC JV Tourney. It was also the second time in the past four years that the Junior Bears reached the Final Four. Meanwhile, Hillsborough had made its third straight Final Four appearance in this tournament, and defeated Piscataway for the championship last year.