RAHWAY, NJ–After seeing the nightcap game at Rahway High School on Thursday night, GMC Hoops headed back over to RHS on Friday night to see all four games from the sixth night of action at the 2011 Rahway Summer League. The league got underway a couple weeks ago, and returned to action this week after graduation took place at RHS last week.
Four teams from the GMC were in action on Friday night. The squads competed in three games. In the opener, J.P. Stevens took on Roselle, and nearly overcame a 14 point deficit midway through the second half, but wasn’t able to get a last second shot off to tie the game in a 49-46 loss to the Rams. Afterwards, South Plainfield took on Rahway in other clash between GMC and UCC teams. The Indians got off to a fast start with three treys in a 17-5 tear, and led 32-16 at the half. The Tigers battled back though with a 12-5 run over the first 8:16 to pull within nine at 37-28. However, SPHS only managed to score five points the rest of the way, and lost 50-33.
The third game of the night featured two teams from the Union County Conference as Johnson Regional of Clark took on Union Catholic of Scotch Plains. The Vikings jumped out to a 7-4 lead early on, but the Crusaders fought back to tie things up at 10-10. It would be the last time that the game would be tied as UC went on a 24-12 tear over the final 13 minutes of the half to take a 34-22 lead, and then after giving up the first four points of the second half, the Vikes ended the game with a 40-25 surge for the 74-51 victory. Finally, Perth Amboy and JFK squared off in an all GMC finale. Like Rahway did against South Plainfield, Amboy used the three to take a big early lead at 16-5, and led at the half 35-17.
In the second half, the Panthers outscored the Mustangs by a 12-10 margin in the first 12 or so minutes of the period before JFK ended the game with a 21-8 surge, but it wasn’t enough as Perth Amboy came away with the 55-48 win.
Union Catholic Rolls Past Johnson Regional, 74-51
Union Catholic got off to a strong start by taking a 7-4 lead prior to a Johnson Regional timeout at the 17:31 mark.  Over the next 4:31, the Crusaders outscored the Vikings by a 6-3 margin to tie the game at 10-10 before  UC got a bucket at the 13:00 mark for a 12-10 lead.  The Vikes then added a one of two showing from the line for a 13-10 edge at the 12:19 mark.
Over the next ten minutes and change, the Vikings took more control of the contest with a 17-10 surge for a 30-20 lead with a little more than two minutes to play in the first half. Â UC finished out the opening period with four of the last six points to take a 34-22 edge into the brief intermission. Â Johnson Regional opened the second half with the first four points over a span of just 1:22 to draw within single digits again at 34-26.
Union Catholic retook control of the game though with four straight points over a span of just 1:09 for a 38-26 lead as the Crusaders called for time. The timeout wasn’t the tonic though as the Vikings outscored their Union County foes by a margin of 19-17 over the next 10:53 to slightly increase its lead to 57-43 with 6:43 left as Johnson Regional called for time. Â The Vikings then closed out the game with a 17-8 showing for the 74-51 win.
Hawks Second Half Rally Falls Short In Loss To Roselle, 49-46
In the first game of the Friday night quadruple header before the 4th of July holiday weekend, J.P. Stevens took on Roselle. Â The Hawks took a big step up by coming into the league although the Rahway Summer League took a hit with a team pulling out of the league recently as well as Piscataway and Cardinal McCarrick not competing here this year.
JPS gave it a good fight with the likes of Marvin Crawford (8 points and a block in the second half) and Sky Harris (9 points and a steal in the second half) leading the way, but after attempting to rally from an 11 point deficit on several occasions, a 46-38 deficit with 3:05 to go, and a 49-43 deficit with less than a minute remaining, the Hawks just ran out of gas, and weren’t able to get over the hump in a 49-46 loss.
GMC Hoops joined the action at the intermission with Roselle leading by a score of 28-19. Â Stevens didn’t start the second half on the right foot as Roselle first deflected the original side out, and then stole the inbounds pass, and went in for a layup to take a 30-19 edge at the 19:33 mark. Â Sky Harris did what he could to get the Hawks going with an offensive rebound and putback to narrow the deficit to 30-21 with 18:59 left.
Crawford then blocked a shot at the 18:24 mark, but the Hawks couldn’t take advantage as they were called for traveling at the 17:45 mark, and the Running Rams redeemed themselves with a putback for a 32-21 lead at the 17:25 mark. Â Brandon Ahmed (4 points in the second half) got into the act by putting back his own miss with just under 17 minutes left to play for a 32-23 Roselle lead. Â The Union County school responded by drawing a foul off an inbounds play, and making two free throws for a 34-23 advantage with 16:30 remaining.
Over the next 1:50 both teams exchanged scores as the Hawks scored at the 16:00 mark, and then Roselle got a basket at the 14:40 mark for a 36-25 lead as JPS called for time. Â The Hawks shot themselves in the foot after the timeout as Ahmed missed a layup, and the Rams took advantage by converting a three point play for its biggest lead of the half at 39-25. Â Stevens almost made matters worse, but avoided a turnover by calling timeout with 13:31 to play.
Following the stoppage, the Hawks scored the next five over a span of 1:25 including a three pointer from the right wing at the 12:44 mark, and got a putback by Crawford off of a Harris miss to pull within nine at 39-30 with 12:20 to go. Â After a Roselle score that put it back up by 11 at 41-30, the Hawks scored the next six points including a jumper by Crawford at the 8:09 mark, two free throws by Ahmed at the 7:15 mark, and a layup by Harris with 6:33 to go that closed the gap to five at 41-36.
Roselle regained control again for a little bit with layups at the 6:19 and 5:00 marks to go up by nine at 45-36. Â However, Stevens, which closed the game with a 21-10 surge over the final 14 minutes, continued to chip away at the deficit with a 7-2 run over a span of 3:24 to pull within four at 47-43. Â Crawford sparked the rally with a floater at the 4:18. Â Harris followed that and 1 of 2 Roselle free throws with a foul line jumper that got a kind bounce at the 2:28 mark. Â The soon to be sophomore then sank a three pointer from the right corner to cap the run with 1:36 remaining.
The Hawks had a chance to get closer when Harris swiped a steal with 1:15 left, but Crawford just missed a fadeaway shot from the left elbow at the 52.7 second mark, and Ahmed was forced to foul. Â Roselle then made both free throws for a 49-43 advantage. Â Stevens didn’t give up though. Â The Hawks converted a traditional three point play with 48.6 seconds left, and managed to get the ball back with 38.5 seconds to play as Crawford came over on a double team, tied up the Roselle player, and forced a jump ball that gave possession back to the Hawks.
However, J.P. Stevens was unable to take advantage. Â After Crawford drew a foul on the floor, Roselle intercepted an inbounds pass by Ahmed that went off the fingertips of Crawford with 24.2 seconds to go. Â Forced to foul, the Hawks forced Roselle to go to the line, and the Rams missed the front end of a one and one with 16.9 seconds to play. Â Once again though, Stevens couldn’t convert as a pass by Crawford went off John Maxham’s foot with 2.4 seconds to go, and Roselle ran out the clock for the 49-46 win.
Rahway Pours It On Early And Pulls Away Late To Defeat South Plainfield, 50-33
Coming off a victory over a shorthanded Woodbridge team, the South Plainfield Tigers were looking to take advantage of an undermanned Rahway squad when the two schools tangled in the second game of the Friday night quadrupleheader at the Rahway Summer League. Â However, it was not to be for SPHS.
Rahway jumped out to a 17-5 lead in the first 6:47 of the game, and outscored their Middlesex County foe by a margin of 18-0 from beyond the arc while South Plainfield was 3 of 10 from the foul line over the final 7:50 of the contest, and was only 9 of 21 from the charity stripe for the game. Â The Tigers did fight valiantly though, especially in the second half when they closed the gap to 37-28 with 11:44 left on a 12-5 run over the initial 8:16.
However, after soon to be sophomore Jordan Lackey made two foul shots and two technical free throws, the Tigers missed a golden opportunity to get closer by letting the hometown Indians swipe a steal on the ensuing inbounds, and scoring a layup at the other end for a 39-28 lead with 10:23 left. Â Rahway then added a putback at the 8:45 mark, and a three from the left wing at the 8:19 mark for a 44-28 lead.
Leading the way for South Plainfield in a losing cause was Joe Skwiat with a team high 15 points on 6 field goals and 3 of 7 from the foul line. Â Lackey chipped in with 11 points including 5 of 6 from the foul line along with three field goals. Â The combination of Skwiat and Lackey accounted for 26 of the Tigers 33 points, but SPHS only had two other players get into the books. Â Justin Glover added 5 points while Ray Perez chipped in with 2 points. Â For the game, the Tigers connected on 12 field goals, but only five in the second half. Â South Plainfield was also only 7 of 16 from the line in the game’s final 20 minutes. Outside of Lackey, the Tigers only made 2 of 10 from the charity stripe in the second half.
SPHS was affected by a couple significant scoring droughts in the contest. The Tigers only had five points over the first 7:36 of the contest and scored only five points over the final 11:44 of the game.  In the second half, the Tigers were without a field goal for a span of  12:35.  RHS had 13 field goals including four threes in the first half, and made 2 of 3 from the foul line.  Then, in the second half, the Indians didn’t score for the first 4:20, and only had two more threes. Â
Unfortunately for the Tigers, and their fans in attendance, the home team still managed to still outscore their foes by an 18-17 margin in the final 20 minutes. Â Rahway only made seven field goals in the second half, and was 2 of 3 from the line. Â The Indians had 20 field goals including six threes for the game while making 4 of 6 from the line. Â The Union County team finished the game with a 13-6 spurt to close out the 17 point victory. With the loss, South Plainfield dropped to 1-3 on the summer at RHS.
Amboy Gets Off To Fast Start And Then Hangs On To Beat JFK, 55-48
For all you hoops fans that are also baseball fans, Yogi Berra, the old-time catcher for the Yankees from 1948 to 1963, had a saying, “It’s Deja Vu all over again.” Well on Friday night, JFK head coach, Chris Banos must have had that feeling when his Mustangs took on Perth Amboy in the nightcap game of day six of the 2011 Rahway Summer League at Rahway High School.
In the first 31 minutes or so of the contest, Perth Amboy dominated Kennedy to the tune of a 47-27 lead. The Panthers struck early with a 16-5 tear in the game’s first 5:38 as they hit four three pointers while on the defensive end they made Kennedy’s life miserable by pressing and trapping to the point where the Mustangs were confused and out of sync on offense. The ironic thing about all of this was the fact that David Rogers, the most experience player returning for Amboy in 2011-12, was not much of a factor offensively with only 6 points although four of those came down the stretch when Amboy needed them most.
JFK had been in this place before though. Back in March, the Mustangs traveled over to Scotch Plains to take on the Raiders in the North Jersey Section 2 Group III State Tournament. In that contest, Kennedy trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half before putting together a tremendous rally that got it within four on a couple of occasions in the final three minutes of the game. Scotch Plains-Fanwood, which had beaten the likes of Newark Tech, St. Benedict’s, and Roselle Catholic during the season, went on to win, and then knocked off Newark Eastside in the quarterfinals before falling to Mendham in the semis.
Like that state playoff game, J.F. Kennedy put together an admirable run consisting of three pointers by Steve Alvarez. Meanwhile, teammates such as Shabas Clarke hustled up and down the floor to block breakaway layup attempts by the Panthers. Reserves such as Kurt Lorentzen found a way to get inside, pull down an offensive rebound, and put it back in. Forward Vik Pawar, who had the touch from the perimeter in the first half as he scored the first ten points of the game for JFK, also contributed.
The result was a 21-8 surge over the final 8:50 of the game. The Mustangs actually had trailed 45-24 with 10:40 to go before Alvarez, who only had two points in the first half, and had no field goals, connected on a three ball from the left corner for a 45-27 Amboy lead. Alvarez ended up with 11 points over the final ten plus minutes of the game to have 13 for the game. He only managed to score on three field goals including two threes along with a perfect 5 of 5 from the foul line. Josh Kamenas had his hands full with Rogers as he only scored eight points for the game including just three in the second half on a conventional three point play at the 7:35 mark.
Pawar led the way for the Mustangs in a losing cause with 15 points on 6 field goals including two threes while making 1 of 2 from the line. He also collected two offensive rebounds, two assists, and a steal. After sustaining a knee injury in a JV game at the Cardinal McCarrick Christmas Tournament in 2009, Pawar has come a long way, and may be a candidate for GMC Hoops Most Improved Player in 2011-12. The trio of Pawar, Alvarez, and Kamenas accounted for 76 percent of Kennedy’s offense in this game.
Kennedy started out with a 5-2 lead in the first 1:05 of the game as Pawar sank a turnaround jumper to tie things up at 2-2 after Amboy scored off the opening tip, and he then connected on a three pointer at the 18:55 mark for a three point lead. However, the Panthers scored 14 straight points over a span of just 4:33 to take an eleven point lead. From that point on, Kennedy was a hamster in the wheel trying to catch up the rest of the game. Amboy had 15 field goals and five threes in the first half while Kennedy only managed six field goals including a three, and made 4 of 6 from the line.
Only three players scored for the Mustangs in the first half. Pawar had his 10 while Kamenas chipped in with five, and Alvarez added two points. As a matter of fact, Alvarez was held without a field goal for the first 29:20 of the game. Perth Amboy outscored Kennedy by a 15-3 margin in points scored from beyond the arc in the opening half. Amboy ended up with 24 field goals, 6 threes, and only 1 of 4 from the charity stripe while JFK finished with 16 field goals including 6 threes, but made 10 of 13 from the line. Points from beyond the arc were even at 18-18 after JFK’s 15-3 tear in that department in the second half. The Mustangs also had a 10-1 edge at the line. However, the Panthers had a 36-20 edge in two point baskets.
Kennedy has started the second half strong with Pawar’s second three of the game at the 18:57 mark off a kick out by Clarke. After an Amboy score made it 37-20, the Mustangs scored again as Alvarez got his hands on a long carom, dribbled up court, and dished ahead to a teammate for a layup, and a 37-22 Amboy lead at the 15 minute mark. Lorentzen then got into the act when he got his hands on an offensive board off a miss by Clarke, and put it back in for a 37-24 Panthers advantage at the 13:31 mark.
However, Perth Amboy appeared to put the game away with an 8-0 spurt over a span of just 1:59. The run included a three pointer that got a kind bounce at the 13:20 mark, an offensive rebound and putback at the 12:47 mark, and then a conventional three point play to cap things at the 11:32 mark for a commanding 45-24 lead. Kennedy refused to give up though as it fought all the way to the very end, but just didn’t have enough time to complete the comeback.
GMC Hoops plans to be back out at Rahway High School next week for more action.