COLONIA, NJ–Wednesday night was the opening night of action at the 2011 Colonia JV Summer League, and GMC Hoops took in action from the final two games. The first game pitted two teams from Woodbridge Township against each other as Colonia hosted Woodbridge. Then, in the second game, St. Joseph’s battled Roselle in a GMC vs. Union County Conference matchup.
Shorthanded Junior Barrons Roll Past Colonia, 37-18
The first game of the night for GMC Hoops on opening day of the 2011 Colonia JV Summer League matched up two teams from Woodbridge Township as Colonia and Woodbridge renewed their neighborhood rivalry. Â While the Junior Barrons were outnumbered, and barely able to field a team, they were able to jump out to a 13-5 halftime lead with an 11-1 run over a span of 9:36.
Colonia was limited to just a field goal on a putback at the 10:51 mark, and one of two from the line with 6:13 to go in the half. Â Meanwhile, Woodbridge scored six field goals including a three. Â The bulk of the Junior Barrons scoring occurred in the final 4:07 of the first half with four field goals. Â Woodbridge forced eight turnovers while blocking several shots in the first 16 minutes of the contest.
Over the first 13:54 of the second half, the Junior Barrons extended its lead to 20 points with a 16-4 tear for a 29-9 advantage. Â Woodbridge opened the second half scoring with a three pointer from the right wing at the 14:30 mark for a 16-5 lead. Â The Junior Patriots didn’t get on the board until they got a nice move for a layup to pull within single digits at 16-7 with 12:15 to play. Â However, the Junior Patriots were unable to get any closer.
Woodbridge limited Colonia to only one field goal over the next 6:09 to take a 29-9 lead with 6:06 remaining. During this stretch, the Junior Barrons had six field goals including a three pointer, and three putbacks to highlight the run. For the game, WHS had 12 second chance points. Colonia tried to fight back with a 7-0 run over the next 3:41 to pull within 29-16, but Woodbridge finished off the victory with an 8-0 spurt over a span of just under two minutes for a 37-16 lead.
For the game, the Junior Barrons scored its 37 points on 17 field goals including three treys while Colonia got its 18 points on 8 field goals and 2 of 5 from the foul line. Woodbridge was 0 of 3 from the charity stripe. In the first half, the Junior Patriots were scoreless for 5:57 and held without a field goal for 9:34. However, the Junior Barrons, which only had two field goals over the first nine minutes of the game, couldn’t really take advantage until late in the first half, and early in the second half.
Woodbridge outscored Colonia in points from three point range by a 9-0 margin. Colonia ended up with 15 turnovers while Woodbridge had only 10. The Junior Barrons scored 15 points off of turnovers. WHS had four blocks while CHS had two. The Junior Pats also drew the only charge in the game.
Olivo And Seraji Lead St. Joseph’s Past Roselle, 45-28
The final game of the night saw St. Joseph’s roll past Roselle. The Junior Falcons overcame some offensive struggles late in the first half, and early in the second half with a balanced attack to earn a 45-28 victory over the Junior Running Rams. Soon to be sophomore Matt Olivo led the way with a team high 11 points on four field goals including a three pointer, and 2 of 3 from the foul line.
Rob Seraji chipped in for the winners not only with 8 points on four field goals, but with hustle for loose balls, making a play just about everywhere on the court, rebounding, and handing out assists. Mike Cintron and Brandon Bielak contributed with 6 points each while Nick Sandstrom added five points on a three pointer and a baseline drive late in the second half to help put the game away. Monroe native, Jair Davis also got in the scorebook with four points on two field goals.
St. Joseph’s was held scoreless for the final 5:46 of the first half, and was limited to just a field goal over the last 8:55 of the opening period. The Junior Falcons also went without a point for 6:16 of the second half. However, Roselle, which trailed 15-2 at one point in the firstt half, wasn’t able to get fully back into the game. The Running Rams closed the first half with a 9-2 spurt, and pulled within nine at 29-20 with 8:59 remaining, but couldn’t get any closer.
The Junior Falcons closed the game with a 16-6 spurt to lead by as much as 19 points late in the game. The final run was highlighted by three pointers from Olivo at the 8:14 mark, Bielak at the 5:48 mark, and Sandstrom at the 3:29 mark. The Junior Falcons had 19 field goals including three treys and 4 of 6 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Roselle had 12 field goals including a three, and 3 of 8 from the line. St. Joseph’s outscored Roselle by a 9-3 margin in points scored from beyond the arc.
In the game, St. Joseph’s collected 10 steals, and scored 13 points off of turnovers in the game. The Junior Falcons also scored 10 second chance points in the contest. Seraji also collected three steals and two assists, but did a number of intangible things on the floor to help St. Joe’s get the win. Roselle had 8 steals and two blocks in the game. The game appeared as if it was going to be St. Joseph’s in a runaway as the Junior Falcons scored the first six points of the game in the initial 1:10 of the contest. Seraji began the scoring with a steal for a layup at the 19:51 mark, and then Olivo followed with the next four points on layups at the 19:20 and 18:50 marks.
Roselle didn’t get on the board until the 15:58 mark of the first half with a score off a steal that closed the gap to 6-2. The Falcons, which didn’t score for a span of five minutes, got going again with a basket by Cintron off an entry pass by Seraji for an 8-2 lead at the 13:50 mark. Just under a minute and a half later, Bielak converted a traditional three point play for an 11-2 lead at the 12:24 mark. Seraji then added a layup at the 10:01 mark, and Davis capped the run with a steal for another score, and a 15-2 lead with just inside nine minutes remaining in the first half.
However, Roselle didn’t quit. The Running Rams closed the first half with 9 of the final 11 points including two free throws at the 8:33 mark, a layup at the 7:13 mark, a three pointer at the 5:11 mark, and a layup with 1:02 remaining in the first half to pull within six at the break. Cintron opened the second half with a putback and Seraji scored a layup after a Roselle score while Olivo netted two free throws at the 17:23 mark for a 23-13 lead. The Junior Rams clawed to within seven points with one of two free throws at the 15:38 mark, and then a bank shot off a fast break at the 14:34 mark.
St. Joseph’s didn’t score again until the 11:07 mark of the second half, but then scored six of the next eight points over a span of 1:54 to take a 29-18 lead. Davis played a key role durinig the run with a steal that set up a score on a putback with just over 11 minutes to play, and then a layup at the 10:23 mark. Seraji then capped the burst with a drive along the right side for a one handed shot at the 9:13 mark. Roselle would get a basket to pull within single digits again, but St. Joseph’s then put the game away by scoring 16 of the next 22 points for a 45-26 lead late in the game before winning by 17.
GMC Hoops plans to be back out at Colonia next week.