ELIZABETH, NJ–On Tuesday, GMC Hoops left work early to see some action from the Elizabeth Summer League at the Dunn Center. Both GMC teams were in action as St. Joseph’s took on Columbia at 5:00 PM followed by Carteret battling Nazareth of Brooklyn at 6:00 PM. The site also took in the final minutes of the game between St. Peter’s of Staten Island and St. Mary’s of Elizabeth.
St. Peter’s Rallies In Fourth To Knock Off St. Mary’s, 40-37
After watching St. Mary’s of Elizabeth defeat St. Joseph’s last week, the Hilltoppers looked like a tough team to beat heading into its contest with St. Peter’s of Staten Island in the 6:00 PM round of games on Tuesday. The Eagles trailed 27-22 at the half, and pulled within three at 28-25 in the middle of the third quarter before St. Mary’s ended the period with seven unanswered points to take a 35-25 lead heading into the fourth and final quarter.
St. Peter’s began the fourth by scoring the first seven points of the quarter over a span of 5:34 to close within three before St. Mary’s got a basket when a player spun on his pivot foot, and then sank a shot from the left side for a 37-32 lead at the 4:26 mark. Undaunted by the minor setback, the Eagles continued to battle their way back into the game with a jumper, and then a quick steal for another score to narrow the deficit to one at 37-36 with around four minutes to play.
Neither team would score for about the next two minutes until St. Peter’s drew a foul, and made two free throws for a 38-37 edge at the 2:00 mark. After stopping the Hilltoppers on defense at the other end, St. Peter’s then spread the floor, and did a solid job of moving the ball around while not getting fouled until the 39 second mark. Making both ends of the bonus, the Eagles were now leading by three at 40-37. St. Mary’s tried to set up for a tying three pointer, but the Eagles prevented a shot going off from the perimeter.
The Hilltoppers then tried to attack the basket for a bucket, and perhaps call timeout, but missed the layin with 16 seconds to play. St. Peter’s then got the rebound, and ran out the clock for the 40-37 victory.
Columbia Rolls Past St. Joseph’s, 54-27
The Falcons reserves, and Junior Varsity players are getting a lot of time up in Elizabeth. This is helping them get valuable experience against varsity competition. It was a tough lesson though as they played Columbia of Maplewood in one of the two 5:00 PM games of the day.
The Couagrs jumped out to a 21-9 lead over the first 13:42 of the contest before the Falcons showed some life to close out the first half. St. Joseph’s ended the half with a 9-4 spurt to close the gap to 25-18 at the intermission. Salman Hasan sparked the late first half rally with a three pointer from the right side at the 6:04 mark for a 21-12 Columbia lead. A little over a minute later, Austin Sour added a basket down low to narrow the deficit to 21-14 with exactly five minutes to go in the half.
After neither team scored for over two minutes, the Columbia Cougars went back up by nine on a jumper from the right wing at the 2:50 mark for a 23-14 advantage. The Falcons then closed out the half with four of the final six points as Matthew Greene scored a transition layup as he was fouled with 1:30 to go in the half, and then St. Joe’s got another basket with 55 seconds remaining in the half for the 25-18 Cougar lead going into the brief intermission. However, the Falcons wouldn’t get closer though.
Columbia stormed out of the gate in the third quarter with the first 11 points over a span of 5:54 to take a 36-18 lead, and held St. Joseph’s two just two points on a drive for a layup by Tom Cicalese en route to a 45-20 lead going into the fourth quarter. Earlier in the frame, the Cougars drew two chargers on Cicalese, who drove to the basket without fear in the second half. The fourth quarter was a more competitive one with the Cougars earning the 9-7 edge for the 54-27 victory. Over the last 26:18 of the contest, Hasan scored five points, Greene added four, Cicalese scored three, and Sour added two.
Over the two plus periods of play, Columbia outscored St. Joe’s by a margin of 33-18 including a 29-9 margin in the second half.
First Quarter Spurt And Defense Lift Carteret Past Nazareth, 36-24
The featured game by GMC Hoops during the 6:00 PM hour featured Carteret as it took on Nazareth of Brooklyn. Early on, it seemed the Kingsmen would be tough to beat in this one, but the Ramblers went on an 11-0 run over a span of 5:18 of the first period to turn a 5-2 deficit at the 7:05 mark into a 13-5 lead at the 1:47 mark. Carteret led by as many as 14 points in the early fourth quarter before coming away with the 36-24 victory.
The Ramblers, which defeated Cranford nearly two weeks ago by the score of 38-34, used tough defense to scrap out another win on Tuesday. Nazareth scored 9 points in the first period, four points in the second and third periods, and seven in the fourth period. All seven points in the final frame came in the last 7:30. Before that, the Kingsmen only managed 12 points over a span of 29:35 of the game from the 7:05 mark of the first quarter to the 7:30 mark of the fourth.
Carteret was able to do it even without the likes of Tanveer Dosanjh and Juwan Coston in the lineup. Kevin Van Dyke helped out though. Even though he only scored four points, Van Dyke, a standout in football as well for the Ramblers, grabbed 7 rebounds, swiped 2 steals, and blocked 2 shots. Most importantly though, he did a solid job shutting down Nazareth’s best player. After the Kingsmen’s top scorer scored the first 9 points of the game for Nazareth, Van Dyke shut him down for the rest of the first half and much of the third quarter before letting up a little in the final frame.
For the game, the Ramblers had 13 points in the first quarter, 10 points in the second, 6 points in the third, and seven points in the fourth. Carteret scored its 36 points on 14 field goals including two threes while making 6 of 8 from the foul line. CHS scored 18 points off turnovers including eight each in the first and second quarters to take a 23-13 halftime lead. Meanwhile, Nazareth was limited to 24 points on 10 field goals and 4 of 6 from the line. The Kingsmen only had four points off of turnovers, and were outscored 6-0 in points from beyond the arc, and 6-4 in points from the foul line.
Nazareth led for 5:13 of the contest while the game was tied for 14 seconds. The other 34:33 was all Carteret. There was only one lead change and one tie in the contest. The Ramblers led by double figures for 19:41 of the contest. CHS held leads of 10 points on six different occasions, 11 points on two occasions, 12 points on five occasions, and 14 points once in the game. The Kingsmen’s biggest lead was three. The Brooklyn school jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a drive across the key for a jump hook at the 9:33 mark. A little over a minute later, the Ramblers evened things up by swiping a steal for a layup at the 8:22 mark.
Nazareth scored the next three points on a reverse layup at the 8:08 mark, and then a one of two showing from the foul line at the 7:05 mark. Then, after going scorless for 3:25, Carteret took over with 11 unanswered points over a stretch of 3:10 to take a 13-5 lead with under two minutes remaining in the opening period. Highlighting the run was a floater from the right wing to spark the key run at the 4:57 mark, a steal that lead to a layup that gave the Ramblers the lead for good at the 4:33 mark, another steal for a layup at the 3:05 mark, a three pointer from the left wing at the 2:30 mark, and finally, a transition layup after a blocked shot on the defensive end for the eight point lead with 1:47 to go in the period.
Carteret was never really threatened after that as its defense took over, and Nazareth couldn’t get back in sync offensively for the rest of the contest.