RAHWAY, NJ–The regular season wrapped up on Friday night in the Rahway Summer League with another quadrupleheader of games. Neither the heat nor the humidity would stop players, coaches, parents, and fans from getting in some action. GMC Hoops covered the final two games of the evening as J.F. Kennedy battled Woodbridge in a matchup of two Woodbridge Township teams while J.P. Stevens took on Dunellen in the finale.
Pearson Sparks First Half Tear That Lifts Barrons Past Mustangs, 52-42
Both Woodbridge and J.F. Kennedy were playing for not only township bragging rights, but also to avoid being the lowest seed heading into the playoffs, which begin at Rahway High School next week. There were only three varsity players from this past season that participated in this contest. Kyle Pearson of Woodbridge and Steve Alvarez and Vik Pawar of Kennedy.
In this crosstown clash, the Barrons jumped out to a 12-9 lead with 8:09 remaining in the first half. Â Kyle Pearson then connected on a three pointer from the left wing for a 15-9 advantage. Â Kennedy pulled back to within three on its very next possession when Vik Pawar connected on a triple from just to the right of the top of the key for a 15-12 Woodbridge lead.
Over the next minute or so, the Barrons reeled off six straight points for a 21-12 advantage. After Pearson sparked the run with a breakaway layup at the 5:39 mark for a 17-12 lead, Woodbridge got easy baskets at the 5:13 and 4:58 marks for a 21-12 advantage as the Mustangs called for time. Â Both teams were playing with light squads as each had only six players so with the heat and humidity being a factor, it was going to be a question of which team would wear down first.
Following the JFK timeout, the Mustangs set up for a quick score to draw within seven points at 21-14. Â However, they wouldn’t get any closer for the rest of the half as Woodbridge closed out the opening period with an 8-1 spurt over the final four and a half minutes including a layin by Pearson as time ran out in the half for a 29-15 Barrons lead. Â WHS outscored JFK by a margin of 17-6 over the final eight plus minutes of the half.
Woodbridge opened up the second half with a three point play right off of the side out of bounds at the 19:30 mark for a 32-15 lead. Â However, the Mustangs began to try and chip away at the deficit with two free throws by Steve Alvarez, and then a layin at the 15:32 mark for pull within 32-19 before the Barrons called for time at the 15:18 mark. Â Kennedy drew even closer by scoring five of the next seven points including two free throws by Alvarez for a 34-24 Barrons lead midway through the half.
Woodbridge went ahead by a baker’s dozen again by scoring five of the next seven for a 39-26 lead with eight minutes to go. Â The Mustangs didn’t give up though as Alvarez converted a traditional three point play, and then JFK got another score prior to calling a timeout with 6:10 to go, and the Barrons only leading by eight at 39-31. Â Following the stoppage, Pearson put Woodbridge back up by double digits with a score down low, but JFK battled back with two straight baskets to pull within six at 41-35 with 4:30 left.
Pearson helped the Barrons keep the Mustangs at bay though with a score at the 4:17 mark, and Woodbridge got another basket to take a 45-35 lead before Kennedy got a basket to draw within single digits again when timeout was called at the 3:33 mark. Â The Mustangs tried to get closer after the stoppage, but WHS got a block with 2:58 left, and then Alvarez hit backiron on a trey before Pearson connected for three from the left corner for a 48-37 advantage with 2:17 to go.
JFK got a score, and called timeout again with 2:03 left, but Woodbridge went back up by 11 at 50-39 with 1:45 to play when the Barrons got fouled on the drive, and made two foul shots. WHS added another score on a follow of a miss by Pearson for a 52-39 lead before Pawar closed out the scoring with a three pointer from the right wing with 44 seconds left to round out the 52-42 Woodbridge victory.
Crawford Leads Hawks Past Destroyers, 49-24
In the finale of the final day of regular season action at the 2011 Rahway Summer League, two more teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference went at it as J.P. Stevens faced off against Dunellen. The Hawks have made big strides this summer with competitive losses to two of the top three teams in the league in Roselle (49-46) and Union Catholic (50-47) while rolling past Kennedy last week (46-30).
Meanwhile, Dunellen, one of the smallest schools in the GMC, has played very competitively with wins over Group IV Edison and Group III Woodbridge in recent weeks at the league. A victory on Friday could vault the Destroyers from the ninth seed to the sixth seed. However, Stevens would have none of it. The Hawks locked up the fifth seed for the upcoming playoffs, and a quarterfinal round matchup against fourth seeded Perth Amboy, a GMC Red Division rival, next Thursday at 5:30 PM with a 49-24 victory over Dunellen.
Marvin Crawford of J.P. Stevens is going to be a player to watch in the GMC this coming 2011-12 season. He led the way for the Hawks with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, 3 steals, and 3 assists while teammate John Maxham chipped in with a solid effort of 12 points including two threes while Xavier Johnson scored all seven of his points in the second half for the winners. Deon Brown and Sean Gibney combined to score 22 of Dunellen’s 24 points on the game as Brown battled his way to 14 points while Gibney chipped in with 8.
The Hawks jumped out to a 13-3 lead, and didn’t let the Destroyers get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Leading 21-10 at halftime, Stevens opened the second half with a 17-5 tear over the first 10:03 to take a commanding 38-15 lead midway through the second half. Undermanned with only five players and giving up some size, Dunellen wore down in the excessive heat and humidity that had been gripping the Garden State for the past week. Making matters worse, Gibney went down with an injury late in the first half, and the Destroyers had to go with only four players.
Crawford dominated the game in all kinds of ways. By posting up his man for baskets down low, driving in for layups, knocking down jumpers, blocking shots, leading the break and handing out assists, the soon to be senior at J.P. Stevens was unstoppable. Brown did his best to compete for Dunellen. The soon to be junior guard kept attacking the basket for layups and trips to the line that resulted in free throws. Both he and Gibney did what they could to lead DHS, but the Destroyers weren’t able to keep up with Stevens. Besides just having enough players to play, Dunellen was also without the services of Dylan Hoski and Tony McGuane.
With the victory, Stevens finished the regular season at 6-4 while Dunellen dropped to 3-7. The Destroyers were back in action on Tuesday night at Rahway with an opening round playoff matchup against A.L. Johnson of Clark.