ALLENTOWN, NJ–On Sunday, the 2011 Summer Prime Time Shootout concluded play with a third day of wall to wall games at Allentown High School in the Upper Freehold District of Monmouth County. GMC Hoops managed to see action from each of the final four games of the night. Earlier in the day, the GMC teams went 2-2 as Piscataway won both of its games while St. Joseph’s lost both of its contests against tough foes in St. Patrick’s and St. Benedict’s. Below are capsules from the four games covered:
Eastern vs. Princeton Day School
Eastern got off to a fast start taking a 33-12 lead with 15 plus minutes to go in the half. Â PDS clawed back to within 40-22, but couldn’t get much closer despite outscoring the Voorhees, New Jersey school by a margin of 19-17 the rest of the way in an Eastern 57-41 win.
Rutgers Prep vs. Franklin
For the first 12:20 of the contest, it looked like this would be quite a game for bragging rights in Somerset as Franklin hung close with crosstown rival, Rutgers Prep.
However, the Somerset County Tournament runner-up broke away from a 17-12 lead with under eight minutes to go in the first half by scoring the final 11 points of the period for a 28-12 halftime lead, and then opened the second half with 16-1 run over the first eight minutes for a 27-1 onslaught that turned a tenuous five point lead into a commanding 44-13 advantage with twelve minutes to play.
Greg Grippo and Matt Rennie helped spark the run early on with a three point play at the four minute mark of the first half, and then a basket and a foul a minute later. Mike Klinger helped open up the second half scoring with a three pointer from the left wing. Rutgers Prep then went on to win by the score of 56-26 as it outscored Franklin by a margin of 45-17 over the last 31 minutes of the contest.
Ewing vs. St. Peter’s Prep
At first glance at today’s schedule, it appeared that this game would be quite a battle and one with a lot of action and a bit of scoring. It turned out to be a very low scoring affair, especially for St. Peter’s Prep. Ewing, which was searching for its first win in this year’s Summer Prime Time Shootout, used the tough schedule that included games against Plainfield, St. Joseph’s, and St. Benedict’s, to its advantage in the finale against the Marauders from Jersey City.
The Blue Devils took a 20-11 halftime lead, and then limited St. Peter’s Prep to just seven points in the second half on two field goals and 3 of 6 from the foul line to come away with a 36-18 victory. Ewing scored four of the first five points of the second half to take a 24-12 lead, and then after the Marauders scored three points, the Blue Devils put together a pivotal 11-1 spurt over a span of eight minutes including eight straight points in just 2:44 to take a commanding 35-16 lead with just under six and a half minutes to play en route to the win.
William Allen (PA) vs. Princeton Day School
For the second straight night, the last game of the evening turned out to be the most entertaining game of the four that GMC Hoops managed to see. William Allen jumped out to the 32-25 lead with 17:25 remaining before Princeton Day rallied with a 16-6 tear over a span of 11 minutes to take a 41-40 lead. William Allen wrestled the lead back with six unanswered points over a span of about two minutes for a 46-41 lead.
PDS battled back with eight straight points over the next two minutes including one of two from the line at the 2:59 mark, a steal for a layup at the 2:40 mark, another steal for a layup at the 2:25 mark, and then two foul shots with two minutes remaining for a 48-46 lead. Princeton Day had a chance to put the game away with an appearance at the foul line, but only made one of two from the charity stripe for a 49-46 lead with 59.3 seconds left.
Rejuvenated by getting a second chance, William Allen got a score to pull within one, and then got a steal with less than 15 seconds to go, but after inbounding the ball with three seconds left, William Allen had the ball poked away for a steal by PDS to wrap up the 49-48 victory.
GMC Hoops thanks Jeff Hewitson, Frank Giancarlis, and the scorekeepers in both the East and West Gyms for their assistance over the past three days.