Ramblers Hang Tough For Three Quarters Against Hudson County Power
CARTERET, NJ–On Monday afternoon, GMC Hoops traveled over to Carteret High School to see the Ramblers in action in a scrimmage against Bayonne from Hudson County. Â The Bayonne Bees are a powerhouse team from the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association. Â The Bees were especially dominant during the early part of the first decade in the 2000s with three straight county titles. Â The Bees are nearly a yearly participant in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV playoffs. Â So, this scrimmage is a very good challenge for the Ramblers.
After reaching the semifinals of the North Jersey Section 2 Group III playoffs two years ago before losing to Millburn, the Ramblers qualified for the Central Jersey Group II playoffs, but didn’t really get far. Â Carteret did notch an impressive victory early in the year over Bishop Ahr, but then lost to the Trojans at BGA in the second half of the season. Â The Ramblers are have always been a tough defensive team with athletic players. Â More of the same will be expected for Carteret to contend in the GMC Blue this season. Â Returning from last year are Avery Carter, Joey Nigro, Tanveer Dosanjh, Kevin Van Dyke, and Juwuan Colston among others.
Over the summer, Carteret completed in the Tuesday/Thursday Division of the Elizabeth Summer League, and played well in the two games GMC Hoops saw the Ramblers play against Cranford and Nazareth of Brooklyn. Â CHS actually won both games, but still wasn’t able to qualify for the playoffs in that league. Â In those two games, Van Dyke played very well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Â Arriving late to this scrimmage, the site entered just as the first period was ending with Carteret winning by a surprising margin of 13-2. Â In the second frame, Bayonne scored the first eight points of the quarter, and won the period by a 14-11 margin with Carteret leading 24-16 at the intermission.
The Bees had 4 steals, 5 deflections, and two blocks in the period. Â Carteret didn’t score until nearly midway through the period when Nigro dished an inbounds to a teammate underneath on the left block for a layup, and a 15-10 Â Ramblers lead. Â The big play for the home team came after Dosanjh scored on a layup at the 2:31 mark for a 17-11 lead. Â Carteret took a nine point lead at 20-11 when Carter, who had his shot blocked just moments earlier, went up an scored a layup as he was fouled from behind for a three point play with 1:13 mark. Â Bayonne outscored the Ramblers by a 5-4 margin the rest of the way for an eight point lead at the half. Â Carter had 3 points while Dosanjh and Van Dyke each added two in the stanza.
The JV squads then played for a period with Carteret jumping out to a 13-7 lead with a little less than two minutes to go.  The Junior Ramblers then made two free throws at the 1:42 mark for a 15-7 lead.  CHS followed that up with a steal for a layup while being fouled at the 1:33 mark to go up by double  digits en route to a 20-7 edge in the frame.  Follow the JV quarter, the varsity played for another two periods with Bayonne winning each quarter.  The Bees fell behind by a 6-2 margin with 5:48 to go in the third period, but then finished the frame with a 12-6 spurt for a 14-12 edge.  Then, in the final period, the Hudson County team took advantage of Carteret playing its reserves for the entire period with a 34-6 onslaught to gain a 3-1 edge in quarters, and a 64-42 edge in the final score.
In the third, Carteret was led by the tandem of Carter and Dosanjh, who combined for all the Rambler points in the period.  Dosanjh opened the second  half with a three from the right wing at the 7:01 mark, and then a layup at the 6:44 mark to help the home team jump out to an early four point lead.  Carter then closed the period with the final seven points including one of two from the line at the 5:48 mark, a jumper that tied the score at 8-8 with 3:18 to go in the frame, a drive from the left lane for a layup at the 1:13 mark, and then a putback of his own miss with 48.6 seconds remaining in the frame.  Despite being outscored by two points in the period, the Ramblers still held a 36-30 overall advantage, and had a chance to end the scrimmage by winning two of the four quarters.  However, Carteret went with the reserves to give them some minutes, and a valuable learning experience against the Bayonne starters.
Carter ended up with 10 points in the final two periods he played while Dosanjh chipped in with 7 points. After the varsity scrimmage ended, the JV squads of both teams went at it with Carteret’s JV winning 16-2. Â The Junior Ramblers won both quarters in their scrimmage by a margin of 36-9.