St. Joseph’s Run In Amboy Frosh Tourney Halted By North Brunswick In Semis
PERTH AMBOY, NJ–Not often do you see a 20th seeded team reach the semifinal round of any of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournaments, but this season, St. Joseph’s-White had a Cinderella like journey in the 2012 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament.
After losing to East Brunswick on December 22nd (49-34), and finishing third in the Baldassano Freshmen Holiday Tournament at Monsignor Farrell, the Little Falcons, which began the year with three straight losses, won 4 of 6 games to pull within a game of .500. The two defeats were to Seton Hall (39-31) and South Brunswick (45-33).
Following a 41-37 victory over Union City on January 16th to improve to 4-5, St. Joseph’s-White lost six straight, and 7 of 8 games to head into the 2012 Amboy Tourney at 5-12. In the preliminary round, the Little Falcons defeated a 13th seeded J.P. Stevens team (34-24) that had edged them just two weeks earlier (53-50). Then, they pulled off another shocker by knocking off fourth seeded Bishop Ahr in the Round of 16 (39-31). St. Joe’s-White then punched their ticket to Amboy with a 42-40 win at fifth seeded Old Bridge in the quarterfinals.
However, in the semifinals, top seeded North Brunswick put an end to the Cinderella ride by defeating the Little Falcons by the score of 38-35. St. Joseph’s-White will play third seeded Monroe in the Consolation game of the Amboy Tourney at 3:45 PM on Thursday with a chance to finish the season at 9-13. Head coach Matt Gigliello did a solid job getting the team to put together this remarkable run. The team is led by Mike Horn, P.J. Strahm, Brenden Wash, Brandon Goldy, and Daniel Gamboa.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph’s-Green, the 17th seed in the tournament, lost in the preliminary round to Sayreville by the score of 35-26. The Green squad ended the season at 6-12. After finishing third at the Oratory Prep Tournament over the holidays, St. Joe’s-Green lost six in a row before heading into the Amboy Tournament with 4 wins in 7 games. With the likes of Karl Towns and Marcus Ashamole playing with the varsity, this year’s freshmen teams at St. Joseph’s took a bit of a hit during the course of the season, but with the fine run by St. Joe’s-White in the frosh tourney, things still look very good for the Falcons’ class of 2015.