Some Intriguing Matchups Around The GMC On Opening Night

December 14, 2012 Greg Machos Carteret Hoops, Colonia Hoops, Dunellen Hoops, East Brunswick Hoops, Monroe Hoops, New Brunswick Hoops, North Brunswick Hoops, South Amboy Hoops, South Brunswick Hoops, South Plainfield Hoops, South River Hoops, Spotswood Hoops, St. Joseph's Hoops, St. Thomas Aquinas Hoops, Timothy Christian Hoops, Woodbridge Hoops 0

Key Early Season Matchups In Blue, White, And Gold As Well As EB-Joes Showdown

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Another GMC Boys Basketball season is upon us, and opening day around the conference is chock full of some interesting match-ups from all four divisions.  Not only is there the big showdown between second ranked East Brunswick and top ranked St. Joseph’s at the Bird Cage in Metuchen, but there are also some key early season showdowns in the Blue, White, and Gold Divisions as well.

Starting off in the GMC White, there is an interesting contest taking place at Monroe Township High School on Friday night.  The Woodbridge Barrons, led by new head coach and former Monroe standout and assistant coach, Matt Gigliello, travel to MTHS to take on the Purple Birds.  Both squads lost some key players from last year, but have some talent returning, and solid sophomore and junior classes.  

Another matchup in the White Division that is interesting will take place at North Brunswick High School on Friday afternoon when New Brunswick comes to town to take on the Raiders.  North Brunswick has Iverson Fleming returning this year as well as a solid talent coming up from very successful JV and freshman programs last year.  New Brunswick had some changes during the off-season with new head coach, Rory Levine taking the reins while several key players from last year’s team such as Samaad Thomas (Robinson School), Za’Kry Shivers (graduated), and Chad Mordecai (transferred to Franklin) are all gone.

Moving on to the Blue Division, there are two big match-ups to start off the year with.  First, Bishop Ahr travels to Carteret.  Both of these teams battled for division honors last year and finished tied at 11-1 with each team winning on its home court in head to head match-ups.  The Trojans (Dillon Salva, Roger Kilgore, and Kenny Virden) and Ramblers (Avery Carter, Tanveer Dosanjh, Joey Nigro, and Kevin Van Dyke) lost a considerable amount of talent from those teams last year, but Ahr has a very good sophomore class while Carteret has the likes of Brandon Gilder, Elijah Torres, and Jaquan Robertson all returning.  Elsewhere in the Blue on opening day, South Plainfield travels to Spotswood in another battle of division contenders.  The Tigers are moving down from the White after going 2-21 last season.  However, they have mostly everyone back including Claude Payne, Justin Glover, Ray Perez, and a solid junior class.  Meanwhille, the Chargers lost 1,000 point scorer, Tom Soulias (Kean University), but still have Jake Dadika, Dalonte Grant, and Jamal Lewis returning among others.

Over in the GMC Gold, there are a couple interesting match-ups as well to start the season.  South Amboy hosts Dunellen late Friday afternoon.  Last year, the Guvs played the Destroyers tough both times.  Both teams also have mostly everyone back from last year.  Dunellen is a favorite to win the division, but South Amboy could be a dark horse if its young talent continues to gel under the guidance of third year head coach, Lenny Reyes.  Meanwhile, over in Piscataway at Timothy Christian, the Tigers will be taking on South River in another clash of Gold Division contenders.  The Rams have plenty of firepower led by Tyler Harris and Tim Darrar while the Tigers lost two 1,000 point scorers in Dan Decker (Baptist Bible College) and Kristian Svendsen (Raritan Valley C.C.).  Another good matchup in the GMC on this opening night comes from the Red Division, and it is not St. Joe’s-EB.

Colonia travels to South Brunswick to take on the Vikings on Friday night.  The Vikes have a lot of confidence and pride in their school thanks to the football team’s first ever sectional title last week.  The boys hoops team at SBHS would like to build off of that with some titles of its own.  Joe Hoehman’s group is led by senior Chris Bourne, and has plenty of talent back despite losing Mike Green, Nick Muha, and Danny Strickland among others.  Meanwhile, the Patriots lost talented swingman, Jordan McDaniel (Chestnut Hill College), but still have Trent Barneys and Bleroit Thompson back, and head coach Chris Chiera has managed to still make the Pats competitive despite slow starts the past several seasons, and playing a tougher Red Division schedule.

Should be a fun start to the 2012-13 season.