Wild Night Of Hoops Around GMC On Tuesday

Six Games Decided By Single Digits

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–It was quite a night of action in both the GMC White and Red Divisions on Tuesday night.  Of the eight games that were played, six of them were decided by single digits including one that went two double overtime, another went to single overtime, and two others that were decided in the last seconds of regulation.  Even the top two teams in the GMC:  St. Joseph’s and East Brunswick had some struggles with their opponents before pulling away in the second half for victories.  

Start with what was a classic battle at North Brunswick High School between the Raiders and Sayreville in an early season White Division Showdown.  The Bombers had the Raiders on the ropes early by scoring the first four points while NBTHS turned the ball over twice, but led by L.J. Williams and Eric Slade, the Raiders fought back with a 12-0 tear that gave them control of the game until the latter half of the fourth quarter.  North Brunswick led 49-37 with just over five minutes to play when Sayreville, led by Rob Seraji, rallied to tie and force overtime.

Over the last 5:02 of regulation, the Bombers outscored the Raiders by a margin of 17-5 as Serjai, who scored 15 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and two overtimes, hit a three with 3:34 left, made one of two free throws with 2:14 remaining, and then drew a foul on a three attempt with 21.7 seconds left, which he converted into three more foul shots despite North Brunswick calling a timeout after he made the second one.  Corey Taite also helped during the run with a three of his own that helped close the gap to 50-47.   After Sayreville missed a chance to win the game in regulation, and North Brunswick took the lead in the first extra session, Seraji struck again when he hit a floater to tie the score at 58-58 with 20.8 seconds left.

Seraji missed the last second shot attempt at the end of the first overtime, but Sayreville pounced on North Brunswick at the start of the second overtime with a 7-2 run for a 65-60 lead with under a minute to play.  The Raiders, which had a similar deficit last year at home against Old Bridge  in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group IV playoffs, pulled within two at 65-63 with 30 seconds left as Pranay Bhandare took a behind the back pass from Kishan Patel, and fired in a three from the left wing.  Then, Patel tied up Malik Pressley on the enusing Sayreville possession to force a jump ball, and give possession back to North Brunswick with 16.6 seconds left.  Following a Raiders timeout, they were unable to score as a last second shot attempt was off the mark, and Sayreville emerged victorious, 65-63.

In other action from the GMC White, Monroe used a 19-8 run to end the first half for a 33-23 lead at the intermission, and extended that advantage to 15 heading into the fourth quarter before Cardinal McCarrick put together a 28-12 showing in the final period.  The Eagles actually had the lead late before senior guard, Chris Germano fired in a three with 1.2 seconds left for a 62-61 victory in a game broadcasted on WCTC 1450 AM Talk Radio on Tuesday night from South Amboy.  The Red Division wasn’t immune from thrillers either.  Two contests in that division came down to the final seconds with both Perth Amboy and Old Bridge winning on last second shots.

In another game that was decided in overtime, Perth Amboy and South Brunswick exchanged three pointers in the last 20 seconds for a wild finish to a 58-55 Amboy victory.  In regulation, Jack Engel fired in a three for the Vikings  with 58 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 49-49.  The Panthers then had a chance to win, but turned the ball over with about 15 seconds left.  The game remained close in the extra session.  With the score tied at 52-52, Carlos Done nailed a triple with 20 seconds left for a three point Amboy lead. South Brunswick then set up a play for senior Corey Lumpkin, who fired in a trifecta with five seconds left to tie the score at 55-55.  Then, on the ensuing inbounds, Marquise Irizarry, who scored 20 points, drove upcourt, and let fly a heave near halfcourt that went in as time expired for the 58-55 win.  The victory helped improved Perth Amboy’s record to 6-3, the best in three seasons.

Earlier in the day, Old Bridge, which has played a very tough schedule, and has been on the wrong side of four close games already this season, got its second straight last second win with a 62-60 victory over Piscataway at OBHS.  Tyler Drews, who continues to have a tremendous start to this 2013-14 season, poured in another 26 points including the game winner on a fadeaway with 7 seconds left.  Piscataway led 31-22 at the half only to have the Knights rally with a 26-16 surge in the third to take the lead.  From there, it was a back and forth battle.   Dante Whipple chipped in for the winners with 10 points while Joe Hines led P-Way with 19 points and Marinus Tavernier chipped in with 13.  Two other games from the GMC White were decided by 9 points as New Brunswick and J.P. Stevens battled in their contests against Woodbridge and Edison, but came up short again in their bids to get their first White Division victories of the season.

Woodbridge jumped out to a 14-9 lead, led 30-19 at the half, and then by as many as 19 in the third quarter before New Brunswick rallied back to make the game interesting.  The Barrons ended up having 8 different players score including three in double figures for a 61-52 win.  New Brunswick, which had seven players get into the scorebook, only had two players get into double figures, but both Trevon Blakey and Nadir Whitten shared game high with 16 points.  Junior Zahneer Shuler led the Barrons with 15 points while freshman Qassim Glover chipped in with 13, and Zaire Robinson added 11.  After winning its first game of the season on Saturday, J.P. Stevens lost its fifth game by single digits this year with a 53-44 loss to Edison.  Trailing 25-17 at the half, the Eagles roared back in the second half with a 36-19 surge including a 23-8 tear in the fourth quarter for the victory.  The win snapped a five game losing streak for EHS.  Dennis Amuzu and Trayvon Washington led Edison with 15 points each while Stevens got a game high 19 points from Francois Ballou.

Even the top teams in the GMC had a bit of trouble in their contests last night. In a key Red Division matchup, East Brunswick hosted Colonia in a game that was originally scheduled for 5:30 PM, but was moved to 7:00 PM.  The Patriots gave EB all it could handle for the first three periods.  Colonia only trailed 13-10 after one, and 24-20 at the half, but the Bears pulled away in the final two periods with a 41-19 showing for a 65-39 victory.  Trailing 39-29 after three periods, CHS was still in striking distance, but EB put the game away in the fourth by scoring 26 of the period’s 36 points.  Eight different players scored for East Brunswick including sophomore Addis Ralph, who pumped in a game high 24 points while Gary Baumer added 11 including three treys and Matt Ross chipped in with 10.  Chase Barneys led Colonia in a losing cause with 12 points.  St. Joseph’s had more of a struggle with Irvington of the Super Essex Conference in a non-conference tilt at the Bird Cage.

The Essex County school jumped out to a 23-8 first quarter lead, and led 36-35 at the half before the Falcons asserted themselves in the final 16 minutes with a 36-19 showing for the 71-55 victory.  Karl Towns led all scorers with 27 points while Wade Baldwin chipped in with 21 and Marques Townes added 12.  St. Joseph’s outscored Irvington by a margin of 30-9 from three point range, and 16-12 from the foul line.  The Blue Knights had more players get into the scorebook (7-5), and both teams had three players score in double figures.  More competitive contests are on tap for Wednesday including Metuchen at Bishop Ahr and Spotswood and Middlesex in the GMC Blue.  Then, more big matchups loom for the remainder of the week as Colonia hosts St. Joe’s on Thursday night, and Timothy Christian hosts Dunellen in a GMC Gold Showdown on Friday night.