GMC Hoops Summary–GMCT Round of 16–#24 South Amboy @ #8 Timothy Christian

Guvmania Returns As Cinderella South Amboy Advances To GMCT Elite Eight

PISCATAWAY, NJ–On the Saturday night of opening weekend, South Amboy senior forward, Joe Fruncillo was dejected.  Following a heartbreaking loss to Cardinal McCarrick in overtime, the Guvs big man, who is fast approaching 1,000 points for his career, was in tears.  Not only had South Amboy lost to its crosstown rival in overtime for the second straight year, and he and fellow seniors, Steve Herdman, Nick Kales, and Dan Murphy missed an opportunity to do something that Guvs hadn’t done in almost two decades, but also the Guvs were in an 0-2 hole with Gold Division rival, Dunellen beating them on a last second shot by David Johnson some 24 hours earlier.

Fast forward to Thursday night after the 24th seeded Guvs had pulled the unthinkable by becoming the lowest seed ever to reach the GMCT Quarterfinals since the open tournament format was introduced in 1994.  There was Fruncillo going into the South Amboy fans section with his arms raised in exhaltation.  Exhorting the loyal Guv fan base to share with him this special moment in the sun.  The image of that brought back memories of five years earlier when another South Amboy team consisting of names like Simko, Lenahan, Charmello, Zammit, and Poltrictzky had brought the town together during its run to the school’s first ever division title in boys basketball, and first ever trip to the GMCT Elite Eight.  Even head coach, Lenny Reyes, who was part of a special team at J.F. Kennedy in 1990 that stunned a seemingly invincible Perth Amboy, and also coached a 25th seeded Metuchen team to a preliminary round victory over 8th seeded Piscataway Tech in 2004, was full of emotion and pride.

Much like Cinderella was treated by her step sisters, South Amboy, a team that was favored by this site to win the GMC Gold this year, had been put aside at the bottom of the seeding for the GMCT like many teams in that small school division have for so many years.   Now, the Guvs are going to the ball that is Super Sunday at Middlesex County College as the lowest seed ever to reach this round of the GMCT.  It marked the first time since 2008 when the Guvs of Mark Simko, Larry Lenahan, and Joe Charmello reached the GMCT Elite Eight that a team from the Gold Division was punching a ticket for MCC on Super Sunday. All of this was thanks to a last second runner from the left side by 1,100 point scorer Herdman as time was running out for a 54-52 heart-stopping victory over Gold Division champ, Timothy Christian, a team that had beaten the Governors twice during the regular season.  Herdman ended up with just 9 points while Fruncillo led the Guvs with 17 points including two huge free throws to tie the game at 48-48 with 23.3 seconds left in regulation.  Dan Murphy, who has stepped up his game significantly this year, added 12 points including 10 on 5 of 6 shooting in the first quarter when South Amboy jumped out to a 16-6 lead.

In a first half that was eerily similar to the game won over Dunellen (42-37) at TCS on January 17th, Timothy Christian was undaunted by the rough start and battled its way back into the contest.  Sparked by the play from senior, Matt DiLeo (11 points), who always seemed to get into the passing lanes to break up a pass, or swipe a steal to set up a breakaway scoring opportunity, the Tigers put together a 18-5 tear capped by a three point play by DiLeo for a 24-21 lead at the 1:59 mark of the second.   Brandon Summers, who ended up with a team high 16 points in a losing cause for the Tigers, scored 10 of his points in the second quarter onslaught as he connected on each of his last five shots of the first half.  South Amboy scored the next four points including a putback by Fruncillo for a 25-24 Guvs lead with 45 seconds left in the first half.  Zach Coyle, who chipped in with 13 points for TCS, then knotted the game up again at 25-25 when he made one of two foul shots with 24 seconds to go in the first half.  Herdman, then gave a foreshadowing of his heroics to come by driving in from the left side for a layup with 8 seconds to go before the intermission, and the Guvs went into the locker room at half with a 27-25 lead.

The second half would continue with the classic tug of war that had begun as the first half was ending.  Over the first 3:25 of the third, Timothy Christian outscored South Amboy, 9-8 as the Guvs hung on to a tenuous, 35-34 lead. Then, the Tigers went out in front with the next four points only to have Herdman sink his only three of the game on a jumper from right in front of the South Amboy cheering section to tie the game at 38-38 entering the fourth quarter.  Herdman’s trifecta sparked a 7-0 Guv run that bridged the end of the third with the start of the fourth for a 42-38 lead, but TCS stayed within striking distance as Coyle, a Sayreville native, fired in a three from the left wing to pull the Tigers within one at 42-41 with 6:24 to go in regulation.  The game continued to go back and forth with one team taking the lead only to have the other team tie it right back up.  Following a timeout by South Amboy with 4:09 left, TCS scored 7 of the next 11 points including a three by Jarret Locke for a 48-46 edge with 1:40 left.  During the later half of that 2:29 span, both teams missed several opportunities to score.

South Amboy appeared on the ropes when Herdman was called for a flagrant foul with 57.4 seconds left.  Originally, Timothy Christian put Coyle on the line to shoot the two free throws, but South Amboy alerted the officials to the fact that Herdman had fouled TCS defensive specialist David Figueroa instead of Coyle.  So, Figueroa, who had struggled at the charity stripe all season entering the contest, was put on the line and subsequently missed both foul shots.  The Tigers would end up missing four free throws in the final 57 seconds of regulation as DiLeo missed a front end of a one and one with 48 seconds to go, and Summers missed the front end of a bonus chance with 37 seconds left.  All of this set the stage for Fruncillo, who was fouled underneath with 23 seconds to play, and made both.  Timothy Christian, which battled and grinded all game, and hung tough despite some difficulties on offense, especially early on, still had a chance to win in regulation.  Following a TCS timeout with 14.5 seconds left, the Tigers set up for the final shot, and the ball went into the hands of Locke, who dribbled into the middle of the key, and pulled up for a jumper that went in and out.  South Amboy got the rebound, but the long heave by Herdman was off the mark as time ran out with the score still tied at 48-48.

In the extra session, Fruncillo started things off by connecting on a shot that was the beneficiary of a kind roll for a 50-48 lead in the first minute of overtime.  Following a South Amboy timeout at the 2:41 mark, Timothy Christian rallied back to tie the game with 4 of the next 6 points including a drive from the right side by Locke for a scoop shot layup to tie the score at 52-52 with 27.5 seconds left.  After a TCS timeout, Herdman inbounded the ball, and then took the ball back, dribbled into the South Amboy frontcourt, stalled for a bit to run down the clock, then dribbled to his left around the key to the left side for the game winning runner as time ran out for the 54-52 victory. South Amboy fans and players went wild.  Guv players came off the bench to mob Herdman following his game winning shot.  With the victory, South Amboy improved to 16-5 on the season, and 12-5 in the GMC while Timothy Christian fell to 14-7 overall and 13-4 in conference.   Prior to the Governors magical run in 2014, the lowest seed to reach the GMCT Elite Eight was 15th seeded Old Bridge in 2007.  The Knights were 7-18 that season.  Ironically, OB defeated second seeded St. Joseph’s that year to get to the quarterfinals.  South Amboy will face the top ranked and top seeded Falcons in the nightcap of the quadrupleheader on Super Sunday at Middlesex County College at 6:30 PM.

There were no losers here!  It was a great moment for the little guys of GMC boys basketball.  The contest had an atmosphere that reminded you of all those mid-major tournaments you will see in early March during ESPN’s college basketball’s tournament week.  The gym was loud.  The game was riveting.  The electricity and tension you could cut with a knife.  There was the full gammit of emotions from players like Fruncillo, which become snapshots of a season.  Then, there was the game itself, which followed a script very similar to the 2013 GMCT Championship between East Brunswick and St. Joseph’s.  On Thursday night, two teams from the GMC Gold Division, a haven for the smallest schools in the Greater Middlesex Conference, #24th seeded South Amboy and 8th seeded Timothy Christian showed that they can both put on a show just as good as the top teams in the GMC.  This man was happy he was there to see it.