Six GMC Teams Remain In State Playoffs

St. Joseph’s, Colonia, and South River Go First In Semis On Friday

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Nearing the end of the first week of the various NJSIAA State Tournaments, and there are now just six teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference remaining including all four teams from this year’s GMCT Final Four:  St. Joseph’s, East Brunswick, Sayreville, Colonia, Spotswood, and South River.  The most surprising of the six is South River, which pulled off a bit of a shocker on Wednesday night by upsetting third seeded South Hunterdon in overtime in the Central Jersey Group I State Tourney Quarterfinals.

Three teams will do battle in quarterfinals and semifinal round action on Friday night while another three will play on Saturday afternoon.  Top seeded St. Joseph’s is the only team in the quarterfinals with a Non-Public A South Elite Eight game against Notre Dame of Lawrenceville.  The Falcons and Irish have never squared off in the states since Bob Turco left Monroe to take the job at the Colonial Valley Conference school.  It is also the first time that brothers Bob and Dave Turco will be facing off against each other since the 2010 GMCT Championship, which was won by St. Joseph’s.  The other two games on Friday night are semifinal matchups in North Jersey Section 2 Group III and Central Jersey Group I.

The featured game for GMC Hoops will be at Summit High School, where Colonia is looking to reach the North Jersey Section 2 Group III Championship for the first time since losing to Scotch Plains in 2008.  The third seeded Hilltoppers stand in the Patriots way.  GMC Hoops has seen Summit previously when the Hilltoppers defeated Piscataway Tech in the opening round of the Hilltopper Holiday Tournament in December.  Summit had a bit of a tough test in the first round as it only defeated Warren Hills by six (42-36), but it rebounded nicely with a 51-30 victory over 6th seeded Barringer in the Quarterfinals on Wednesday night.  Meanwhile, Colonia, which defeated Passaic Valley in the opening round, caught a break when 15th seeded Irvington pulled off a stunner with a 72-61 win at Morristown before the Patriots held off the Blue Knights in the Quarterfinals, 55-50.   Here’s an interesting tidbit for you:  The last time Colonia played Passaic Valley before Tuesday night was in the Group III state semifinals back in 2007, which Passaic Valley won.

Summit has some size to contend with, but Colonia also has a formidable frontline led by Patrick Naguib (6’4″), and solidified by Charlie Caver (6’6″), and the likes of Brandon Haines and Jodrell Thompson.  The Patriots are the more athletic of the two teams with guards, Chase Barneys and J.J. Corbett along with reserves Dez Jackson and Chris Siletti.  Colonia is enjoying its best season since moving up to the Red Division for the start of the 2010-11 season.  Colonia reached the quarterfinals of the GMCT for the first time since 2009 and the semifinals for the first time since 2008.  The Pats, which enter Friday’s game at 17-8, got some big plays down the stretch from Caver in the win over Irvington with four blocks, and two free throws in the last 30 seconds.  Caver ended up with 8 points while three other players:  J.J. Corbett (15 points), Brandon Haines (13 points), and Chase Barneys (12 points) all scored in double figures.  Colonia also outscored Irvington by a margin of 30-12 from beyond the arc.

Next, we get to South River, which has a tall order ahead of it as it takes on second seeded Shore Regional in the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group I State Tournament in West Long Branch on Friday night.  The winner will face the winner of the other semifinal between Florence of Burlington County and Point Pleasant Beach, which both defeated  GMC teams South Amboy and Middlesex in order to reach the CJ Group I Final Four round.  The Rams will have to have a hot shooting performance from Matt Martinez, who had some struggles against South Hunterdon’s defense, but still managed to tally 33 points while setting a new single season record for most three pointers in a season with 133.  South River will also need solid efforts from Sean Darrar, Patrick Genthe, Connor Devich, Richie Leogrande, and D’Ondre Moore.  Defensively, the Rams will also have to find a way to stop Shore’s Dan Pillari, who fired in 10 three pointers, and 40 points in a 78-68 loss to St. Joseph’s in the 2013 Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at West Orange High School back on opening weekend.

Saturday’s contests will feature a Central Jersey Group II semifinal and two Central Jersey Group IV semifinals featuring GMC teams.  Spotswood, the fourth seeded team in CJ Group II, will travel to Matawan for a 1:00 PM semifinal contest on Saturday afternoon.  Jake Dadika, who fired in 39 points to lead the Chargers to their third straight CJ Group II semifinal appearance, and fourth in the last 6 years with a 78-66 victory over Manchester Township of Ocean County in the CJ Group II quarterfinals on Thursday night.  Dadika became the all time leading scorer at Spotswood with 1,634 points breaking the previous mark by Charlie Eibeler in 1995.  Then, Sayreville will travel to Trenton to face the second seeded Tornadoes at Tornado Alley, and fifth seeded East Brunswick will head over to play top seeded Montgomery in the Central Jersey Group IV semifinals on Saturday.  Sayreville punched its ticket to the sectional semifinals with a 65-57 victory over sixth seeded Jackson Memorial on Thursday night while East Brunswick surprised Somerset County champion, Hillsborough (38-35) in another CJ Group IV quarterfinal on Thursday night.  If both EB and Sayreville win, a rematch of the GMCT Semifinals will be set for the Central Jersey Group IV championship on Tuesday night in Parlin.