Becomes Fourth Player From This Year’s St. Joe’s Squad To Go Division I
METUCHEN, NJ–On Friday night, GMC Hoops learned that St. Joseph’s standout, Marques Townes has given a verbal commitment to play basketball next year at Farleigh Dickinson University. Â Townes, who was selected as the MVP of this year’s GMCT, and also helped lead the Falcons to a Non-Public A state title as well as the first T of C crown in school and in conference history, had scholarship offers from several different schools including Fairfield, Florida Gulf Coast, Robert Morris, and St. Francis, and garnered interest from Rutgers and Penn State for football, settled to join an improving Knights program over other D1 schools such as St. Peter’s, South Alabama, and Charleston Southern.
Starting out his career at Cardinal McCarrick in South Amboy, he helped the Eagles win its first Non-Public B sectional final since 2005 back in the 2011 season as a freshman. Â After his sophomore season, he decided to transfer to St. Joseph’s and join teammates Karl Towns and Wade Baldwin to form the Big Three. Â Over the past two seasons with the Falcons, Townes played an integral role with continuing the success started by the likes of Steve Rennard (Penn), Quenton DeCosey (Temple), and Danny Brix (Stonehill). Â In the last two years, Joes has garnered a record of 57-7 while winning another GMC Red Division title, two more GMCTs to become the first school ever to win five straight MCT/GMCT titles, two more Non-Public A sectional and state titles, and two T of C finals appearance with the first ever crown. Â The Falcons also just completed their best season ever at 30-2.
In addition to contributing to team success at both McCarrick and St. Joseph’s, Townes enjoyed individual success as well. Â Besides receiving GMCT MVP honors this year, Townes was also selected for the GMC All Conference Team and All GMC Red in each of the past two seasons, and also earned the GMC Hoops Player of the Week award back as a freshman in the 2010-11 season, and this year for his MVP efforts in the GMCT. Â He was selected as the 2011 GMC Hoops Freshman of the Year, and was the 2013 Co-GMC Hoops Impact Player of the Year with teammate Wade Baldwin. Â His combined record in his two years at McCarrick and his two years at St. Joseph’s was 101-22.
Finishing his career with 1,853 points, Townes wound up placing second on the GMC Hoops Grand Club ahead of former Highland Park and Cardinal McCarrick standout, Mike Burwell, and behind former McCarrick standout, Vince Rosario. Â Burwell finished up his college career this season at Towson University while Rosario finished his career at C.W. Post last year. Â Townes joins a recent list of former GMC standouts that have played at FDU including another former St. Joseph’s standout in Sean Baptiste and former Woodbridge standout, Kyle Pearson. Â The Edison native joins teammates Karl Towns, Wade Baldwin, and Raven Owen as the fourth player from this year’s St. Joe’s team to commit to a Division I men’s basketball program. Â Back on November 13, 2013, Towns (Kentucky), Baldwin (Vanderbilt), and Owen (Canisius) all signed letters of intent with their schools. See video and slideshow of their signings.
Meanwhile, FDU is coming off its best season in many years. Â Under the guidance of first year head coach, Greg Herenda, the Knights earned their first conference tournament berth since 2009, and defeated fellow Division I New Jersey schools such as Rutgers, and Seton Hall. Â The Knights also pulled off some surprises by knocking off by splitting with Central Connecticut State, Hofstra, and LIU-Brooklyn. Â FDU finished the season at 10-21 including a 6-10 mark in conference play. Â The Knights compete in the Northeast Conference (NEC) with the likes of Robert Morris, Wagner, LIU-Brooklyn, and Bryant. Â Another GMC player playing in the NEC is Iverson Fleming, who graduated from North Brunswick last year. Â Fleming had a solid freshman campaign including a 22 point performance in a win at NJIT back on December 12th.