Three Games Slated for December 20th at South Amboy HS
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–Recently, GMC Hoops was updated by Tom Reilly, who represents the Friends of South Amboy on the upcoming benefit basketball games at South Amboy High School on opening weekend. For the third straight year, South Amboy and Cardinal McCarrick, two longtime crosstown rivals, will be coming together for a good cause. The Friends of South Amboy will be holding its annual fundraiser game between these two schools on December 20th.
Festivities will begin at 4:00 PM with a game between the JV squads of the two schools. Action will continue with a varsity girls game between the Guvs and Eagles at 5:30 PM. Then, between the end of the girls varsity game and the start of the boys varsity game, slated for 8:00 PM, there will be a special ceremony honoring the all time boys and girls scorers at the two schools. For tickets, please contact Tom Reilly at (732)-721-0853. There will also be a media day for the event earlier in the week at South Amboy High School.
Over the past two seasons, the Guvs and Eagles boys teams have come together to play two great games. On opening weekend of the 2012-13 season, the two schools put on the first annual benefit game at South Amboy HS to help those in South Amboy that were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy about a month and a half earlier. Last year, the two schools came together to help the Friends of South Amboy raise money to assist a resident with medical costs. Both boys games the past two years have been thrillers with the Eagles winning both contests by slim margins. Two years ago, Cardinal McCarrick rallied to defeat South Amboy in overtime, 54-51. Last year’s game was even better with the Eagles hanging on to beat the pesky Guvs again in overtime, 74-70.
This year, South Amboy is coming off a tremendous campaign from 2013-14 that included the school’s second ever GMCT Quarterfinal appearance. The Guvs were the first 20 plus seed to reach the GMCT Elite Eight since the open tourney format began in 1994. However, the Governors lost a number of solid players from that team including 1,000 point scorers Steve Herdman (now playing at FDU-Florham) and Joe Fruncillo as well as Nick Kales and Dan Murphy. South Amboy took another tough blow when promising sophomore, Sean Kudelka transferred to Bishop Ahr. The Guvs still have some good talent returning with the likes of senior Tim Kales, junior Kiere Ford, and sophomore Neptali Munoz returning along with McCarrick transfer Ryan O’Leary, who scored all 10 of his points including two threes in the second quarter of last year’s benefit game for the Eagles.
Meanwhile, McCarrick is coming off its second straight sub .500 season. The Eagles will have their fourth head coach in as many seasons with former St. Anthony’s assistant, Ben Gamble taking over the program this past May. Cardinal McCarrick is also moving down to the Blue Division for the 2014-15 season. The Eagles have been busy this off-season with an appearance in the 2014 Hoop Group Summer Showcase in June and its first ever appearance in the Paterson Fall-Ball League, where they won the Saturday league championship over two time defending Group II state champion, Newark Tech. McCarrick is led by Hodari Bazemore, Nyke McCombs, and Gilberto Cue. South Amboy also has a new head coach in John Zammit, who previously served as an assistant at the school, and played on the 2007-08 Guvs squad that won the school’s only division title in boys basketball and reached the 2008 GMCT Quarterfinals before losing to then top seeded and eventual champion McCarrick. It was the last meeting between the two schools until two seasons ago. Larry Lenahan another Guv standout from that 2008 team, who went on to play college hoops at Centenary College in Hackettstown, will also help with the Guvs coaching staff this season.