Colonia Returns To White Division After Four Years in Red as Favorite; Monroe, Woodbridge, and Sayreville Also Contenders
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–With a week to go until the start of the 2014-15 season, GMC Hoops takes a look at the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division. Â Colonia returns to the GMC White after four seasons of competing in the GMC Red. Â The Patriots have just about everybody returning from last year’s squad that reached the GMCT and North Jersey Section 2 Group III semifinals. Â Monroe and Woodbridge look to have good squads this season while Sayreville still has Holy Cross bound Jehvye Floyd and Mike Valentin back along with a number of reserves from last year’s successful team. Â J.P. Stevens has Francois Ballou and Nick Dooley among others returning from last year, and the Hawks look to improve upon a team that was much more competitive than their record indicates. Â Edison lost a lot to graduation, but has a lot of talent coming up from a fairly decent JV squad last year. Â New Brunswick has a new head coach, but most of its players are back this season. Â South Plainfield moves up from the GMC Blue after playing their for two seasons. Â The Tigers lost quite a bit to graduation, but still have Jordan Hankerson, Jason Worthem, and Jason Lee returning along with a promising group of sophomores. Â Below is a team by team breakdown of the GMC White:
Colonia Patriots
After having its most successful season since 2008-09, and since it had moved into the GMC Red four years ago, the Colonia Patriots return home to the familiar confines of the Greater Middlesex Conference’s White Division, where it had been dominant from the mid 1990s to 2009. Â The Patriots have just about everyone back this season. Â The only significant piece lost from last year’s squad was Charlie Caver, who is now playing post-graduate ball at Coastal Academy in Belmar. Â Colonia will have plenty of firepower back with Chase Barneys, Jodrell Thompson, J.J. Corbett, Brandon Haines, Pat Naguib, and Dez Jackson. Â Many of these players have just started practicing this week after playing on the school’s most successful football team ever. Â Colonia was the top seed in the North Jersey Section 2 Group IV state championship, and reached the final where it lost to state powerhouse, Phillipsburg in overtime at Rutgers University on December 6th. Â So, Colonia could be a bit rusty basketball wise at the start of the season, but expect the Pats to be the favorite to win the division this year. Â The Patriots played in the Linden Summer League and Colonia JV Summer League this past off-season.
Edison Eagles
The Edison Eagles and head coach, Charlie Mohr were hit hard by graduation this past off-season. Â EHS lost 8 players to graduation this past June including standouts, Raekwon Ross, Trayvon Washington (Raritan Valley Community College), Dennis Amuzu, Hakim White, and Devon Johnson. Â The Eagles had some great moments last year and were much more competitive. Â Edison will hope to get production from returning players such as Ish Treadwell, Juston Payne, and Al Newcombe along with talent coming up from a junior varsity squad that played very well for assistant coach, Dave Sandaal. Â The Junior Eagles had come from behind victories over Perth Amboy (in overtime) and Sayreville (on the road) last season. Â The JV squad defeated South Amboy in the preliminary round of the 2014 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament, but then lost to third seeded eventual champion, EB in the Round of 16. Â Â Last year’s freshman team won its preliminary round game over Timothy Christian before losing to top seeded Piscataway in the 2014 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Â Edison played at the Rahway Summer League during the off-season, and had a win over Perth Amboy Tech among others.
J.P. Stevens Hawks
The Hawks record was very deceiving last season. Â J.P. Stevens, under the direction of head coach and former South Plainfield assistant and Edison freshmen coach, Bob Jones, was in many of its games last year. Â GMC Hoops saw the Hawks twice last year, and both times they were very competitive in defeat. Â Over the summer, we saw Stevens again at the Rahway Summer League when it played Rahway, and once again, the Hawks battled throughout the contest before losing by single digits. Â The Hawks have football standout, Francois Ballou returning along with forward Nick Dooley. Â JPS lost Chewy Chukwuneke, Veer Patel, and Shlok Garg as well as three others to graduation last June, but still have Brandon Oliver and Alex Corrigan coming back as well as a JV squad that defeated Colonia in the preliminary round and upset top seeded Montgomery in the Round of 16 before losing to eventual finalist St. Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the 2014 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament. Â Meanwhile, the freshman team was seeded 14th, and only lost to eventual champion, St. Joseph’s-White in the Round of 16 by five (42-37). Â Expect J.P. Stevens to be quite competitive again this upcoming season. Â Hopefully, it will translate into more victories, especially in close games, where the bounces didn’t go the Hawks way last season.
Monroe Falcons
Gone from last year’s third place team in the GMC White are the likes of standout guards, Chris Germano and Jair Davis, and big man, Tyler Utheim, but the Falcons have plenty back, and have some talented newcomers from their sophomore class, and some standouts returning to play hoops after being away from several years. Â Leading the way will be the likes of returning varsity players: Â Matt Cocorikis, Tyler Salzer, David Matel-Okoh, Alex Infosino, Adam Darwish, and junior Eddie Pinto. Â Returning to play basketball this year are football standouts Akeer Franklin and Cameron Coleman, who was a man amongst boys as far back as when he played at the Raritan Bay Summer League as a 7th and 8th grader. Â In addition, Monroe has a talented sophomore class including the likes of Jared Simmons, Garon Jones, Akash Patel, and Carlton Coleman. Â As freshmen, this group was seeded fifth and defeated Bishop Ahr in the Round of 16 before losing to fourth seeded and eventual finalist, South Brunswick in a riveting quarterfinal (52-50). Â During the off-season, the Falcons played in the MSC Summer League and MSC Fall League. Â In the fall, Monroe started the season with six straight wins before losing their last two against Allentown (46-43) and Pennington (44-25). Â GMC Hoops saw Monroe play Manalapan during the summer, and the Falcons weren’t at full strength. Â In addition, its sophomores got one of its first tastes of varsity action against a Braves team that attacked with presses and traps defensively. Â The end result was a 41-27 loss for the Purple Birds. Â Look for all of this talent to pay dividends this season with the Falcons being in contention for a White Division crown. Â Monroe will be running its own holiday tournament for the first time since 2008 with an opening round game against Robbinsville on December 27th.
New Brunswick Zebras
After last season’s campaign, there is nowhere to go, but up for the New Brunswick Zebras. Â Over the previous three seasons, NBHS had been working with a lot of new faces from other programs as well as a different coach. Â This year, much of the Zebras nucleus will be back, but they will be dealing with their third different head coach in the past four years. Â Art Tooles, who coached at Middlesex the past several seasons, will be taking on another rebuilding process at New Brunswick. Â Tooles got the Blue Jays to emerge from the shadow of the Brian Feath era to qualify for the Central Jersey Group I state tournament last year, where the Jays advanced to the quarterfinals of the tourney before losing to eventual champion, Point Pleasant Beach. Â New Brunswick’s last appearance in the state playoffs was in 2011-12 when the Zebras lost in the Central Jersey Group III playoff quarterfinals to top seeded Lakewood (70-65 in OT) Â in heartbreaking fashion. Â Players returning from last season including Trevon Blakey, Samad Davila, Emmanuel Osei, and Nadir Whitten. Â These four players were on a Zebras football team that improved this past fall. Â Last year, GMC Hoops saw NBHS at the beginning and end of the season, and the Zebras played much better in its late season loss to Edison. Â Expect the Zebras to improve a bit this year. Â New Brunswick will be playing in the Metuchen Bulldogs Holiday Tournament over the holidays with its opening round game against A.L. Johnson.
Sayreville Bombers
After winning its first ever GMC division crown in boys basketball last season, the Bombers lost a great deal to graduation including: Â Corey Taite (Robinson School), Rob Seraji, Malik Pressley, and Brian Gay. Â However, Sayreville still has the likes of Holy Cross bound Jehvye Floyd and Mike Valentin back along with a number of reservers from last year’s team including: Â Zach Alessi, Dan Gomes, and Justin Santos. Â In addition, the Bombers have some talented newcomers including Mitchell Strandberg, who stood out with his play for the Central Jersey Jayhawks at the Raritan Bay Summer League this past summer. Â With a relatively inexperienced squad coming back, head coach, John Wojcik went to work by getting his Bombers playing throughout the off-season. Â Sayreville played at the Kean Spring League, Rahway Summer League, and Hoop Group Headquarters Fall League as well as the East Brunswick Team Camp. Â At the Kean Spring League, the Bombers had some ups and downs, but put together a nice run that culminated with an opening round overtime victory over Watchung Hills in the playoffs before losing to eventual champion, Newark Central in the quarterfinals. Â Meanwhile, at the Hoop Group, the Bombers struggled early on, but finished with two victories in the last several weeks of the fall. Â Look for the Bombers to play better as the season goes along. Â Sayreville will once again be playing in the Len Sepanak Tournament in Ridge.
South Plainfield Tigers
At first glance, you might think that this may have not been a good year for the Tigers to move back up to the GMC White. Â Gone are the likes of Chris Mathis (IMG Academy), Malik Cisson (Middlesex County College), Brandon Bernard, and Roemello Monroe (playing football at Albright College) from a team that only went 6-18 against mostly GMC Blue competition last year. Â However, the Tigers still have the likes of Jordan Hankerson, Jason Worthem, and Chris Mathis coming back this season. Â In addition, SPHS has a lot of talented newcomers coming up, especially from its sophomore class. Â Some of these new faces include: Â Lamont Williams, Will McLaughlin, and Isaiah Norman. Â Last year, the South Plainfield freshman team was seeded 9th in the Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before losing to eighth seeded East Brunswick while the JV had a bit more success as the 10th seed in the EB/GMC JV Tournament. Â The Junior Tigers defeated Immaculata in the opening round before losing to Hillsborough in the quarterfinals. Â During the course of the off-season, the Tigers competed in the Rahway Summer League and the Immaculata Fall League, and did quite well. Â The Tigers got off to a solid start at Rahway including a lopsided win over Scotch-Plains. Â Then, over at Immaculata, the Tigers finished at 4-4 with competitive losses to the likes of Watchung Hills and Bridgewater-Raritan along with victories over Hopewell Valley, Bernards, North Plainfield, and Delaware Valley. Â In addition to moving up and playing a tougher White Division schedule, South Plainfield will be hosting a much more competitive Anthony J. Cotoia Tournament with the likes of Union Catholic and Summit joining a field that also includes a solid Perth Amboy team and a competitive J.P. Stevens squad. Â This edition of the Tigers could be better than anticipated. Â SPHS lacks size, but does have solid guard play, perimeter shooting, and quickness. Â Expect these Tigers to be fun to watch this season.
Woodbridge Barrons
Wrapping up our preview of the 2014 GMC White Division is our look at the Woodbridge Barrons.  The Barrons have a lot of firepower back this season including senior guard tandem, Zahneer Shuler and Zaire Robinson, who also stood out on the gridiron for WHS this past fall season.  In addition, Woodbridge has a talented sophomore class led by the likes of Quassim Glover and Keshaun Henry, also standouts on the football field.  On top of that, the Barrons received another talented soph in  incoming transfer from Carteret in Quran Robinson.  Tyler Smith is a reserve returning for the Barrons, who was also a contributor to the football team, and part of a very good senior class.  Zach Torres, a transfer from Carteret last year, is back after suffering a knee injury that sidelined him last season. Woodbridge also has a new addition to third year head coach, Matt Gigliello’s staff in former South Amboy head coach, Lenny Reyes, who is an assistant.  Former Colonia standout, Brandon Hall and Charlie Titus are still on the staff for the Barrons as well.  WHS had an up and down season last year after losing the likes of Jared Pearson, Duquan Bailey, and Jaheem Jackson from two years ago.  Gone are Mike Cordero and Josh Oloweekere among others from last year’s team.  However, Woodbridge has a tremendous crop of talent coming up from very successful JV and freshman teams last year.  In last year’s Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, Woodbridge reached the Final Four before losing to eventual champion, St. Joseph’s-White in the semifinals and defeating top seeded Piscataway in the third place consolation game.  Meanwhile, the JV reached the quarterfinals of the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament before falling to North Brunswick.  Look for Woodbridge to be right in the thick of things in the GMC White this season.  Over the holidays, the Barrons will be playing in the 2014 Buc Classic in Red Bank.
There looks to be a bit more in the way of separation in the GMC White this year with Colonia, Monroe, Woodbridge, and Sayreville contending for division honors while Edison, J.P. Stevens, New Brunswick, and South Plainfield will look to improve and be more competitive.