GMC Hoops Summary–Amboy Tech Downs South Amboy, 56-46

Little Scores 1,000th Point as Patriots Sweep Guvs

Amboy Tech’s Jordan Little skies to block a shot late in the 1st quarter against South Amboy.

PERTH AMBOY, NJ–After losing its GMC Gold showdown with Piscataway Tech this past Friday, the Patriots of Perth Amboy Tech were looking to stay in the race for its first division title since 2005 when they took on the Governors of South Amboy in a divisional clash on Wednesday afternoon.  The Guvs had won 8 of 11 games to move a game over .500 before losing to Piscataway Tech in a Saturday contest.   When these two teams met earlier in the season in South Amboy, the Pats won.

Jordan Little dominated both sides of the court with not only his scoring, but also his rebounding and shot blocking.  Although South Amboy made things difficult for Little to get going offensively, the 6’8″ center for Amboy Tech still managed to earn a share of game high honors with 18 points including his 1,000th of his career on a basket with 6:22 remaining in the contest.  Earlier in the season, Little grabbed his 1,000th career rebound, and he is the first player in the GMC Hoops era (2000-15) to have 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.  Kyrie Byers chipped in with 13 points while Noel Garay added 12 points for the winners.

South Amboy battled throughout as they nearly overcame a 16 point first half deficit, and tried to rally from a 15 point fourth quarter deficit, but simply didn’t have enough to catch up to Amboy Tech.  Kehare Ford, who was coming off an 8 point, 13 rebound performance in the loss to Piscataway Tech, compiled 18 points on the day including 14 in the second half.  Senior guard, Tim Kales turned in a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds while Ryan O’Leary chipped in with 8 points.   Amboy Tech held a 21-16 advantage in two point field goals made and an 11-5 edge in made free throws.  South Amboy scored more points from beyond the arc (9-3).  Both teams had 6 different players get into the scorebook, but Amboy Tech had three of its players score in double figures while South Amboy only had one.

Each team outscored the other in two of the four quarters played, but Amboy Tech won the first and third period by larger margins with a 14-6 showing in the first and a 16-10 effort in the third.  The Patriots got the first points of the game on a layup by Byers, but South Amboy responded with the next five points including a layup by O’Leary and a three pointer by Tim Kales for a 5-2 advantage.  Amboy Tech took over that though with 12 of the last 13 points of the frame over a span of about five and a half minutes.  Highlighting the run were two layups by Byers for an 8-5 lead at the 3:16 mark, a dunk by Little with 23 seconds to play in the period, and then a block by Little that led to another Amboy Tech score with two seconds left in the period for a 14-6 lead.  The Patriots began the second much like they had ended the first with 10 of the first 12 points for what seemed to be a commanding 24-8 lead with 4:03 left in the first half.

Using the momentum from his dunk late in the first period, Little went to work by scoring the first six Amboy Tech points of the second for a 20-8 lead at the 4:27 mark.  Then, Byers got into the act again with two free throws and then another layup for a 24-8 advantage just over midway through the second period.  South Amboy wouldn’t go away.  With their first year head coach summoning all the energy he could to motivate his team, the Guvs rallied with a 13-2 tear over the last 4:03 of the first half to pull within five at the break.  Highlighting the rally was a three by O’Leary, two field goals including a jumper late in the half by Nick Reagan, two free throws by Kales, and a score by Ford to make the score 26-21 in favor of Perth Amboy Tech at the intermission.  Byers led all scorers with 10 points for the Patriots while Little chipped in with 8.  O’Leary and Kales led the Guvs with 5 each.

In the third quarter, Amboy Tech re-established its control over the contest.  The Patriots scored the first 4 points of the second half, and then finished the third with a 7-0 spurt to take a 42-31 lead into the final period.  The Patriots quarter ending run included a three pointer and a layup by Noel Garay, who scored 7 of his points in the frame.  Four different players scored in the period for South Amboy including Ford and O’Leary who had 3 points each.  Amboy Tech opened the fourth with the first four points including Little’s basket at the 6:22 mark, which not only gave him 1,000 points for his career, but also gave the Pats a 46-31 lead.  South Amboy attempted to rally with the next five points to pull within 10, but Little netted two free throws at the 4:30 mark for a 48-36 lead.  The Guvs crept a bit closer with three of the next four points that narrowed the deficit to single digits, but Little scored on a putback with 2:49 remaining to give Amboy Tech a 51-40 lead.

South Amboy was not able to get any closer than ten points after that although Kales would score with 14.1 seconds remaining to shape the 56-46 final score.  With the victory, Amboy Tech won its second straight and 11th out of its last 12, and improved to 13-3 overall on the season including a 12-2 mark in the GMC Gold.  Meanwhile, South Amboy dropped its second in a row and fell below .500 again at 9-10 overall including a 6-7 mark in divisional play.