St. Joseph’s Strong Favorite to Reclaim Conference Crown
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Last year, GMC Hoops talked about how wide open the GMC was going to be after the departures of Karl Anthony-Towns, Wade Baldwin, Marques Townes, and Raven Owen from St. Joseph’s. Well, despite the changes at Joes last year, the Falcons, led by the duo of Bree Tyree and Branislav Vujadinovic, were still good enough to go undefeated in the GMC Red, and reach the GMCT Final. There was, however, a new champion, as Colonia won its first conference crown since 2006 when the Patriots knocked off the top ranked Falcons in the 2015 GMCT Championship.
This year, you can expect St. Joseph’s to return to the top spot in the GMC, and reclaim the conference title for the 6th time in 7 years. The Falcons may be even good enough for a Non-Public A state title run, and its fourth Tournament of Champions appearance in 5 years come March. Besides Tyree and Vujadinovic returning, the Falcons got some big additions during the off-season including Syracuse bound, Tyus Battle, who had been at Gill St. Bernard’s the previous three years. St. Joseph’s now also has Khaliff Battle, a freshman, and the younger brother of Tyus. Both Battle Brothers are the sons of former Colonia standout, Gary Battle, who led Colonia to a Central Jersey Group 3 championship in 1985.
In addition to the Battles coming on board, the Falcons also have Alonzo Frink, the younger brother of former St. Anthony’s standout, Jerome Frink, who now plays college hoops at Central Connecticut. Former Piscataway Tech standout, Letrell West also transferred in this summer. These ingredients are already added to the mix of Mississippi bound Tyree, Vujadinovic, junior Mikey Granda, seniors Bryce Layne, Jose Medina Jr., and Deladem Adadevoh, and Bryan Carley along with a JV squad led by the likes of Xavier Townes, Malachi Walker, and Dexter Jackson that finished second in the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament. In the off-season, St. Joe’s played in the Linden Team Camp and Linden Summer League, and then went undefeated during the fall at Immaculata.
Behind the Falcons are several teams including defending GMC champion, Colonia, East Brunswick, Old Bridge, and South Brunswick. These four teams will likely be battling it out for that spot opposite of St. Joseph’s in the 2016 GMCT Championship in February. Colonia did take a bit of a hit to graduation with the losses of J.J. Corbett, Pat Naguib (William Paterson), Jodrell Thompson (Kean University), and Brandon Haines from the 2015 GMCT and North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Championship teams. However, the Patriots still have Chase Barneys, Bryce Barneys, and Kolby Chapman returning along with a talented sophomore class led by Christian Chapman, Frank Lehman, and Oliver French that reached the Final Four of the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Tournament before losing to eventual champion, North Brunswick in overtime.
East Brunswick did lose the likes of starters John McHenry and Alex Fitzgerald was well as forward Tyler McNamara from last year’s team, but the Bears still have their top three players from last season returning in Matt Ross, Mike Vick, and Addis Ralph in addition to reserves such as Justin Sewnarine and Mike Brizuela coming back, and Donte Ralph coming up from the JV level. Speaking of the JV Bears, there are some other talented players coming up from that squad including sophomore Jesse Perel and sharpshooter Joe Sampson. Besides Perel, the younger brother of recent graduate, Matt Perel, EB has more promising sophomore talent with Eric Schneider, Brandon Rosenthal, and Nas Zubiru. As freshmen, this trio led East Brunswick to the finals of the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before losing to North Brunswick.
Besides having to go through defending champion, Colonia, EB will have to look over its shoulder a bit in the GMC Red with the likes of Old Bridge, South Brunswick, Perth Amboy, and North Brunswick. Old Bridge has begun to make strides at the lower levels over the past several years. The current group of seniors that includes: Connor Romano, Stephen Strom, and C.J. Santoro, won the 2013 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Two seasons ago, Old Bridge’s freshmen reached the Amboy Tourney’s Elite Eight. This year’s freshmen team didn’t get past the Round of 16, but over the summer, the group led by Connor Freel, won the Colonia JV Summer League by defeating Colonia in the semifinals and Perth Amboy in the championship. Last year’s JV squad, led by the likes of Rich Calandrino, reached the Final Four of the 2015 EB/GMC JV Tournament before losing to St. Joseph’s. The core varsity players returning: Romano, Strom, Santoro, Kyle Paris, and Will Osvald have put together a solid team game with a ton of perimeter shooting along with some athleticism and inside play from Paris
South Brunswick reached the GMCT Quarterfinals last year before losing to Perth Amboy in a rubber match of their three game series in 2014-15. The Vikings did lose some key players from last season including Jack Engel, Terrence Wong, and Tyjuan Dugger, but they have plenty coming back led by senior forward, Eric Savage, who can be a point forward, shoot the perimeter shot, rebound, and most importantly, be the leader. Besides Savage, the Vikes have fellow seniors Jaier Garrett, Sean Nally, and Isaiah Franklin. Garrett is coming off a solid season on the gridiron, where he scored two touchdowns in the Central Jersey Group 5 championship against Old Bridge last weekend. SBHS also has a talented junior class led by Mike Ugarte and also includes Tavian Alford, Chris James, Danesh Thirukmaran, Greg Lee, Ryan Moran, Vic Huetz, and Shawn Bautista. Two years ago, this group of juniors reached the 2014 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen final before losing to St. Joseph’s-White. Last year as sophomores, the Vikings knocked off top seeded St. Joseph’s in the EB/GMC JV Championship.
Next, we have, Perth Amboy, North Brunswick, Piscataway, Woodbridge, Monroe, J.P. Stevens, Sayreville, Carteret, J.F. Kennedy, and Spotswood. Perth Amboy took a bit of a hit to graduation with the loss of Carlos Done, Marquis Irizarry, Nate Melendez (Middlesex County College), John Wahrmann, and Eddie Griggs, but they still have a solid group returning led by guards Johnny Jones and Ethon Diaz. In addition, the Panthers have a solid group coming up from the JV level including Quincy Hannah, Luis Rivera, and big man, Jesus Garcia. There is another newcomer in guard, Victor Soto as well as a solid group of sophomores including Adam Gornowicz, Dario Demoria, and Luis Bonilla that reached the semifinals of the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before losing to East Brunswick.
North Brunswick might be an interesting group this season, and could overachieve. Although the Raiders lost a lot to graduation this past June including the likes of L.J. Williams, Kishan Patel, Eric Slade, and Soloman Gayle, they still have a good deal coming back including a talented senior backcourt tandem of Pranay Bhandare and Basit Khan, seniors in Eric Reardon and Bryjon Smith, and a solid junior guard in Francis Omowole, who played football this fall for NBTHS. The Raiders also have a solid group of sophomores led by Jordan Salisbury, Maneet Batra, and Mwanza Fitzpatrick. As freshmen, this group won the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament by defeating Colonia in the semifinals and East Brunswick in the title game. Another player that might have a big impact on these year’s NBTHS boys basketball team is junior Adryan Salazar, who made a big splash over the summer at the 2015 Monroe Sports Center Summer League.
Piscataway has been undergoing a rebuilding process over the past several seasons under 4th year head coach, Antoine Allen. The Chiefs have some key pieces back from last year’s team including D’Ondre Dent, Nazir James, and Darius Gillon. They also have a solid group coming up from the JV level that includes Mehki Morgan and Noah Freeney. P-Way has a talented junior class that was the top seed of the 2014 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tournament two years ago as 9th graders. Piscataway did lose a couple key pieces from last year’s team in Donzell Cunningham, who was the MVP of the 2015 GMCBCA Senior All-Star Game at the end of last year, and Dashaun Best-Crossen.
Woodbridge looks to contend in the GMC White with a solid junior class led by two year varsity players, and football standouts, Quassim Glover and Keshaun Henry. Glover was the hero in the dramatic win at home over Sayreville last season when he sank a thirty-five footer with no time left to defeat the Bombers. The Barrons rode a wave of momentum after that to get past Perth Amboy Tech in the 2015 GMCT Round of 16, and reach the Elite Eight for the third straight year under head coach, Matt Gigliello. WHS did lose a couple of key players in Zahneer Shuler and Zaire Robinson (Raritan Valley Community College), but it has been cultivating good talent at the lower levels for the past several years. Two seasons ago, the JV reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tourney while the freshmen reached the semifinals of the 2014 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Last year, the Woodbridge freshmen reached the Elite Eight round of the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament.
Monroe could be an interesting team to watch in the GMC White this year because of a nice blend of veterans returning and some promising young players as well. The Falcons lost several key players from last year’s team including Matt Cocorikis, Tyler Salzer, and David Okoh. However, the Purple Birds have forward Eddie Pinto returning this year along with a group of juniors led by football standout, Carlton Coleman, Peter Nesti, and A.K. Patel, and a group of sophomores led by Eric Johnson, Luke Patel, Kevin Shea, and Fritz Frage. Pinto has good length, can shoot the three, score inside, tries to get everyone involved, and is unselfish. A newcomer that will be one to watch not only during the course of this season, but for many to come is freshmen Mike Kides. The Falcons put in off-season work in the Spring, Summer, and Fall like fellow GMC White rival Sayreville did.
J.P. Stevens may be another team to watch in the GMC White this year. The Hawks showed signs of improvement in 2014-15 with a 10-15 season that included upset wins over Woodbridge and Old Bridge as well as tough losses to Bishop Ahr in the GMCT Preliminary Round, and Perth Amboy in the opening round of the North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 State Playoffs. Stevens lost to key players in Nick Dooley and Francois Ballou to graduation in June, but have a good blend of veterans and youngsters. Leading the veterans are Alex Corrigan, Mike Lionikis, and Mike Katims. The youngsters are a group of sophomores led by the likes of Brian Beiter and Jesse Shiulili. Last year as freshmen, Stevens current sophomore class reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC JV Tournament before losing to second seeded Colonia. Like Monroe, Stevens is a White Division squad that has a good blend of veteran and young talent.
Sayreville was another White Division team that put in a ton of work this off-season. Sayreville lost a couple of key players from last year’s GMCT Elite Eight team that knocked off 3rd seeded Cardinal McCarrick in South Amboy during the Round of 16 including: Jehyve Floyd (Holy Cross) and Mike Valentin (Middlesex County College). The Bombers do have Jahsim Floyd, the younger brother of Jehyve returning, and he turned in a great spring at Kean followed by a solid summer at Rahway. In the fall, the younger Floyd opted to play football. Sayreville has a new face in Ryan O’Leary, a transfer from South Amboy, who had a great sophomore campaign for first year head coach, John Zammit and the Guvs, which came on strong at the end of the season. Others coming back from last year’s team include: Derek Astarita, Zach Alessi, and Jayson DeMild along with newcomers Mitchell Strandberg, Andrew Gay, and Henny Manutes.
Carteret will be one of the teams still contending in the GMC Blue this year. With McCarrick no longer in existence, the Ramblers will have one less obstacle in its way. However, CHS did take some hits to graduation with the losses of its entire starting five: Jaquan Robertson (St. Peter’s), Brandon Gilder, Ra’Keem Bennett, Amir Alford, and Vince Montgomery. Robertson and Gilder ended up being 1,000 point scorers with Robertson finishing 2nd on the all time list behind the late Keith Hughes Sr. The Ramblers do have the likes of Jemar Jordan, Victor Spencer and James Hart returning this year, and turned in a solid summer at the Rahway Summer League. Carteret was one of the four teams that qualified for the playoffs at Rahway, and appeared to be poised to reach the Championship Game, but the hometown team Indians rallied late in the second half to knock off the Ramblers.
After finishing the 2014-15 season on a strong note and being one of the better GMC teams against non-conference competition, J.F. Kennedy is looking to contend for the GMC Blue title. Gone are the likes of Joe Duffy, Stepp Ozgiebe, Terrance Young, but the Mustangs return a good group of players led by Kush Patel, Pete Obertan, Lendell Parker, and Kobie Wells. The Mustangs took a step up by competing in the Monday/Wednesday Division of the Linden Summer League with St. Joseph’s. In the playoffs, the Mustangs gave Don Bosco Prep all it could handle before the Ironmen pulled away late in the second half to advance. Kennedy has a good deal of talent in its senior class. Three years ago as freshmen, the current group of seniors at JFK reached the Final Four of the 2013 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, and ended up finishing third after an overtime win over St. Joseph’s-Green in the consolation game.
Spotswood put in a solid off-season, and have a good nucleus coming back including Eric Dadika, Marlon Hart, J.T. Vento, Andrew Fuzesi, and Abdullah Nieskens. The Chargers did take some hits with big man Matt Ciaccio focusing on baseball and sophomore Chris Pina transferring to Point Pleasant Beach. Spotswood should still be a contender in the GMC Blue, especially with McCarrick closing in June. Spotswood has an quick and athletic group with the likes of Dadika, Hart, and Vento while still having a strong perimeter game with the likes of Fuzesi. Spotswood started off last season with 7 wins in their first 8 games including victories over Carteret and Bound Brook to climb into the Top 10. Then, the Chargers lost to Bishop Ahr on January 16th, and went 8-9 over its last 17 games. Spotswood will be looking to make last season’s roller coaster a distant memory, and return to the GMCT Elite Eight, where it had paid a visit in 3 of the last 6 years.
South Plainfield will be competing again in the GMC White. The Tigers did lose a bit from last season with the graduation of Jordan Hankerson (Alvernia University), Devon Dabel, and Jason Worthem. However, the Tigers still have Lamont Williams returning along with Jason Lee, Isaiah Norman, Will McLaughlin, Jake Alba (committed to Stony Brook for baseball), Nate Mensah, and Nick Polizzano. Williams is a prolific scorer, and will be the focus of many teams’ defenses. Lee is coming off a solid season on the gridiron, and will be looking to continue that success on the hardwood this winter. Last year, the Tigers went 9-15 overall including a 4-10 mark in divisional play despite moving up to the GMC White after being in the GMC Blue for two seasons. South Plainfield’s big win of the season was on the first weekend in the new year at Sayreville. Over the summer, the Tigers competed at the Rahway Summer League, and also played in the Hoop Group Elite Team Camp at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Last year, Bishop Ahr finished below .500 for the first time in 12 years. However, the Trojans did finish the season strong with two victories over Spotswood, and a win at J.P. Stevens in the preliminary round of the 2015 GMCT. BGA took a big hit to graduation losing the likes of Tom Weiler (Centenary College), Kevin Krolick, Pat Astarita, Anthony Abano, Eddie Hayes, and Harry Gelpke. South Amboy native, Sean Kudelka returns for the Trojans along with a relatively young group that includes Corey Ciszek and promising sophomores Alex Santiago, Jordan Wells, Mike Mellos, and Bobby Krolick. Kudelka will be the key cog in Ahr’s offensive sets much like Weiler was last season. Santiago, Wells, Mellos, and Krolick led Ahr’s freshmen to a quarterfinal appearance in the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament before bowing out against Perth Amboy.
Edison will be looking to be competitive in the White Division in 2015-16. The Eagles have a solid trio returning in seniors Brandon Radd and John Zanfordino along with junior Justin Turner. Radd is a nice little playmaker, who can also make the big shot like he did a couple years ago in a JV game against Perth Amboy. Zanfordino is a fierce competitor, who can score both inside and outside. Turner is athletic who can hit the perimeter shot. All three play other sports as well with Radd and Zanfordino playing baseball in the spring while Turner plays football in the fall. EHS and its head coach, Charlie Mohr, who begins his 13th year at the helm in Edison, did lose three starters from last season including Al Newcombe, Juston Payne, and Ish Treadwell. Over the summer, the Eagles played in the East Brunswick Team Camp and the Rahway Summer League.
Metuchen took a hit to graduation by losing the likes of 1,000 point scorer Artie Flaherty, Jr., Tom Chalker, and Shae Norris, but also lost Evan Collier, who transferred to David Brearley in Kenilworth. Returning for the Bulldogs and 2nd year head coach, Guy Jensen, will be junior Danny Flaherty and sophomore Matt Volpe. The Bulldogs will be more inexperienced, but have good talent coming up from a middle school program that was very successful several years ago. Having legendary coach, Ray Newman on the staff is also a very big plus. Over the summer, the Bulldogs competed in a summer league for the first time in several years at Bound Brook. Metuchen just missed qualifying for the playoffs there. The Bulldogs, which are one of only two Group I schools still in the Blue Division, had moments where they showed tremendous fight last season. Several times during 2014-15, Metuchen faced huge deficits, and battled back to pull within single digits before ultimately losing.
Like Metuchen, Middlesex is a Group I school still in the Blue Division. The Jays started out the season on a positive note with wins over Highland Park and Dunellen at the 2014 Shello-Santy Tournament at the Faber in Dunellen, but didn’t have much success after that despite getting a late season win over Kennedy and coming close to knocking off Carteret and Spotswood. The Blue Jays also lost three times to Metuchen. Last June, Middlesex lost point guard, Stew Lester (Centenary) and Marcus Evans-Little (Raritan Valley Community College) to graduation. In addition, junior guard, Vince Chiera is not playing this year. The Jays still have Ryan Coke coming back along with the likes of Kyle Bogus, Tyler Ha, Chris Spencer, and Mike Lavenia. Over the summer, Middlesex competed in the Montgomery Team Camp and the Bound Brook Summer League. At Bound Brook, the Blue Jays managed to qualify for the playoffs after winning a play-in game before losing to Somerville.
New Brunswick is looking to build off the momentum generated by the football team and several other fall sports with a successful boys basketball season. Head coach Art Tooles is back for his second season, and made a big step in the off-season by getting a summer league going at NBHS. The Odie Page Summer League featured a number of teams from the GMC including South Brunswick. The Zebras have the likes of Emmanuel Osei, Maurice Ffrench, Samad Davila, Carlos Hernandez, Thompson Sharrybay, Curtis Revan, and Jahbree Jeffery returning, but did take a bit of a hit with the graduation of Nadir Whitten, Malik Morgan, and Dewardric Scott as well as the transfer of Trevon and Anthony Blakey to South Brunswick. Having the likes of football players French, Davila, Hernandez, and Jeffery on the roster will be a big boost since all of them are coming off the school’s best season in 6 years with a semifinal berth in the Central Jersey Group 5 playoffs. After the Brunswick Classic Holiday Tournament disbanded with North Brunswick moving up to the GMC Red last year, New Brunswick played in the Metuchen Bulldog Holiday Tournament last year. This year, NBHS is running its own holiday tourney.
East Brunswick Tech had perhaps its best season since 2008-09, and with the likes of Connor Stratton, Noah Westbrook, Mason Settembre, Silas Stanley, Josh Brody, Lanier Smith, and Enudy Jimenez all returning this season, the Tigers are looking to win their first division crown since winning their only GMC Gold crowns in back to back seasons in 1996 and 1997. The key will be a healthy Connor Stratton, who went down with a concussion mid-season against Dunellen and was out for the remainder of the season. Having Stratton’s leadership, playmaking ability, shooting, and scoring in the line-up every night for EB Tech makes this team much more formidable. Westbrook is bigger and stronger this year while Settembre, Stanley, Brody, Smith, and Jimenez have all shown improvement thanks to a newly implemented off-season program that included competing in the Raritan Bay Summer League. There are also newcomers such as Misael Ruiz that bolster the frontcourt a bit while youngsters Dylan Stratton, R.J. Jobin, and A.J. Rambone may also see some time.
Dunellen had some big changes in its off-season. Starting at the top with new head coach, Howie Horowitz, who takes over for Bernie Buniak, who coached at the school for 10 seasons, went 155-101, won 6 GMC Gold titles, and reached the North Jersey Section 2 Group I semifinals twice in 2006 and 2013. Horowitz, who is also an assistant coach in football, had previously been the JV head coach and varsity assistant at DHS. The first year coach was a standout hoops player at neighborhood rival, Middlesex, and was a member of the 2000-01 Blue Jays team that reached the GMCT Elite Eight after dethroning defending champion, Sayreville in the Round of 16. The Destroyers also said goodbye to its all time leading scorer, David Johnson, who graduated in June and now plays hoops at Division II Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Dunellen also lost starters, Al-Taron Fields and Dan Russomanno to graduation this past summer. Returning this year are starters Anthony Buccino (sophomore point guard) and Yianni Garris (senior shooting guard) along with reserves Bowen Grasso, Tyquan Fowler, and Nazire Jordan.
Highland Park is competing in the GMC Gold for a second year, and will be looking to improve on its 3-19 overall mark including a 2-14 divisional record. Returning for head coach, Derek Nobles, who is now in his 10th season at HPHS are football standouts, Noah Pointer, Nasir Boykins, and Justin Simms as well as Will Chen and big man, Will Jacob-Perez.
Perth Amboy Tech had one of its best seasons ever with a share of the GMC Gold championship with Dunellen. It was only the fourth time that the Patriots won at least a share of the Gold Division crown. In addition, Amboy Tech reached the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group I State Playoffs before bowing out to eventual champion, Shore Regional. Two key players from that squad, big man Jordan Little and guard Noel Garay are now playing JUCO ball at Brookdale College in Lincroft. Also gone are starting forward, Lou Rodriguez and reserves Angel Ramirez and Richie Moya. The Patriots do have a solid starting backcourt returning with Kyrie Byers and Pedro Gonzalez as well as reserve forwards Javon Fisher and Eric Negro back. Over the summer, Perth Amboy Tech played at the Rahway Summer League.
Piscataway Tech underwent some big chances this off-season. Starting at the top with the head coach, the Raiders have many new faces. Lenny Reyes, who previously coached at Metuchen, and more recently at South Amboy, recent took the helm at P-Way Tech. At Metuchen, he coached the likes of Marqus Blakely, Lamar Nichols, and Steve Thomas, and guided them to an upset win over then 8th seeded P-Way Tech as a 25th seed in the 2005 GMCT. Over at South Amboy, Reyes, compiled a 45-53 record, but the Guvs gradually improved during his four seasons from 4-19 in 2010-11 to 20-7 in 2013-14. In his final season at SAHS, Reyes led the Guvs to a berth in the GMCT Elite Eight as the 24th seed. Reyes inherits a much different squad with the graduation of the likes of guards Aziz Austin and Kyle Wider and the transfer of Letrell West to St. Joseph’s. The Raiders still have the likes of Ali Austin, Khalil Smith, and German Pimentel (played football at New Brunswick) back along with newcomers Romelo Spencer and Branden Barnes.
South Amboy took a hit with the transfer of Ryan O’Leary to Sayreville in addition to the graduation of Tim Kales, Max Garcia, Hugh Rone, and Xavier Lluberes. The Guvs will look to rely on the likes of Kehare Ford to lead the way along with Nick Reagan and Julian Munoz. Reserves from last year including Alan Kazar, Bobby Nebus, Justin Lewis, and Lane Lapoardo will also look to contribute. Second year head coach, John Zammit will be looking to build off the team’s improvement in the last half of the season last year. The Guvs had a tough start to the 2014-15 campaign with four losses in their first five games before going .500 the rest of the way for a 12-15 record. Over the summer, South Amboy competed in the Monroe Sports Center Summer League and the Raritan Bay Summer League.
South River took a bit of a hit to graduation with the departure of 1,000 point scorer, Sean Darrar, who is now playing football at Albright College as well as point guard, Zach Torres (Middlesex County College), Maurice Lawrence, Othneil Harris, and Patrick Genthe. The Rams also lost football standout, Khaliyl Everett, who did not come out for basketball this year. Seventh year head coach, Rodney Harris only has three varsity players with experience coming back for this season including: Mario Nigro, Antonio Martinez, and Billy George. They are very young. The JV team consists of all freshmen. The Rams went through similar growing pains during football season with a roster that consisted of mostly freshmen and sophomores. Nigro, the quarterback on the football team, will once again have to serve as a leader and teacher. Expect South River to run its fast paced, high octane offense though with Martinez and Nigro handling the basketball a great deal. In the off-season, South River competed in the Raritan Bay Summer League and the Monroe Sports Center Fall League.
Timothy Christian endured a difficult season in 2014-15 after winning its first ever division crown in GMC boys basketball the year before. Losing the likes of Brandon Summers (Valley Forge University), Zach Coyle, Matt DiLeo, Jarret Locke, David Figueroa, and Evan Waldron in addition to the transfer of big man, Matt Harris to Franklin, put the Tigers in rebuilding mode. In additon, promising freshman, Robert Saydee was injured for much of the season, but he did provide a glimpse of his promise late in the season when he returned and helped TCS get its first win of the season. One positive from last season was the fact that the Tigers only lost standout player, Josh Decker (Cairn University), to graduation. Will Clemons returns along with Saydee and they will be joined by Tyler Mixson, a talented transfer from Roselle Catholic. Role players such as point guard, Josh Alcoriza, Lucas Page, and Pierce Kokosinski are also played, and have shown some improvement. TCS competed in the Raritan Bay and Bound Brook Summer Leagues in the off-season.
Wardlaw-Hartridge showed some improvement in 2014-15, but took some hits to graduation with the losses of starters Mike Newman, Nick Palko, and John Pohopin from a squad that finished 7-13 overall including a 6-10 mark in divisional play. The Rams, coached by former Summit head coach, Eugene Maxwell, who is in his third season, will look to the likes of Brendan O’Brien, Luke Romeo, Jordan Rose, and Scott Hargrove to make them more competitive.