Camden Earns Third Straight Group 2 Final Berth
PERTH AMBOY, NJ–On Wednesday night, GMC Hoops traveled over to Perth Amboy High School to keep feeding the need for High School hoops as Bordentown took on Camden in the Group 2 State Semifinals. Bordentown earned the Group 2 Final Four berth by defeating Manasquan in the Central Jersey Group 2 sectional final while Camden punched its ticket for Amboy with a win over Medford Tech in the South Jersey Group 2 Championship.
The Panthers, aiming for a 12th state title, and first since 2000, played like it had been here before while Bordentown appeared over anxious. The result was a good start for the Panthers, and then an 8-0 start to the second half for a 40-32 lead. After a three by Bordentown closed the gap to five, Camden scored the next 10 points to take a 50-35 lead, and never let the Scotties get closer than seven after that en route to a 77-63 victory and a date with Newark Westside in the Group 2 State Championship at Rutgers. Below is a game capsule on the action:
Bordentown (26-4) vs. Camden (25-5)–For the third straight year, Camden earned a berth in the Group 2 State Championship as its experience in big games such as this showed as they took advantage of an over anxious Bordentown squad to jump out to a 16-12 first quarter lead, and then scored 9 of the first 15 points of the second to take a 25-18 advantage with 5:08 remaining in the first half. Then, Bordentown went on a 14-5 tear to take a 32-30 lead late in the second. Camden rebounded though by scoring the final 8 points of the first half for a 38-32 halftime lead, and then the first bucket of the second half for a 40-32 advantage. Bordentown then connected on a three pointer to trim the deficit to five at 40-35, but wasn’t able to get any closer. Camden scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a 54-39 lead with 2:23 remaining in the third. Bordentown rallied to pull within single digits at 59-50, but the Panthers scored two big buckets to go back up by 13, and then cruised from there to win, 77-63. Camden led by as many as 17 in the fourth before Bordentown closed the game with a 13-10 run for the final score. Jamal Holloway led the way for the Panthers with 25 points while teammate Myles Thompson added 22 and Brad Hawkins and Cory Greer chipped in with 13 and 11 points respectively. Myron Gordon led Bordentown in a losing cause with a game high 25 points while Darnill Brown chipped in with 19. With the victory, Camden improved to 26-5 on the season, and punched a ticket to Rutgers for the third straight year, where it will play Newark Westside, which defeated Ramsey in three overtimes (55-51) in the other semifinal, for the Group 2 Championship. Bordentown concluded its season at 26-5.