Patriots Standout to Join Former GMC Standouts and Coaches with the Roadunners
Colonia’s Luke Valeriano puts up a jumper in the first half of the Patriots 68-34 win at The Bomb Shelter in Sayreville on January 30th. Valeriano has decided to attend Ramapo College of the NJAC next fall.
COLONIA, NJ—The 2018-19 boys basketball season did not end up the way Luke Valeriano had originally envisioned, but he still managed to be on a Colonia squad that won a sectional championship, and was within seconds of reaching the state finals. Even more important, Valeriano will get a chance to showcase his skills and talents at the next level.
Earlier this month, GMC Hoops learned via NJ.com that Valeriano, who played his final three seasons at Colonia after playing JV basketball his freshman year at St. Joseph’s, will be attending Ramapo College of the NJAC to play men’s basketball for the Roadrunners. Over the past two seasons, Valeriano played a very important role in the Patriots run to the 2018 GMCT final, and 2019 White Division Championship and North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 title.
During his three seasons at Colonia High School, Valeriano played in 68 games, made 200 field goals, 113 threes, and 178 free throws to finish up with over 1,000 points for his career. Over that period, the Patriots improved to 7-15 in 2016-17 to 17-10 a year ago to 24-5 this past season. Colonia also improved in the GMC White from 3-9 two seasons ago to 9-3 last year to an unblemished 11-0 and a division crown this past season. Colonia was 48-30 overall including a 23-12 mark in divisional play during Valeriano’s time at the school.
The last two seasons, Valeriano helped lead Colonia teams to two GMCT and North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Final Four appearances, a GMCT title game berth, a GMC White Division title, and a North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 Championship. Over his three years at Colonia, Valeriano averaged 14.9 points per game including a 16.5 ppg average in 2018-19. During the three year span, Valeriano increased his scoring by an average of 5.1 points per game according to NJ.com.
Valeriano was the most productive ever in his senior year at Colonia. In the 26 games that he played, the basketball and volleyball standout connected on 102 field goals, 44 three pointers, and 93 free throws for about 43 percent of his career scoring. He scored in double figures in 21 of his 26 games with at least 20 points in nine of those games. He scored a career high 31 points or 63 percent of Colonia’s scoring in a 49-41 win over Carteret on December 20th. Last year, Valeriano scored in double digits in 14 of his 23 games including 8 of his last 9 contests.
In his sophomore year at Colonia, Valeriano scored in double figures in 16 of his 21 games to give him a total of 51 of his 68 career games with the Patriots. Prior to that, Valeriano played his freshman year at St. Joseph’s, where he helped a squad that also consisted of Ryan Granito, Joshua Gestosani, and Sashank Sindhia to reach the semifinals of the 2016 East Brunswick/GMC Tournament before falling to defending champion South Brunswick. The Junior Vikings went on to lose to North Brunswick in the Championship Game.
Valeriano will be joining at Ramapo College men’s basketball program that is in very good shape. The Roadrunners made a tremendous run in the NCAA Division 3 Tournament a year ago, and was runner-up to New Jersey City University this past season in the NJAC, and lost in the first round of the 2019 NJAC Division 3 Tourney. Ramapo currently has two former GMC players in junior Connor Romano, a 1,000 point scorer at Old Bridge, and Mattias Arrindell, who led Piscataway to the GMCT Elite Eight and the North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 Semifinals in 2017-18.
Earlier this spring, Ramapo also got a GMC addition to its coaching staff when Sayreville boys basketball head coach and former Bombers and Ramapo standout, John Wojcik, announced that he would be joining the Ramapo men’s basketball program as an assistant coach. In addition to Wojcik, other former GMC standouts at the school include: Jimbo Long (St. Joseph’s), Sultan Aminu (Old Bridge), and Ross Gerhart (Spotswood). This past season, Ramapo went 18-10 overall including an 11-7 mark in the NJAC.
In 2017-18, Ramapo College was 25-7 overall including a 15-3 mark in conference play. Two years ago, the Roadrunners were even better overall with a 26-3 mark including a 16-2 record in the NJAC. Since going 13-12 in 2014-15, Ramapo has compiled an 85-30 overall mark including a 54-18 conference record. Congratulations Luke on getting to the next level, and best of luck going forward.