Plans to Begin 2021-22 Season with Varsity Doubleheader on Opening Night
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ—In less than 10 days, the 2021-22 New Jersey High School boys basketball season will get underway with a full slate of games including those in the Greater Middlesex Conference. GMC Hoops, which didn’t cover any games in person during the 2020-21 campaign, looks to return to the courts this season starting on December 17th.
Opening night plans for GMC Hoops is to cover a varsity boys basketball doubleheader. The first game of the varsity twin bill will be in South River as the Rams will take on South Plainfield in a battle of two top ten teams in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top 10. South River, which already had a very talented lineup led by the likes of juniors Lazaro Rodriguez, Kobe Taylor, and Jeremy Grospe, added St. Thomas Aquinas 6’5” junior transfer, Roman Santos. The Rams won the Jackson Family Pod last season.
Meanwhile, the Tigers, which won the GMC Blue a year ago (11-4) over contenders Dunellen (10-5) and Metuchen (10-5), lost a good deal of talent to graduation such as Destiny Nwankwo (Drew University), Josh Liberato (Middlesex County College), and Moshood Adebule, still have their leading scorer in sophomore Brandon Dean returning. In addition, South Plainfield also has reserves from a year ago such as Jalen Russell, Joe Oduro, and Anthony Nigro coming back. The Tigers won the 2021 Rahway Summer League, and defeated Edison, another Top 10 team, twice.
South Plainfield has had double digit wins in each of the past two seasons, and will be looking to return to the state playoffs after no post-season a year ago due to COVID. South River, which nearly quintupled its win total from two years ago in a shortened season last year at 9-5, is looking to contend for GMC Blue division honors along with the Tigers. The two teams played twice last season with SPHS winning both times.
Following the contest between the Tigers and Rams, which is scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM on Friday, December 17th, GMC Hoops plans to travel over to North Brunswick High School to see the Raiders in their home opener against Sayreville in a GMC White Clash. The Raiders lost the likes of Jabri Fitzpatrick (Patrick School National) and Donovan Crawford (Quality Academy) to graduation from the team that won the Wohl-Henning Pod a season ago. Tim Bolaji and Ian Morris are among the top returning players for the Raiders.
Meanwhile, Sayreville, which only played five games in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is looking to get back to the winning ways it enjoyed with head coach John Wojcik during his first stint at the school, which included a GMCT Finals appearance in 2017, and a GMCT Final Four berth in 2014. The Bombers lost top players from a year ago in Danny Golaszewski (Brookdale C.C.), Aidan Ryan (Centenary College), and Stephen Farley, but have likes of Max Negron, Peter Luster, Caidan Holmes, and Mike Colonello returning.
The Sayreville Bombers will also be in action on Saturday, December 18th when they take on the Crusaders of A.L. Johnson in the third game of the day at the 2021 Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games, which return this season after a year off due to COVID. The game will be played at 6:00 PM at South Amboy Middle-High School.
GMC Hoops will be attending the 2021 Friends of South Amboy Showcase after it plans to cover another GMC White Division match-up between Edison and Woodbridge at Woodbridge High School on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles are another team that will be in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top 10, and likely in the top five of that list with the likes of Niko Barnes, Elisha White, Joe Greer, Brian Hobson, and Adam Schonberger all back from a solid group a year ago. Edison went 20-3 over the summer between the EB Team Camp and Rahway Summer League.
Meanwhile, Woodbridge has a new head coach in former J.F. Kennedy hoops standout and assistant coach, Jonathan Toczynski, who had recently been on the staff at Bergen Catholic. Toczynski was on the BC boys hoops staff when it lost to Ranney in the 2019 NJSIAA TOC. The Crusaders were then led by the likes of Zach Freemantle and Matt Zona. Toczynski replaces Matt Gigliello, who stepped down following last season after guiding the Barrons to three GMCT Final Four appearances in 2013, 2016, and 2017.
Woodbridge’s roster will be led by the likes of seniors Edin Olevic, Dylan and Jayson Bradley, and Nick Helenski. The Barrons were just 2-9 a season ago, but did compete in the Linden Fall League and had off-season workouts during the summer this past off-season. At the end of the 2019-20 season, GMC Hoops stood just 16 games shy of covering 2,000 all time since it was launched in December 2020.