PISCATAWAY, NJ – One of the biggest upsets in the 60-year history of the Middlesex County and Greater Middlesex Conference Tournaments was in 1980 when 16th-seeded Piscataway upended top-seeded and two-time defending champion, South River. The upset sparked a historic run by the Chiefs that got them to the 1980 MCT’s Final Four.
It wasn’t easy for P-Way though. Coming off a 4-11 season in 1978-79, Piscataway was 8-6 and then lost two straight before the Middlesex County Tournament seeding. Then, the Chiefs defeated Hamilton East, 65-50 in Piscataway on February 12th. Ken Smith scored 22 points while Karl Towns Sr. added 14. P-Way was now 9-8 on the season at that point.
Piscataway’s first-round opponent in the 1980 MCT, top-seeded South River, just came off a 59-46 victory over St. Peter’s at Fitzpatrick Gymnasium in Rams Country. Tom Chergey led the then 18-1 Rams past the Cardinals with 18 points while future Penn State Football and Philadelphia Eagles standout, Kenny Jackson scored 10 of his 16 points in the third period. Bryant Welch also scored in double figures by adding 12.
Sixteenth-seeded Piscataway faced off against top-seeded South River in the nightcap game of an opening-round doubleheader at East Brunswick High School on February 18, 1980. The Rams were flying high. In addition to knocking off St. Peter’s, South River was also coming off winning the Eastern States District Three Tournament title.
The game was played after 6th-seeded St. Mary’s of South Amboy, a team that would make history itself that year by winning the Non-Public B South title, took on 11th-seeded Edison. St. Mary’s won the battle of the Eagles, 89-76.
In the game against the Rams, Towns led a balanced attack of five double-figure scorers for the Chiefs with a team-high 22 including five down the stretch to help secure the 78-75 victory. P-Way moved on to take on 8th-seeded J.P. Stevens in the MCT Quarterfinals.
The Hawks were a 62-49 winner over 9th-seeded and neighbor rival, Metuchen in another opening-round game played at Perth Amboy High School. Three Stevens players: Wayne Miller (21 points), Lou Lee (16 points), and Jerry Hill (12 points) combined to match the total output of the Bulldogs.
The future GMC Red rivals met at Sayreville War Memorial High School several nights later on February 21st. The Chiefs defeated the Hawks by a 66-55 count. P-Way opened the game on a 9-0 run, built up a 22-10 first-quarter lead, and never looked back.
Towns led the charge with a double-double including a game-high 22 points along with 13 rebounds. Piscataway had seven different players score including five in the game-opening burst. Three of the seven players including Towns, scored in double figures.
The Cinderella Chiefs advanced to the MCT Final Four since winning back-to-back MCT titles in 1976 and 1977. Their opponent would be a familiar one in Perth Amboy, the most dominant program in the first 11 years of the tourney with 8 titles. The fifth-seeded Panthers would finally put an end to the Chiefs’ magical run.
Perth Amboy punched its ticket to the RAC and the MCT Semifinals with a hard-fought, 62-57 victory over a very good Sayreville team that was led by 1,000-point scorer Ralph Novak. The Panthers own 1,000-point scorer, Larry Rudolph led the charge with a team-high 22 points along with 9 steals and 8 assists while Novak finished with a game-high 28.
In their 1980 MCT Final Four confrontation, the fifth-seeded Panthers pulled away from a tenuous 30-29 lead with several minutes remaining in the first half with a 6-2 spurt to end the second for a 36-31 halftime lead and then added a 13-2 tear to open the third quarter for a 49-33 lead. Perth Amboy cruised from there for an 83-67 win.
Freshman Moe Bryan, another future 1,000-point scorer at Amboy, led the Panthers with a game-high 19 points while Chris Redondo added 18 and Rudolph chipped in with 17. Lance Hawkins led P-Way in defeat with 18 while Towns chipped in with 16. Both teams had four different players score in double figures.
Spearheading the Chiefs’ remarkable run, Towns was chosen to be on the 1980 All MCT Team. He averaged 20 points per game in Piscataway’s three games in the tourney. Towns ended up ranked 7th in scoring in Middlesex County by averaging 20 points per game for the season.
Towns accounted for just under 31 percent with a total of 421 points on 171 field goals and 79 made free throws. Piscataway, which averaged 64.6 points per game, finished 12-9 overall. An eight-game improvement in the win column from the 1978-79 season for the Chiefs.
Colonia, the 2nd seed, which lost to South River in the 1979 MCT Championship, ended up defeating Perth Amboy in OT to win the 1980 MCT title. It was the Patriots first MCT title since 1969. It was a wild tourney that may have been overshadowed by the events of the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, where the USA Hockey Team stunned the Soviet Union, and went on to win the Gold Medal.