With the likes of Matt Mikulka and East Brunswick coming down from the GMC Red, the White Division may be the toughest in the league from top to bottom in 2024-25.
Additions of East Brunswick and South Brunswick May Make GMC White Toughest in the League
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – In the first weeks of the season, GMC Hoops posted articles and gave interviews about the 2024-25 season. The common theme was just a word about the White Division. The GMC White would be a dogfight.
With East Brunswick and South Brunswick moving down from the Red and top talent returning for Sayreville, Woodbridge, and Perth Amboy, the realigned White Division looks to be the most competitive of all five divisions in the GMC this season.
EB and SBHS moved down to replace the likes of Edison, New Brunswick, and North Plainfield, which moved down to the newly configured GMC Blue. East Brunswick has always been in the GMC Red since the inception of the conference. South Brunswick had not been in the White Division since the 1999-2000 season.
Woodbridge shared the division title with South Plainfield last year and has the likes of the Anderson twins (Derek and Bryan) returning as well as a talented junior class. In addition, Angel Rosario transferred in from Perth Amboy. Speaking of Perth Amboy, the Panthers have the likes of Jadiel and Orlando Manzueta returning along with big man Lavion Balthazar.
Moreover, the Panthers have had JV squads reach the East Brunswick JV Boys Tournament Final Four in each of the last two seasons. Amboy’s JV was the top seed in last year’s JV tourney. Sayreville’s trio of Sam Jones, Keithan Shuler, and Chidi Chukwurah is back with a supporting cast that includes Joe Santamaria, Ziyan Jones, Andrew Provenza, Bryce White, and Perth Amboy Magnet transfer, Christian Torres.
South Plainfield may have been overlooked since it had only one returning starter. However, the one returning starter is Rowan University-bound, Jordan Jones, and he has a lot of talented newcomers to work with. Jayden Darling is perhaps the most experienced of the new faces, but there are several others from seniors David Wallace and AJ Perales to sophomores like Micah Anderson and Boresa Jawula and freshman Andrew Bena.
The Tigers and the Panthers reached the final four of the Tri-County Summer League in Clark this past summer. Meanwhile, Sayreville was one of two GMC schools that competed in the always competitive Hamilton Park Summer League in Jersey City. The Bombers gave Snyder of Jersey City a battle before falling in one of its final regular season games there.
North Brunswick has had difficulty getting started. The losses of Brandon McCain and sharpshooter Brian Yu to graduation and the transfers of Jack Garbolino (The Hun School for football) and Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage (Spotswood) have put the Raiders in a tough spot early on.
Furthermore, Tommy Koroma was recently sidelined with an injury. Nevertheless, the Raiders have the likes of Koroma, Joshua Anudon, and youngsters such as junior Srijay Bandi, Deshawn Burgess, and Tyler O’Garro leading this year’s team.
Forget about who is back this season, and what teams did what during the off-season. Just look at the numbers from some of the division games played so far:
| Date | Result |
| December 19, 2024 | South Plainfield 69 – Perth Amboy 63 |
| December 19, 2024 | Sayreville 60 – South Brunswick 51 |
| December 21, 2024 | East Brunswick 65 – Woodbridge 61 |
| January 2, 2025 | Woodbridge 58 – Perth Amboy 56 |
| January 4, 2025 | Perth Amboy 56 – East Brunswick 55 |
| January 4, 2025 | Sayreville 58 – Woodbridge 54 |
Simply put, there won’t be a lot of easy nights in the GMC White. East Brunswick is currently 4-4 with all four losses coming by six points or less. Sayreville is 3-1 in games decided by less than 10 points. South Plainfield is 2-1 in games decided by less than 10. South Brunswick lost two of its six games by single digits including one in overtime. North Brunswick is 1-2 in single-digit games. Perth Amboy and Woodbridge are 1-3 in games decided by single digits.
So, if you’re planning to see a GMC boys basketball game in the coming weeks, you may want to check out a White Division contest.