LINDEN, NJ–On Tuesday night after work, GMC Hoops headed over to the Linden Recreation Center on John Street to take in some action from the second night of games in the North Division of the 2009 Linden Team Camp. Unfortunately, the site didn’t catch as much of St. Joseph’s as it wanted to. After glancing at the schedule on Tuesday, the site thought that the Falcons were scheduled to play at 8:00 PM. However, they actually played against Rutgers Prep at 7:00 PM. Couple that with a long ride from Raritan Center, and a stop to get some gas, the site didn’t get to the game until a little more than a minute to go. Nevertheless, the site stayed for the balance of the contest as well as the following game between Asbury Park and Bridgewater.
St. Joseph’s Squeaks Past Rutgers Prep, 38-36
The St. Joseph’s Falcons enter this coming summer with a mission, and that is to get to the top of the Greater Middlesex Conference in Boys Basketball in 2009-10. The Falcons program had a great season just looking at the sheer numbers. In 2008-09, the Freshmen-Green (22-5), JV (24-1), and Varsity (24-4) programs were a combined 70-10 overall last season, but the varsity lost in the GMCT Championship for the second straight year, and fell to CBA in the semifinals of the Non-Public A South Tournament for the third time in four years. Meanwhile, the JV lost to Hillsborough in the Quarterfinals of the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament, and the Freshmen-Green lost to Piscataway in the Championship of the Perth Amboy/GMC JV Tournament.
St. Joseph’s will have a talented senior class coming in next year headed by soon to be four year varsity starter, Steve Rennard, who broke the 1,000 point plateau in the semifinal round of this year’s GMCT versus Cardinal McCarrick. In addition, the Falcons will also have the likes of such standout juniors as Robbie Ashamole, Nick Straughn, and Slay Sudah to help out. Andrew Morgan, Eric Peterson, Nick Contino, and Mike Simpson will be among the veterans returning next winter. As always, the Falcons have a very rigorous off-season schedule this summer that includes a number of team camps, summer leagues, and showcase events. Like last year, the Falcons will be competing in the Linden and Elizabeth Summer Leagues while also playing such events as this team camp, the Kean Ironman Challenge, and the Summer Prime Time Shootout.
Meanwhile, Rutgers Prep, which competes in the Patriot Conference against the likes of future GMC foes Wardlaw and Timothy Christian, had a strong season as well with a 22-6 record overall, and a NJSIAA Prep B State Championship by virtue of a 79-72 victory over Pennington on February 26th. The Argonauts, who were led by 1,000 point scorer, Jordan Robinson, who is the younger brother of former St. Joe’s player, Nigel Robinson, defeated the likes of Bloomfield Tech in the Lenny Sepanak Memorial Tournament, and rallied from 15 points down to defeat Pennington in the Prep B Final.
The Argonauts are losing not only Robinson to graduation, but also former St. Joseph’s player, David McDaniel, who is going to be attending Montclair State this coming fall. The rest of the Argonauts will be back next year, and looking to fare better than their early round exit in the Somerset County Tournament to twelfth seeded Bridgewater (63-58). Under the guidance of Tony Mento, the Argonauts have become a strong program among the Prep B ranks, and have had the likes of GMC players Josh Jones (Highland Park and New Brunswick) and Kenny Bland of J.P. Stevens (allbeit briefly).
Rutgers Prep gave St. Joseph’s all that it could handle. Without the likes of Rennard in the lineup, the Falcons had to pull things out in the final minute of play. GMC Hoops entered the Rec Center with St. Joe’s leading by two, 37-35 with 1:08 remaining. Moments later, Nick Straughn was fouled, and made one of two from the foul line for a 38-35 lead. Rutgers Prep tried to come down and either pull within one, or get a game tying score on a three. The Argonauts then drew a foul, and made one of two from the line with 48.3 seconds left for a 38-36 St. Joe’s lead. Fifteen seconds later, Morgan then drew a foul, and went to the line for a two shot bonus.
However, with 33.8 seconds to go, Morgan misfired on both foul shots, which opened the door for Rutgers Prep to possibly tie the game up, and force overtime. After a Rutgers Prep timeout though, the Argos failed to score with less than 10 seconds remaining. Robbie Ashamole then grabbed the rebound, but made the mistake of dribbling upcourt, and lost the handle. The Argonauts then picked up the ball again, and fired up a last second shot that missed. The Falcons prevailed with a two point, 38-36 victory.
Asbury Park Pulls Away From Bridgewater With Third Quarter Rampage, 42-22
For the first two quarters, this contest appeared to be going down to the wire as Bridgewater-Raritan, now coached by Gene McAteer and Asbury Park battled to a low scoring first half tie. However, Asbury Park shutdown the Panthers in the third quarter while the Bishops ran rampant on offense to break the game open, and secure the eventual, 42-22 victory. There were a total of five lead changes and three ties in the first 20 minutes while neither team had a lead bigger than four points. Asbury Park, which had a squad competing down at the 2009 Rebounds Spring League over in Neptune this week as well, jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Bridgewater closed the quarter with an 8-3 run for a 10-8 lead after one. The Panthers helped their own cause with two three pointers in the rally as well as a pair of free throws.
The second quarter saw Asbury Park open up the period with a pair of free throws to knot the game at 10-10 with 7:30 left in the half, but then Bridgewater-Raritan stole the lead back literally with a steal for a layin that put the Panthers back on top, 12-10 at the 5:40 mark. Bridgewater then added another field goal to have their biggest lead of the game before the Bishops responded with one of two from the line at the 1:32 mark after an earlier field goal to pull within one at 14-13. Then, with less than thirty seconds to go in the first half, Asbury Park, this year’s Central Jersey Group I Champions, closed out the first half scoring with one of two from the foul line to tie things up at 14-14 going into the brief intermission.
Then the bottom fell out. For Bridgewater-Raritan, a program with a proud tradition that is going through a period of transition after Tim Ortelli stepped down last year, this was as bad as it could get. On the contrary, for Asbury Park, it was just a clinic. The Bishops shutout the Panthers in the third to keep the Somerset County school scoreless for a span of 12:14 total from the last three minutes of the second quarter until the 6:46 mark of the fourth. As a matter of fact, Bridgewater-Raritan was without a field goal for 15:09 until the Panthers connected on a three pointer from the left side at the 3:51 mark of the final period. Over the first several minutes of the third quarter, Asbury Park’s run gradually built momentum like a snowball rolling down a hill. By the 5:57 mark of the third, the Bishops had run off six unanswered points including an offensive rebound and follow of a missed fast break layup, and then a jumper from the foul line that bounced in for a 20-14 edge.
Asbury Park, which actually had a 22-0 run for that 12:14 span after trailing 14-10, continued the carnage with another offensive rebound and follow after missing two free throws at the 4:12 mark for a 22-14 lead. Moments later, the Bishops got a steal off the inbounds for a layup that made the score, 24-14 with 3:43 to go in the third. The Monmouth County school, which competes in the Class B Central Division of the Shore Conference, put together some nice teamwork for a layup, and a 26-14 lead. Then, the Bishops finished out the period with six more points to take a 32-14 lead going into the fourth.
The fourth and final period saw a more respectable performance by Bridgewater, but Asbury Park still cruised to a 42-22 win. The Bishops will be back in action on Thursday afternoon when they take on Piscataway at the Linden P.A.L.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asbury Park | 8 | 6 | 18 | 10 | 42 |
| Bridgewater | 10 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 22 |
GMC Hoops was back out on Wednesday night for the third day of action from this camp. A blog entry on those games will be posted shortly.