GMC Hoops Preview–2014 T of C Semifinals

Two Great Matchups On Tap At Monmouth On Thursday Night

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ–Only two days remain in the 2014 New Jersey High School Boys Basketball.  The first of those two days takes place on Thursday Night at Monmouth University with the two semifinal games in this year’s Tournament of Champions.  Of the four teams left, two of them are from the Union County Conference, one from the Super Essex Conference, and one from the Greater Middlesex Conference.  Three of the four remaining teams:  Roselle Catholic, St. Joseph’s, and Newark Eastside were in last year’s T of C while Linden just fell short thanks to a loss to Atlantic City in the Group IV State Final.

For the first time ever, the Greater Middlesex Conference has the T of C top seed.  St. Joseph’s, which has made an appearance, and got a bye to the semifinal round in each of the past three seasons,  earned the top seed over Newark East Side despite the Red Raiders being ranked higher in the most recent statewide Top 20 from NJ.com.  In this year”s T of C semifinals, the Falcons will again take on the Group IV state champion in Linden, which got a break down the stretch against Pitman and cashed it in with a 64-60 victory in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night.  In last two year’s, St. Joseph’s had their season end in the T of C at the hands of a team from the Union County Conference:  Plainfield in the semis back in 2012, and Roselle Catholic in the finals last season.

The nightcap game of the semifinal doubleheader between the Falcons and Tigers will feature a highly anticipated battle between two of the premier high school big men in the Garden State in Kentucky bound Karl Towns and Cincinnati bound Quadri Moore of Linden.  While each has tremendous size, both have always had a propensity to shoot the long range jumper from the perimeter, which has forced opposing defenses to extend their defenses.  However, over the course of their high school careers, both Towns and Moore have improved their inside game.  Furthermore, Moore has slimmed down his 6’9′ frame from 290 pounds as a freshman to just 225 pounds this season while Towns has really improved his footwork, especially on the defensive end. One of the amazing things about Towns is how much ground he can cover on the defensive side of the ball.  He often comes out to guard against the three point on the perimeter, but still manages to quickly recover into the paint to block a shot.

But the game doesn’t stop there at these two big men.  There are also solid supporting casts on both sides.  While the Falcons have three other Division I prospects including Vanderbilt bound Wade Baldwin, Canisius bound Raven Owen, and uncommitted Marques Townes as well as sophomore sensation, Breein Tyree, Linden has a solid group around Moore as well with Patrick School transfer, Otis Livingston, Juwan Dolbrice, Juwan Jones, Josh Carter,  James Julius, and Alonzo Hamilton, who was a teammate of Marques Townes when they played together at Cardinal McCarrick two seasons ago.  The duo actually were members of the Cardy Mac squad that won the Non-Public B South title back in 2011.   Livingston was a huge key in the Tigers win over then second ranked Paterson Eastside in the Group IV state semifinals at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth last week.  Livingston had 18 of his game high 24 points in the first half on four three pointers and three steals for layups.  The Tigers as a team had 10 threes in the contest including several from Quinton Dixon, the son of former Linden hoops legend, Waliyy Dixon.

Linden could be the toughest opponent St. Joe’s has played all season.  The Tigers have the size, athleticism, talent, and most importantly, the defense to make things difficult for the Falcons.  The Tigers ability to pressure the basketball, and make teams work on the offensive end is something that St. Joseph’s will have to be patient and maintain its composure against.  Joes will also have to keep their emotions in check in situations where say Linden draws a charge against it on defense.  The Falcons will also have to keep their Big Three as well as their other two out of foul trouble.  Karl Towns has had to go to the bench in foul trouble in the first half of each of the last two games.  If that happens today, Linden will have a big advantage with Quadri Moore being more able to shoot over the opposing defender, especially from the perimeter.  If Towns does get into foul trouble though, Marcus Ashamole and Michael Cintron will have to step up much like they did against St. Peter’s Prep in the Non-Public A Championship.  St. Joe’s will have to guard the perimeter well, especially against Livingston and Dixon.

In the first semifinal of the day, there is another great matchup as third seeded Roselle Catholic takes on second seeded Newark Eastside.   These two teams just missed out on playing each other in this round of the T of C last season, but Newark Tech put a monkey wrench in that by surging in the second half to knock off the Red Raiders in the quarterfinals.  Roselle Catholic is playing perhaps its best basketball of the season entering this round of the T of C.  Led by St. Benedict’s transfer, Isaiah Briscoe, the Lions have defeated Trenton Catholic, Patrick School, St. Anthony’s and Newark Tech in the last four rounds of the state tournament.  Roselle Catholic was in the process of figuring things out when GMC Hoops saw it against St. Peter’s Prep in the Prime Time Shootout.  There was a sense that the chemistry wasn’t there.  Now, the Lions are playing like a well oiled machine.  Much can be said about the multi-talented Briscoe, especially his ability to take over games, but Matt Bullock is the X-factor for the Lions with his athleticism and shooting touch.  He always seems to make a tremendous play on either side of the ball at some point during a contest.

Not to be left out is point guard, Asante Gist, who fired in a couple threes to spark Roselle Catholic to an early 13-2 lead against St. Anthony’s in the Non-Public B State Championship, and then scored 21 points in the victory over Newark Tech on Tuesday night.  Chris Silva not only can block shots, dunk, and provide a solid inside presence for the Lions, but he has been demonstrating an ability to shoot the perimeter shot over the last couple rounds of the state tourney.  Newark Eastside pretty much had its starting lineup back this year with the exception of Will Joyce, who played one season at Piscataway Tech before returning to Eastside last season.  The Raiders managed to get to the top of the rankings this year thanks in part to a victory over Paterson Eastside not too long after the Ghosts had upended St. Anthony’s in overtime earlier this season.  The Raiders got to this point by manhandling Ewing in the Group III state final, 83-56.   In that game, Newark Eastside not only held Ewing’s leading scorer, Trey Lowe to eight points under his statewide leading scoring average of 28 per game, but also limited the Blue Devils to under 60 points for only the third time this season.

Akbar Hoffman scored 31 points in the win while Abdul Lewis added 13, and Ahmad Harrison also scored in double figures with 10.  Seton Hall bound Ismael Sanogo contributed with 7 points while sharing defensive duties on Lowe with Harrison, Jamar Gilbert (7 points), and Jibreel Ahmad (2 points).  Newark Eastside, which also defeated Camden in last year’s Group III title game, has only lost one game this year, and that was to Seton Hall Prep by two points (59-57) on February 6th in West Orange.  Like the two teams in the other semifinal, both Roselle Catholic and Newark Eastside, can defend, and let their defense create opportunities for their offense.  Hoffman and Harrison have the ability to shoot the three and take the ball to the basket.  Sanogo and Lewis provide length as well as athleticism.   Thursday evening should be a great night of basketball at Monmouth with these two semifinals having three of the top five schools in the state in action, and the fourth team winning the T of C last year, and playing its best ball right now.