Two Top Ranked GMC Face Off in Nightcap of FOSA Charity Basketball Games on December 18th
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ—Opening day of the 2021 Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball Season is about a week and a half away, and GMC Hoops is gearing up. With Christmas falling on a Saturday, the first week of the season will be brief, but hectic. One of the relatively new hoop traditions in Middlesex County is the Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games.
Starting in 2012 in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the Friends of South Amboy have held a charity basketball event every year until last season when it was cancelled due to COVID. This year, the Middlesex County hoops showcase is back, and will be better than ever with several new teams participating in the event including: Highland Park, Spotswood, A.L. Johnson, and St. Joseph’s.
Speaking of St. Joseph’s, the Falcons, projected to be in the top three of GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten, will be taking on 2020 GMCT Boys champion, and 2021 Karl Anthony Towns-Jay Williams GMC Pod runner-up, St. Thomas Aquinas in the nightcap. The Trojans did take some hits to graduation as the likes of Tristian Jeffries, Josh Rivera, Kyree Henry, Jalen Jones, and Jared Gardner have moved on to college or post-graduate school.
However, Aquinas still has the likes of Seton Hall commit Jaquan Harris, Adam Silas, Samar Abdullah, and sophomore Jaden Kelly along with new faces such as Kamal Lee and Chris Santner from Roselle Catholic, Jalen Pichardo from East Brunswick, Sherief Guinyard from Steinert, and Terrell Pitts from Bishop McDevitt in Pennsylvania.
The Falcons also have a transfer in Darren Tuck from Immaculata, but also have back the likes of Ethan Simmon, who had a big off-season playing for the NJ Panthers AAU. In addition, St. Joseph’s has Amari Campbell, Josh Ingram, Anthony Williams, Khalid Brown, Kwame Herod, Owen Griffin, and Danny Bellavia returning.
St. Joseph’s reached the Final Four of the 2021 Hamilton Park Summer League by defeating the likes of Gill St. Bernards (56-55), DePaul Catholic (73-34), and Union (51-50) before losing to The Patrick School in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Aquinas competed at NJ Live against St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City and Montgomery in June, and the Beat the Clock Summer League at Peak in Mountainside. The Trojans also played in the Front Office Fall Invitational at Roselle Catholic in October.
The match-up between these two long time non-public schools in Middlesex County that are just miles apart, is the first since they faced off two seasons ago in the SFIC Festival at Kean on January 5, 2020. The Falcons rallied from behind in the second half to win that contest, 70-65. The Trojans and Falcons have played each other 12 times since 1981 with Joes going 8-4 including wins in the last six meetings.
In other games, South Amboy will face Highland Park in a girls basketball contest to open the festivities at 2:00 PM followed by South Amboy facing off against Spotswood in a boys basketball contest at 4:00 PM. Sayreville will then play against A.L. Johnson of Clark in the 6:00 PM game followed by Aquinas and Joes in the much anticipated nightcap.
Tickets will be sold at the door. Prices are $10.00 for Adults and $7.00 for Students and Senior Citizens. There will be a 50/50 as well as raffles throughout the night. All of the proceeds will go toward families in need in South Amboy. GMC Hoops will be there to cover action from all of the games. Below again is the schedule:
Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games Schedule
- South Amboy vs. Highland Park (Girls), 2:00 PM
- South Amboy vs. Spotswood (Boys), 4:00 PM
- Sayreville vs. A.L. Johnson (Boys), 6:00 PM
- St. Thomas Aquinas vs. St. Joseph’s (Boys), 8:00 PM