Big Opening Night to Open 2018-19 Season for GMC Hoops

Live Streaming of St. Joseph’s vs. East Brunswick Game as well as First Ever Girls-Boys Hoops Doubleheader

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ—With less than five days to go until the start of the 2018-19 New Jersey High School Basketball Season, GMC Hoops announces a very busy schedule for opening weekend.

For starters, our play-by-play man, James Corrigan will be covering the annual season opener between East Brunswick and St. Joseph’s for the third straight year, but this season will be with a twist. Corrigan will be partnering with RD-Plex to provide live video streaming of the contest at Maglio Gymnasium on Friday night, December 14th.

In addition, Greg Machos will be over at Bishop Ahr High School for an historic first. GMC Hoops will cover its first ever opening night Girls and Boys hoops doubleheader as the Trojans will host Colonia in the Girls Game at 6:30 PM followed by the Boys Game between Bishop Ahr and South River at 8:00 PM. We will also try to provide coverage of the JV boys game between Ahr and South River and our first ever middle school game.

On Saturday, GMC Hoops will be over at South Amboy Middle-High School for the 2018 Friends of South Amboy Benefit Showcase with four games involving GMC schools including a second girls game. Finally, on Sunday, GMC Hoops plans to take in at least some of the action from the final day of the 2018 Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth.

The game between St. Joseph’s and East Brunswick will feature two teams in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten with the Falcons earning the top spot while EB is ranked 7th. Top players returning this year for St. Joseph’s include Tyree Ford, K-Shawn Schulters, Howard McBurnie, Luke Fresco, Matt Cruz, Ryan Granito, and Andrew Olden. Meanwhile, Travis Cumber, Xavier Fitzgerald, Christian Kuan return for the Bears while Isaac Holmes and Brendan Coyne lead a good group of newcomers.

In the Girls Basketball Game between Bishop Ahr and Colonia, the Lady Trojans are led by Emma Boslet, who has already scored 1,000 points in her career (1,023 points) and helped lead BGA to the GMCT Semifinals before losing to eventual champion, Piscataway. Ahr’s Girls team finished 23-5 overall including a 14-0 record in the GMC White. Meanwhile, the BGA Boys squad, which is now coached by former Monroe and Notre Dame head coach, Bob Turco, is ranked No. 3 in the GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top 10, and has the likes of Quadry Adams and Marquis Billingsley returning along with incoming transfers such as Jalen Jones (Mater Dei), Omari Fleming (Patrick School), Hassan Jackson (North Brunswick), and Derrick Grant (Piscataway).

On top of that, the Trojans have a solid sophomore class that won the 2018 Perth Amboy Freshmen Tourney Championship over Sayreville last season. Meanwhile, the South River Rams have a very experienced group returning led by the likes of Derrick Whitaker, Joey Nigro, Mike DeSantis, Zac Rafano, Silvio Cruz, Jayvon Taylor, and Zach Harris. The Rams, which qualified for the Central Group 2 playoffs last year, went undefeated and won the Championship of the 2018 Bound Brook Summer League. South River may make an appearance in the GMC Hoops Top Ten at some point in the season.

GMC Hoops is beginning its 19th year of coverage of Greater Middlesex Conference basketball. Last year, GMC Hoops covered 131 games overall and every school in the GMC at least 3 times. Follow along at https://www.facebook.com/GMCHoops, or on twitter @gmchoops.