Former St. Joseph’s Standout, and Soon to be Westfield Grad, to Play for Ducks of Empire 8
Westfield’s Matt Crowley, who played at St. Joseph’s two seasons ago, follows through on a three point attempt against Immaculata in a Bridgewater Summer League game played at Piscataway High School on July 31, 2018. Crowley announced earlier this spring that he will be attending Stevens in Hoboken in the fall, and play men’s basketball for the Ducks.
WESTFIELD, NJ—In addition to former and current St. Joseph’s hoops standouts, Letrell West and Howard McBurnie making college choices, another former Falcon is also moving on to the next level. Recently, GMC Hoops learned via NJ.com that Westfield’s Matt Crowley is going to attend Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and play men’s basketball for the Ducks.
Before transferring to Westfield for his junior year, Crowley was a promising young player at St. Joseph’s. During his freshman year, he was the top player for the St. Joseph’s-Green squad that defeated top seeded Edison in the 2016 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. As a matter of fact, Crowley earned Tourney MVP honors from GMC Hoops that season.
Crowley, along with big man, Robert Benites, led the Falcons-Green freshmen team past East Brunswick during the regular season, and then past Old Bridge in the Amboy Freshmen Tourney semifinals before downing Edison on a three pointer by Chris Carrera that banked in before the buzzer. Crowley led four different St. Joseph’s players on the Amboy/GMC Frosh All Tourney team including: Carrera, Jalen Murray, and Jack Hogarty.
As a sophomore, Crowley was a member of the 26-2 St. Joseph’s squad that defeated Sayreville in the 2017 GMCT Championship, and reached the 2017 Non-Public A South Semifinals before falling to Bishop Eustace of Pennsauken. The Westfield native was part of a rotation that included: Letrell West, Malachi Walker, Mike Granda, Tyree Ford, Richie Greaves, and Zach Martini. Ford, Greaves, and Martini all were freshmen at the time.
During the 2016-17 campaign with St. Joseph’s, Crowley played in only 10 games, made a field goal and a three pointer as well as a free throw while handing out three assists. Crowley got his only three of the season in the first half of a solid 55-35 victory over Lakewood in the semifinals of the Neptune Holiday Jubilee. He did manage to contribute to the JV Falcons squad that reached the 2017 EB/GMC JV Tourney Championship.
The 2017 St. Joseph’s JV Falcons defeated East Brunswick not only during the regular season, but also in the semifinals of the EB/GMC JV Tourney to reach the final. Piscataway, which edged J.P. Stevens in the other semi that season, got 16 points from Sam Ezeonu in the Championship Game to lead 10 different JV Chiefs in the scorebook to defeat Joes, 77-71. Crowley chipped in with 9 points on two field goals and five free throws to equal teammate Howard McBurnie while Matt Cruz added 10 and Dan Young led all scorers with a game high 23 points.
Moving on to Westfield, Crowley was able to get more playing time as he played in 45 games over his final two years. In those 45 contests, Crowley made 173 field goals, 37 three pointers, and 95 free throws for a total of 558 points with the Blue Devils. Ending his career with 564 points, Crowley averaged 10.3 points per game. He also added a total of 131 assists, 104 rebounds, and 79 steals to average 2.9 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals over his last to seasons with the Blue Devils.
This past season, Crowley played in 23 games and averaged 13.2 points per contest on 79 field goals, 21 threes, and 50 free throws. He also tallied 82 assists, 42 rebounds, and 39 steals for Westfield in 2018-19 despite missing a couple games including a contest against Colonia in the Investors Games at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union on February 2nd. Westfield finished the season at 10-15 including a tough 54-50 loss to Watchung Hills in the opening round of the North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 State Playoffs.
Crowley will be joining at Stevens program that is in pretty good shape. In 2018-19, the Ducks finished 16-10 overall including a 9–7 mark in the Empire 8 Conference. Two years ago, the Ducks went 18-8 overall including a 12-4 record in conference play. Stevens has appeared in the Empire 8 semifinals in each of the past two years including a one point loss to Utica College (63-62) in February 2018. Three seasons ago, the Ducks reached the final before losing to St. John Fisher College to finish the 2016-17 season at 19-8 overall including an 11-5 mark in conference.
One key contributor to the Ducks success over the past three seasons was former East Brunswick standout, Jake Krantz, who graduated a year ago. Krantz, who competed in hoops for Stevens during his junior and senior years, played on the 2013 EB squad that won the GMC Red over St. Joseph’s and pushed that Falcons squad led by Karl Anthony Towns, Wade Baldwin, and Marques Townes, to the limit before falling in overtime in the all time greatest MCT/GMCT Championship.
Krantz played in 53 games over his final two years at Stevens and collected a total of 201 boards and blocked 28 shots. He was third on the team in rebounding with 111 boards during his senior year. Krantz led the Ducks in offensive rebounds as a junior with 44. One of his best performances was against Utica in the Empire 8 semifinals in February 2017 with 8 points and 8 rebounds. He grabbed 9 rebounds against The Sage Colleges in January 2018. Monroe’s Sashank Sindhia now plays at Stevens.
Both Sindhia and Crowley were in the St. Joseph’s program back in 2015-16. Sindhia played 47 minutes in 9 games this past season, and tallied 13 points, 5 rebounds, and an assist. Teammates will also include Michael Zignorski form Pope John in Sparta and JoJo Mosca from Somervillle. Congratulations Matt on moving up to the next level, and best of luck in future endeavors.