EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ–Being one of the biggest towns in Middlesex County, East Brunswick has always been at the forefront of the Greater Middlesex Conference. The Bears have won two GMCT Championships in 1987 and 1996 while being contenders in many other seasons. Meanwhile, the Tigers of East Brunswick Tech have not enjoyed a lot of success, particularly in recent years. While East Brunswick missed the state tournament last year for the first time in several seasons, E.B. Tech hadn’t been to a state tourney since the 2003 season. In 2008-09, both schools would make things quite exciting for the entire town of East Brunswick. For starters, both teams were among the 15 GMC teams to qualify for the state tournament. It was the first time both teams qualified for state tourney play since GMC Hoops began covering Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball back in the 2000-01 season.
Last season, the Bears finally succumbed to two straight seasons of losing their entire starting five in addition to lots of other solid veteran talent, and went 4-18 overall on the season. East Brunswick Tech, on the other hand, finished the season strong with seven straight wins to finish only a game under .500 at 11-12. Both teams would go about their significant improvement in 2008-09 in different ways. East Brunswick began its road to resurgence in April 2008 when it competed in the Rebounds Spring League. The Bears, led by Alec Mayo, Dustin Schuld, Mauro Tucci, Nick Navara, and Kevin Johnson, took their lumps, but finished up strong to go 4-4 on the spring. Most importantly, though, the Bears were able to get the more inexperienced players to gel better with the veterans, and that continued over into the summer at the Linden Summer League. East Brunswick played tough competition, but showed flashes of what the 2008-09 would bring when it gave St. Patrick’s all it could handle in defeat with youngsters like Carl Thomore and Mike Summerer. The Bears then finished up their off-season with another appearance at Rebounds in the fall league.
On the other hand, E.B. Tech did one significant thing to improve its team, and that was to keep its roster from the 2007-08 season relatively intact. Even with the losses of Mehadi Robinson (transferred to Piscataway Tech) and Dillon DiGeronimo, the Tigers kept its nucleus of key players such as Corey Ragland, Kevin Powell, Robert Brown, and Anthony Morrison while adding new players such as Homer James to the mix. James wound up being a tremendous addition to the team with his scoring and shooting as well as poise and athletic ability. It also built off of the momentum it created at the end of the 2007-08 season with a solid year that started out with the Tigers going on the road and defeating Piscataway Tech to get its first GMC Gold victory since the 2005-06 season. The Tigers wound up going 16-7 overall, and falling a basket short of reaching the Central Jersey Group I Final Four.
Meanwhile, the Bears, which had solid freshmen and junior varsity teams in 2007-08, made an impression right away with a tough opening night loss against a J.P. Stevens team that was projected to be in the top three in the GMC. East Brunswick proved that wasn’t a fluke with a victory on the road at Stevens along with victories at home over second ranked St. Joseph’s and sixth ranked Bishop Ahr. The Bears earned the sixth seed for this year’s Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament before losing in the Round of 16 at home again to JPS, and then in the Quarterfinal round of the Central Jersey Group IV State Tournament to Sayrevillle. The Bears ended their season at 14-11, but tied for third in the rough and tumble GMC Red.
Heading into the 2008-09 season, long time EB head coach, Bo Henning, who has been at the helm since the 1988-89 season, felt that his Bears would be one of the most improved teams in Central Jersey and the GMC this past season. So, in many ways, the Bears success should have been no surprise, but the fact that they beat three of the top six teams pre-season in the conference to earn a top eight seed in the GMCT had to be a bit beyond expectations. As for the Tigers, they wound up defeating Highland Park in the Play-In Round to win their first GMCT game since GMC Hoops was launched before being soundly defeated by the Tigers of South Plainfield in the Preliminary Round. For second year EBVT head coach, Jerry DelGuercio and his young energetic assistant, Tom D’Agostino, a Bishop Ahr graduate, there is a lot to be proud of. More importantly though, there was a lot to be happy about if you’re a fan of EB Hoops, and even more reason to be hopeful for 2009-10.