Tigers Basketball and Baseball Standout to Play for Region XIX JUCO Roadrunners
EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ—After the departure of the likes of Connor Stratton and Noah Westbrook in 2016, the East Brunswick Tech Tigers boys basketball team had to rebuild. Following perhaps its best season of the GMC Hoops era with a 17-9 overall record in the 2015-16 campaign, the Tigers went a combined 7-40 overall including a 5-23 mark in GMC Gold play over the next two years.
During that time though, Jordan Horowitz entered the program, and made an important impact. The youngster, who would become a two sport star at the school, played 11 games for the Tigers as a sophomore, and contributed with 97 points. Combined with another sophomore, Garrett Allo, Horowitz would help East Brunswick Tech win more games in the entire 2018-19 season than it had over the previous two seasons.
The Tigers improved a bit more on that mark in the 2019-20 season with an 8-16 overall record, and more importantly, a 6-10 record in the GMC Gold, which was a two game improvement over the season before, and represented more division wins than in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons combined. Horowitz, who overcame a serious staph infection during his junior year, was front and center in the success of the 2019-20 campaign.
This past season, Horowitz played in all 24 games according to stats compiled at NJ.com, and made 86 field goals, 32 threes, and 34 free throws for a team leading 319 points, or an average of 13.9 points per game. Horowitz led the team in three pointers and total field goals made with 118. The Tigers senior standout now is looking to continue his athletic career at the next level by attending Rowan College South, or Rowan College of Gloucester County this coming fall.
Horowitz scored in double figures in 17 of the 24 games he played this season including five occasions where he scored 20 points or more. He matched a career high of 25 points on seven two point field goals, three treys, and two foul shots in a 69-62 victory over South Amboy on January 22nd. The following game, Horowitz helped spark a come from behind, 59-56 victory at Highland Park with 21 points under the spotlight of GMC Hoops, which covered the final two quarters of the game.
In another game covered by GMC Hoops, Horowitz scored 17 points in a 65-53 loss to Calvary Christian at Sportika in Manalapan on January 3rd. As a junior, Horowitz finished 2nd on the team in scoring with 228 points on 63 two point field goals, 23 threes, and 36 free throws in 23 games for an average of 9.9 points per game. He had averaged 8.8 points per game during his sophomore campaign.
For his career, Horowitz played in 58 games, made 242 total field goals including 69 three pointers while also making 77 foul shots for a total of 644 points, or an average of 11.1 points per game. Over the three seasons that Horowitz played varsity hoops at East Brunswick Tech, the Tigers compiled an overall mark of only 20-54 including a 13-33 record in divisional play, but the team showed some improvement over each of the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, on the baseball diamond, Horowitz also competed. As a sophomore, he had 24 hits in 67 at bats for a batting average of .358 while scoring 13 runs and batted in 12 more runs. Horowitz also pitched in five games, and threw 326 pitches in 19 and two-thirds innings. He gave up 22 hits, and 11 earned runs while striking out 16. Horowitz was unable to play baseball his junior year due to the staph infection.
In the fall of 2019, Horowitz became a three sport athlete when he decided to play soccer, which he never played before, and helped the EB Boys Soccer team to finish 10-10 overall. He won the Ironman Award at EB Tech for his 12th grade year besides earning varsity letters in the three sports of baseball, basketball and soccer. Horowitz earned GMC Senior All-Star Game honors for both basketball and baseball.
Working as hard off the court as he has done on the court as well as on the baseball diamond and the soccer pitch, Horowitz graduated with a 3.0 GPA as a Machine Tool Tech major, and was able to get into the Rowan Choice program, a unique program that allows participants to attend Rowan’s junior colleges such as Rowan College South while still living on Rowan’s main campus and getting the full benefits of a college life away from home.
In addition, the Rowan Choice program has also given his family the ability to save a good deal of money. Under the arrangement, the family was able to reduce the cost of tuition including room and board almost in half. Horowitz, who has always had a tremendous work ethic in everything he does, will be majoring in Physical Education. He will be joining a Roadrunners program that has been one of the contenders in Region XIX Division 3 men’s hoops in recent times.
Although only 8-17 this past season, the Roadrunners, which finished 28-4 overall in 2018-19, were one of the top ranked teams in the country, and the top seed in the 2019 Region XIX Division 3 men’s basketball tournament at Brookdale Community College. Rowan College South of Gloucester County then reached the semifinals before losing to Union County College. Middlesex County College, coached by former St. Joseph’s, South Brunswick, and Carteret head coach, Dave Turco, and led by former St. Joseph’s standout, Letrell West, then defeated Union for the Region XIX Division 3 crown.
Congratulations Jordan, and best of luck at the next level.