A Look at the GMC Division by Division Heading into the 2020-21 Season
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ—With the 2021 Greater Middlesex Conference boys basketball season just a few days away, GMC Hoops took some time to take a look around the four divisions in the conference to put together a primer for the upcoming season. Let’s first start by taking a look at the new division alignments for the next two seasons:
Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball—Division Alignments—2020 to 2022
Red Division
- East Brunswick
- J.P. Stevens
- Monroe
- New Brunswick
- Old Bridge
- Perth Amboy
- Piscataway
- South Brunswick
- St. Joseph’s
CHANGES: New Brunswick moves up to the Red from the GMC White. Zebras won a share of the White Division last season, and reached the GMCT Semifinals two seasons ago.
White Division
- Carteret
- Colonia
- Edison
- J.F. Kennedy
- North Brunswick
- Sayreville
- St. Thomas Aquinas
- Woodbridge
CHANGES: New Brunswick moves up to the GMC Red while Carteret and St. Thomas Aquinas move up from the GMC Blue. Aquinas is the defending GMCT Boys champion and won back to back titles in the Blue Division while Carteret reached the GMCT Final Four in 2018, and the GMCT Elite Eight in each of the past two seasons.
Blue Division
- Dunellen
- Highland Park
- Metuchen
- Middlesex
- South Plainfield
- South River
- Spotswood
CHANGES: Carteret and St. Thomas Aquinas move up to the GMC White while Dunellen and Highland Park move up from the GMC Gold. Dunellen won back to back division titles on the court in the Gold before moving up this year. The Destroyers also reached the GMCT Quarterfinals and the North Jersey Section 2 Group 1 Championship. Highland Park returns to the Blue Division after being in the Gold for the past 6 seasons.
Gold Division
- Calvary Christian
- East Brunswick Tech
- Perth Amboy Tech
- Piscataway Tech
- Somerset Tech
- South Amboy
- Timothy Christian
- Wardlaw-Hartridge
CHANGES: Dunellen and Highland Park move up to the GMC Blue while Somerset Tech becomes the newest member of the Greater Middlesex Conference. The Jaguars defeated Perth Amboy Tech in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group I State Tournament two seasons ago.
Teams Not Playing Due to COVID-19
At the time of this report, only Carteret and Perth Amboy school districts have decided to opt out of playing boys and girls basketball this season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The list of teams could grow though as the season begins and the problems with the pandemic including new variants of the virus, difficulties with the vaccine rollout, and increasing case numbers continue to hamper the state and its school districts.
Highland Park and Old Bridge are scheduled to begin their seasons on February 1st. Both school districts have been doing remote learning and have been conducting practices outdoors. North Brunswick and New Brunswick have also been conducting outdoor practices while Middlesex began tryouts this past Tuesday (January 19th), but is still scheduled to open the season on time at Metuchen on January 27th.
GMC Transfers
Currently, GMC Hoops only has a list of 14 players that have transferred during the course of the past off-season. Leading the way are four transfers to Colonia including: Saivon Pressley (Wardlaw-Hartridge), Maurice Johnson (St. Joseph’s), Mehki Johnson (St. Thomas Aquinas), and Malik Kabia (Hudson Catholic). Kabia, a.k.a. Malik Austin played at Carteret as a freshman and early on his sophomore year.
St. Joseph’s and Wardlaw are next with two each. The Falcons got Eli Barlow to transfer in from Union Catholic and Anthony Williams from Old Bridge. Barlow played for the Jersey Force Elite AAU team coached by Joe Stein. Williams, the younger brother of recent OB graduate Sean Williams, was on the 2020 GMC Hoops All Freshmen Team. The elder Williams also played at St. Joseph’s his first two years.
Meanwhile, the Rams lost Pressley, but did gain two transfers from Franklin Township. Jordan Severino and Evan Benson will be joining a squad that returns Mehkai Huey, Saleem Ibraheem, Brandon McCall, and Xavier Hinds. Wardlaw, which took top seeded St. Joseph’s to overtime before losing in the Round of 16 of the 2020 GMCT, and lost to Princeton Day in the Prep B semifinals, looks to be the favorite to win the GMC Gold this season if there were division titles handed out.
Speaking of the Gold Division, another big transfer from that portion of the GMC is Felix Romero Jr., transferring from Perth Amboy Tech to Plainfield. Romero, who will is a senior, had been the top player for the Patriots a year ago. One of three exciting point guards from that division that possess a great handle along with Wardlaw’s Huey and Dunellen’s Jalen Thomas, Romero averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.5 steals per game in 2019-20.
St. Thomas Aquinas, who had a number of transfers in and out prior to the 2019-20 season, had two players come in for this season. Josh Rivera, a transfer from Roselle Catholic, actually transferred in late last season. The 6’7” wing, has reclassified for the Class of 2022, and has received 9 D1 offers including his most recent one from Drexel University. Adam Silas, another transfer, arrived at Aquinas after being at Marist High School in Bayonne, which closed last June.
View the complete list of 2020-21 transfers.
GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten
The GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten is as follows:
- Colonia (22-7)
- St. Thomas Aquinas (23-5)
- St. Joseph’s (19-9)
- South Brunswick (25-5)
- North Brunswick (14-12)
- East Brunswick (11-14)
- Monroe (15-12)
- Dunellen (25-5)
- South Plainfield (14-13)
- Metuchen (8-18)
Other teams considered: Wardlaw-Hartridge (18-7), Old Bridge (7-17), Piscataway (6-18), J.F. Kennedy (10-12), Sayreville (8-17), Edison (19-7), and Timothy Christian (15-10).
THOUGHTS: At the end of last season, St. Thomas Aquinas looked to be the top team in the conference again coming into this year. Although the Trojans lost starters Quadry Adams (Wake Forest) and Derrick Grant (Southern New Hampshire) along with Derrick Golden (Montclair State) graduating this past June, they still have D1 talent back with Jaquan Harris, Tristian Jeffries, and Josh Rivera along with Marist transfer, Adam Silas, Kyree Henry, Samar Abdullah, Jalen Jones, and Jared Gardner.
Colonia looked to be second with the likes of Jordan Derkack, Ruben Reyes, JT Kroner, Noah Taylor, and Josh Oluremi returning along with a JV squad led by bigs Mike Howell and Billy Anderson coming up after losing only a game and winning the EB/GMC JV tourney last season. However, during the off-season, Colonia picked up four transfers including Saivon Pressley (Wardlaw), Maurice Johnson (St. Joseph’s), Mehki Johnson (St. Thomas Aquinas), and Malik Austin (Hudson Catholic).
The Patriots, which also have a sophomore class that is coming off a Final Four appearance, and a third place finish in the 2020 Perth Amboy/GMC Frosh Tourney, also played Aquinas the toughest of any team the Trojans faced in last year’s GMCT only losing by 10 (53-43) after trailing by single digits with under 5 minutes to play. Colonia did lose the likes of Jimmy Frage and Larenzo Jackson, who are both attending Raritan Valley Community College and Brandon Wasserman, who is playing football at Western Connecticut.
In addition to losing its grip on the GMCT crown, St. Joseph’s also lost the likes of K-Shawn Schulters (Villanova), Tyree Ford (Kean), Andrew Olden (Raritan Valley College), Adam Slawinski, Demarcus Shepard, and Martin Greene to graduation as well as Johnson transferring to Colonia. However, the Falcons still have the likes of Amari Campbell, Ethan Simmon, Kody Robinson, and Myles Whye returning along with the likes of Eli Barlow transferring in from Union Catholic and Anthony Williams transferring in from Old Bridge.
The Falcons also have a talented sophomore class that won the 2020 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. This group of youngsters is led by the likes of Josh Ingram, Khalid Brown, Danny Bellavia, Ryan Yarnall, Tim Sullivan, and Scott Schmitt. Football standout, Calson Goodwill, who played as a reserve a year ago, also returns for Joes, which won the GMC Red, and still reached the semifinals of the GMCT for the 21st time over the last 24 years.
Many may think that South Brunswick will take a step back after losing the likes of Justin Carbone (TCNJ), Devin Strickland, Ahkil Edekar, and Alex Strange to graduation from a team that won the Central Jersey Group 4 Championship and reached the 2020 GMCT Championship before losing to St. Thomas Aquinas. Those folks may want to think again.
The Vikings have a solid group returning with veterans from a year ago such as Yethin Vemula, Ty Murchison, and Andrew Tesser returning, but they also have reserves like Raf Estevez, Damien Downes, Shyheim Davis, Shylin Stroye, Jas Singh, Saumit Kale, Jason Asonye, and sophomore Hamehar Chhabra, who along with St. Joe’s Bellavia, stood out as 8th graders for Crossroads Middle School two years ago.
In addition, the Vikes have C.J. Mangrum coming back this season after being injured and academically ineligible a season ago. There are also some other talented youngsters coming up such as football standout, Jacob Brokaw, another sophomore who also stood out with Chhabra and Bellavia at Crossroads two years ago, and happens to be the son of SBHS alum Glenn Brokaw, a fine player at the school in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the nephew of Gary Brokaw, the all time leading scorer at New Brunswick, who played for Digger Phelps at Notre Dame, and played in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks.
North Brunswick will be a factor this year as well with the likes of Jabri Fitzpatrick and Donovan Crawford returning along with Jaquil Boyd, Marquis Perry, Christian Salazar, Ian Morris, Tim Bolaji, and Franklin Made. Bolaji and football standout, Frankie Garbolino, headline a solid sophomore class, and both saw action at the varsity level a year ago as freshmen. The Raiders finished ranked 9th in the Final GMC Hoops Top 10 of 2019-20.
Both Fitzpatrick and Crawford made headlines on the AAU circuit during the summer. Fitzpatrick teamed up with Mangrum and Murchison as well as East Brunswick’s Devin Kennedy to lead Team Elevation to the TOC Title over the Woodbridge Wizards in the Wizards Summer League in August. Crawford had several notable performances playing for Pure Basketball AAU including being recognized along with Edison’s Niko Barnes in the Jersey Force’s The Scrimmages Volume 5 in September.
East Brunswick, Monroe, and Perth Amboy battled it out for third place in the GMC Red a year ago. Amboy won out, but all three teams knocked each other around a bit, and finished in the GMC Hoops Top 12 at season’s end. Although Amboy isn’t playing this year, EB and Monroe will be expected to contend in the 9 team GMC Red in 2021. EB has the likes of 2020 GMC Hoops Freshman of the Year, Jalen Pichardo returning along with big man Devin Kennedy, and others such as Justin Black, Jordan Williams, Jackson Bayuk, Logan Witkowski, and football standout, Zach Zebro.
In addition, the Bears also have a talented group coming up from the JV level. After getting the 11th seed in the 2020 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament, the JV Bears stunned a solid Monroe squad, and then won a wild and thrilling victory over 2nd seeded South Plainfield in overtime on a last second shot after getting another buzzer beater to go in at the end of regulation. EB lost to top seeded Colonia in the JV Championship.
Meanwhile, Monroe lost standout, Andrew Turco to graduation last year. Turco, who managed to score over 700 points to finish his career with over 1,000 is now attending Drew University in Madison. Nevertheless, the Falcons still have big man, Chris Kobierowski back after he collected 451 points and 222 rebounds. In addition, Monroe has the likes of fellow seniors Jake Labaska, football standout Aidan McLaughlin, and Nick Laughery.
Couple that with a talented junior class consisting of the Okocha triplets of Josh, John, and Eli, and the Falcons have enough firepower to compete again. This year’s senior class reached the Final Four of the 2018 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament while the junior class also reached the Final Four of the PA Frosh Tourney in 2019, and finished third.
Dunellen moves up to the GMC Blue this season after being recognized by GMC Hoops as back to back Gold Division champions in 2019 and 2020. The Destroyers lost Tyje’ Kelton, who became the school’s all time leading scorer with 1,942 points before graduating last June. Kelton is now attending Convenant Prep Academy in Belmar, but the Destroyers still return four starters from a year ago.
Led by senior Drew Johnson, who recently committed to Penn State-Brandywine, and currently ranks 3rd on Dunellen’s all time scoring list with 1,288 points, the Destroyers look to be one of the favorites to win the GMC Blue this season. In addition to Johnson, Dunellen has Jalen Thomas, Nasir White, and Nasir Tippett back from a year ago along with reserves such as Tim Godwin, Marquise Jones, Jaylin Schumann, and Ray Calhoun.
Dunellen will open its season on Tuesday night at The Faber against Edison in a GMC crossover between two GMC Hoops Pre-Season Top Ten teams. Right behind Dunellen in both this year’s Pre-Season Top Ten and in the realigned GMC Blue are South Plainfield (14-13) and Metuchen (8-18). Expect both the Tigers and Bulldogs to be in the thick of it in a very competitive Blue Division from top to bottom.
South Plainfield improved significantly a year ago and have the likes of returning starters Josh Liberato, Destiny Nwankwo (311 points), and Moshood Adebule (465 points) along with Josh Bradley, Troy O’Connor, Jayden Grimes, Mitchell Dudak, and Joseph Oduro. Sophomore Brandon Dean is a talented newcomer that will be a player to watch for the Tigers in 2020-21. Jalen Russell, the son of 2002 SPHS graduate Ulysses Russell, who is also a football standout, headlines a junior class that made up a JV team that reached the 2020 East Brunswick/GMC JV Semifinals.
Meanwhile, Metuchen only went 8-18 a year ago, but had to deal with injuries including one to its top player Luke Schleck. If Schleck and the others can stay healthy, the Bulldogs have a very good shot to contend. Two seasons ago, Schleck was on the Metuchen squad that nearly knocked off 9th seeded New Brunswick, which ended up reaching the 2019 GMCT Semifinals.
In addition to Schleck (646 points), the Bulldogs also have Dominic Schiappa (635 points), who transferred in from Point Pleasant Boro last season, Michael Piovoso (458 points), who had the assist on Metuchen’s game winning goal in the 2020 Central Jersey Soccer Championships, and Jai Dreher (363 points), who brings length and athleticism as well as a solid low post presence.
Also, look out for Wardlaw, which did lose Pressley, but gained two transfers from Franklin in Evan Benson and Jordan Severino in addition to having the likes of Mehkai Huey, Saleem Ibraheem, Brandon McCall, and Xavier Hinds returning from the Rams best season since joining the GMC at 18-7 in 2019-20. Old Bridge lost the trio of Sean Williams, Ryan De la Cuesta, and Jaden Caban to graduation as well as Anthony Williams, who transferred to St. Joseph’s, but still have Lucas Grissett, Chris Wyer, Peter Gamba, and Robbie Kim back along with Miles Sala and sophomore Ryan Witte.
Piscataway lost the trio of Jonathan Livingston (Claflin), Keshawn Peterson Fish (Rutgers-Camden), and Denzel Taylor to graduation, but the Chiefs, which didn’t play football in the fall, is looking to compete on the hardwood this winter. P-Way has the likes of Will Corley, Jalen Bass, Justin Wyatt, Jaiden Corley, and Kyle Weidermann coming back. Expect JFK, Sayreville, and Edison to battle it out behind Colonia, Aquinas, and North Brunswick in the GMC White.
The Mustangs lost the likes of starters Nadir Cassiem and Papa Asmah from last year’s team, but still have Ayman Pitts, Vishal Patel, Luis De Los Santos, and football players Connor Heaney and Joe Kopchik returning. Sayreville, who will be coached by John Wojcik this season after he took a year off to serve as an assistant at his college alma mater, Ramapo, lost Luca Ventricelli, Ryan Ament, Casey Hodder (Prestige Prep), and Andrew Onatavia to graduation and Elijah Lane, who transferred back to Woodbridge, but the Bombers still have Danny Golaszewski, Aidan Ryan, Stephen Farley, and sophomore football standout, Mike Colonnello returning.
Edison lost 80 percent of its starting lineup from a year ago including Manny Davila (Middlesex County College) and Nasir McLean (Georgian Court College), but still have Niko Barnes, who leads a talented junior class that reached the Championship Game of the 2019 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament. Timothy Christian lost Abdul Momoh, Nate Aviles, Jason Aller, and Liam Page from last year’s team to graduation, but still will contend with Wardlaw for GMC Gold honors.
TCS has Ronnie Burwan returning as well as junior sharpshooter, Gian Wagner. In addition, the Tigers have seniors Tah’zyon Rogers along with junior guard Jonathan McNulty as well as junior center Jordan Johnson, and sophomore forward, Brandon Johnson.
Red Division—Predicted Order of Finish (Last year’s record in Parenthesis)
- St. Joseph’s (19-9)
- South Brunswick (25-5)
- East Brunswick (11-14)
- Monroe (15-12)
- Old Bridge (7-17)
- Piscataway (6-18)
- J.P. Stevens (4-20)
- New Brunswick (20-8)
NOTE: Perth Amboy is not playing this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
White Division—Predicted Order of Finish (Last year’s record in Parenthesis)
- Colonia (22-7)
- St. Thomas Aquinas (23-5)
- North Brunswick (14-12)
- Edison (19-7)
- J.F. Kennedy (10-12)
- Sayreville (8-17)
- Woodbridge (4-23)
NOTE: Carteret is not playing this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blue Division—Predicted Order of Finish (Last year’s record in Parenthesis)
- Dunellen (25-5)
- South Plainfield (14-13)
- Metuchen (8-18)
- Middlesex (16-13)
- Spotswood (12-15)
- South River (2-23)
- Highland Park (3-21)
Gold Division—Predicted Order of Finish (Last year’s record in Parenthesis)
- Wardlaw-Hartridge (18-7)
- Timothy Christian (15-10)
- Piscataway Tech (8-17)
- Perth Amboy Tech (14-12)
- South Amboy (8-17)
- Calvary Christian (9-17)
- Somerset Tech (11-15)
- East Brunswick Tech (8-16)