Consistent Salisbury Was Glue to North Brunswick JV’s Title Run
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| North Brunswick sophomore, Jordan Salisbury releases a three point shot over Spotswood’s Justin Dekovics in the 2016 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tourney Round of 16 on February 16th at NBTHS. Salisbury was selected by GMC Hoops as the 2016 JV Player of the Year. |
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–A year ago, when North Brunswick’s talented sophomore class were freshmen making a memorable run through the 2015 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, Salisbury was one of many contributors along with Mwanza Fitzpatrick and Maneet Batra. Early on this season, Salisbury was a big time performer, especially in the season opener at East Brunswick.
In a classic game that was a rematch of the 2015 Amboy Frosh Tourney Championship, Salisbury shared the team high of 16 points with Quadir Butler in a 55-53 victory. In the contest, Salisbury had three field goals, two threes, and made 4 of 7 from the line. Fourteen of those points were scored over the final three periods. Fast forward to the 2016 East Brunswick/GMC JV Tourney, and Salisbury continued his consistent play while others such as Avery Clagget and Jhonell Brown stepped up their games.
While Clagget averaged 19 points per game in the tourney, and Brown chipped in with an 11.7 ppg average, Salisbury scored 8 points against Spotswood in the Round of 16, added 13 in the semifinal win over Monroe, and then 12 points including the game winning shot versus South Brunswick in the Championship Game. Over the four games covered by GMC Hoops during the course of the JV season, Salisbury totaled 49 points on 12 field goals, 4 threes, and 13 of 19 from the line to average 12.3 ppg. His consistent play during the course of the season earned him the GMC Hoops JV Player of the Year.
Clagget’s emergence in the JV tourney, which was sparked by a 25 point, five three pointer performance against Spotswood, propelled him to tourney MVP honors, and a place on the First Team All GMC Hoops JV Team. Brown, who scored 15 points in the semifinals against Monroe, was selected to the Second Team while other supporting cast members such as Fitzpatrick, Josh Vick, and Adryan Salazar were given Honorable Mention.
These six players: Clagget, Salisbury, Brown, Fitzpatrick, Vick, and Salazar as well as some others such as Butler and Danny Reardon finally gave North Brunswick a JV Tourney title after knocking on the door with 5 Final Four appearances in the last 6 years. However, Salisbury was the glue that helped keep everything together with consistency, playmaking ability, and a knack of knocking down big shots when needed.
GMC Hoops All JV Team
First Team
- Jordan Salisbury–North Brunswick*
- Avery Clagget–North Brunswick^
- Eric Schneider–East Brunswick
- Tavian Alford–South Brunswick
- Ryan Granito–St. Joseph’s
Second Team
- Jhonell Brown–North Brunswick
- Chris James–South Brunswick
- Hassan Reid–Monroe
- Sashank Sindhia–St. Joseph’s
- Brandon Rosenthal–East Brunswick
Third Team
- Shykyle Matthews–Piscataway
- Jackson Maddox–Monroe
- Justin Dekovics–Spotswood
- Abdullah Nieskens–Spotswood
- Bendiji Pierre–J.F. Kennedy
*GMC Hoops JV Player of the Year
^East Brunswick/GMC JV Tourney MVP
Honorable Mention
- Josh Vick–North Brunswick
- Adryan Salazar–North Brunswick
- Mwanza Fitzpatrick–North Brunswick
- Kunal Thakral–South Brunswick
- Vic Huetz–South Brunswick
- Luke Valeriano–St. Joseph’s
- Danny Young–St. Joseph’s
- Kevin Shea–Monroe
- Oliver French–Colonia
- Matt Vento–Spotswood
- Steven Marx–East Brunswick
- Joey Nigro-South River
- Zachary Kaczmarek–Sayreville
- Jody Harris–New Brunswick