GMC Hoops Summary–South River Surges Past South Amboy, 82-68

Martinez Yields Triple Double As Rams Pull Away In 2nd Half

SOUTH RIVER, NJ–After playing two tough GMC Crossover games in losses to Spotswood (77-51) and Edison (69-66), the South River Rams returned to Gold Division play on Wednesday evening with its third contest of the season against South Amboy.  In addition to the two regular season games played between these two schools, the Rams and the Guvs squared off in the Championship Game of the South River Holiday Tournament back in December, and South Amboy won that one, 60-47.

As a matter of fact, the Governors had won both of the previous two meetings with also a 74-60 victory over the Rams earlier in January.  Since that time though, South River had been rolling with five straight wins including an overtime victory at Dunellen (81-70).  Meanwhile, the Guvs, which looked to be one of the favorites to win the GMC Gold this season, found themselves looking up in the standings thanks to two losses to league leader Timothy Christian and a last second loss at Dunellen on opening night.  South Amboy, which also suffered an overtime defeat at Cardinal McCarrick on opening weekend, was coming off a victory over Raritan of the Shore Conference on Monday (55-48).

The third time would be the charm for the Rams though as South River broke away from a 26-26 tie late in the second quarter with a 7-2 finish to the first half, and then a 49-40 surge in the second half to outscore the Guvs by a margin of 56-42 over the last 17 minutes of the game for a 82-68 victory.  Senior guard, Matt Martinez led the way with a triple double of 36 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.  Senior forward, Connor Devich did a great job running the floor and rebounding while also doing his best to contain South Amboy big man, Joe Fruncillo, who was limited to just 4 first half points before scoring 15 over the final two periods to end up with a team high 19 points.  Devich ended up with a monster double-double of 20 points and 15 boards while senior guard, Sean Darrar added 13 points.

The Governors had two other players score in double figures as well with senior point guard, Steve Herdman tallying 17 points while senior forward, Dan Murphy added 15.  Tim Kales chipped in with 9 while D’Ondre Moore contributed 8 for South River including a three pointer that capped the 7-2 spurt to end the first half for a 33-28 lead at the intermission.  For the game, South River outscored South Amboy in each of the final three periods after the first quarter ended in a 16-16 tie.  The Rams had 6 different players get into the scorebook while South Amboy had 7.  The Guvs enjoyed a slight 24-23 edge in two point field goals while the Rams had a slight edge in points from the line (15-14), but the difference was from the perimeter where South River enjoyed a 21-6 edge in points scored from beyond the arc.

South River jumped out to a 10-6 lead when GMC Hoops arrived at the recently renovated gym at South River HS with 4:42 to go in the first period.  South Amboy battled back though with a 6-0 run to take a 12-10 lead.  The Rams scored the next six  points for a 16-12 lead, but the Guvs got the last four of the frame to tie the score at 16-16 heading into the second.  Martinez had 9 of his points in the first period including a three, two field goals, and two foul shots.  Tim Kales paced South Amboy with 8 of his 9 points for the game on four field goals.  

The game continued to go back and forth for a bit early on in the second before South River went ahead 26-22 on a 6-2 run.  South Amboy wouldn’t go away though as they got two free throws from Murphy, and another pair from Herdman to tie the game again at 26-26 with a little over a minute remaining in the first half.  Playing its usual up tempo style, the Rams finished the half with a flourish by scoring 7 of the last 9 points including two free throws by Martinez and the three by Moore to go up 33-28 at the intermission.  Devich led South River with 6 points in the frame while Murphy paced South Amboy with six of his own for a team high 10 points at the half.  Martinez led all scorers with 13 at the break, but then exploded for 23 more over the final two periods of play including two more threes.

Pushing the pace in the second half, both teams combined to score 89 points over the final two periods, but South River was most comfortable with the tempo outscoring South Amboy by 9 points to pull away.  The Rams led by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter.  South River opened the second half by scoring 7 of the first 12 points of the third to take a 40-33 lead with 5:45 left in the period.  The Rams then outscored the Guvs by a 16-12 margin the rest of the way for a 56-45 lead heading into the fourth as Martinez fired in 10 points including a three point play late in the period while Darrar chipped in with 6, and Devich added 4.  Fruncillo paced South Amboy with 8 in the quarter.  The fourth quarter saw the Guvs draw within nine at 58-49 after a layup by Fruncillo with 6:03 left, but they were unable to get any closer.

South River finished the game with a 24-19 showing including a 16-8 spurt over a span of 4:43 to take a 74-57 lead before South Amboy hit a three pointer with 1:20 left to pull within 14.  Martinez scored 13 more points in the final frame while Devich added 7 points.  Herdman led the Guvs with 8 points in the fourth including a three while Fruncillo chipped in with 7.  With the victory, the Rams improved to 8-5 overall, 5-5 in the GMC, and 5-2 in the Gold Division, which moves them into third place only a half of a game back of Dunellen in the league race.  South Amboy dropped to 8-5 overall with the loss, 5-5 in conference, and 4-4 in divisional play.