Former St. Joseph’s/McCarrick Hoops Star and Sayreville Hoops Alum Representing GMC in TBT 2020
COLUMBUS, OH—With much of professional sports struggling to restart, or unable to resume due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in almost 11 million cases and nearly 520,000 deaths worldwide including 2.7 million cases and over 128,000 deaths in the United States, every opportunity to have some sort of televised major sporting event starting with the 2020 NFL Draft has drawn a great deal of interest from around the country.
Expect the trend to continue during the July 4th Holiday Weekend when The Basketball Tournament (TBT) will commence play with its Round of 24 games. The Basketball Tournament, in its 7th year, has a number of players from the Garden State competing including two former local hoops alums. Former GMC standouts, Marques Townes and Jehyve Floyd will compete in the event. Townes, who played at St. Joseph’s and Cardinal McCarrick will be playing for 10th seeded for Jimmy V. Meanwhile, Floyd, who starred at Sayreville, will be competing for 9th seeded Big X.
Townes and Floyd Playing Right Away
Both players will be in action during the opening weekend since their teams will be playing in Round of 24 contests this 4th of July Weekend. Playing for Jimmy V will be taking on 23rd seeded Herd That, a team made of Marshall University Alumni while Big X will face 24th seeded D2, the last team that gained entry into the field. The game between Big X and D2 will be the first game of the day on Saturday at 3:00 PM while the contest between Playing for Jimmy V and Herd That will take place at 2:00 PM on Sunday.
The winner of the Big X—D2 match-up on Saturday afternoon will then move on to the Round of 16, and play against 8th seeded Red Scare at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, July 8th while the victor in the contest between Playing for Jimmy V and Herd That will advance to the next round to face 7th seeded The Money Team at 2:00 PM on Thursday, July 9th. All games will be played on ESPN. Only two games in TBT will be carried on ESPN2 while the rest will be on ESPN.
Last year, East Brunswick boys basketball alum, Amir Bell, competed in the 2019 TBT for Big X. In two games last year, Bell averaged 7.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game in a total of nearly 43 minutes of action. Big X won its first round game over the West Virginia Wildcats (83-76) on July 19, 2019, and then lost to Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State Alumni) in the 2nd round on July 20th (89-75). Bell played college hoops at Princeton University before playing professionally overseas in Malaysia.
Marques Townes
Townes, a cousin of former St. Joseph’s standout, Darrell Carroll (Catholic University), played with the Sayreville Stars travel team in middle school before going to Cardinal McCarrick for the 2010-11 academic year. As a freshman, Townes teamed up with former Monroe standout, Ahmid Williams (Bloomfield College), Jeremy Cruz, Charlie Gorman, Mike Lewis, John Appiah, Jumanne McDaniel, Muhammed Alli, and Alonzo Hamilton to lead the Eagles to a 22-8 overall record, a 2011 GMCT Semifinal berth, a Non-Public B South crown, and a Non-Public B State Finals berth.
As a sophomore, Townes guided the Eagles to another GMCT Semifinals appearance, and a Non-Public B South Semifinals berth in the 2011-12 season en route to a 22-7 overall mark. Over those two seasons with McCarrick, Townes helped spark the Eagles to a 44-15 overall record while scoring 878 points in 56 games, or an average of 15.7 points per game. He then transferred to St. Joseph’s and teamed up with Karl Anthony Towns (Kentucky/Minnesota Timberwolves) and Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt/Memphis Grizzlies).
The St. Joe’s Years
Although the Falcons did not win the GMC Red in 2012-13, Townes junior year, they did overcome East Brunswick to win an epic two overtime 2013 GMCT Championship at Rutgers University (66-63). St. Joseph’s then went on to win its second straight Non-Public A South title, and Non-Public A State Crown. Joes then went on to win its first ever NJSIAA T of C game over Atlantic City (63-49) in the semifinals at Monmouth University before falling to Roselle Catholic in the 2013 TOC Championship at Sun National Bank Arena (now Cure Arena) in Trenton (65-49) to finish 27-5 overall.
Townes, who scored his 1,000th point of his career in early January 2013, was a member of the St. Joseph’s Fab-Five in the 2013-14 season along with Karl Anthony Towns, Wade Baldwin, Raven Owen (Canisius), and Bree Tyree (Ole Miss). All five players would sign National Letters of Intent with D1 schools. The Falcons would only lose twice during the season, both against non-conference opponents including a close loss to national powerhouse Montverde Academy of Florida (79-70) with the likes of D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons in the 2014 Metro Classic.
St. Joseph’s reclaimed the 2014 GMC Red Division crown, and defeated East Brunswick again for the 2014 GMCT Crown as Townes earned Tourney MVP honors. The Falcons swept past the likes of Bishop Eustace (78-44) and Paul VI (81-62) for their third straight NJSIAA Non-Public A South crown, and defeated St. Peter’s Prep (85-72) for the second straight year to win their third consecutive Non-Public A State Title.
Winning the TOC Crown
Joes then got past Linden in a wild TOC semifinal game that saw the Tigers made a dramatic fourth quarter rally before the Falcons hung on for a 63-59 victory. In the TOC Final, St. Joe’s held off a strong challenge from Group 3 champion, Newark East Side to become the first and only GMC team to win the TOC Boys crown, and finished 30-2 overall.
Townes scored 985 points over his last two seasons at St. Joseph’s to finish his career with 1,863 points, which places him 4th out of 122 players on the GMC Hoops Grand Club. The Falcons went 57-7 during that span including a 26-2 mark in the GMC Red. Both Falcon teams he was on were recently recognized as two of the top three teams in the GMC Hoops era (2000-2020).
College Years at FDU and Loyola-Chicago
Following high school, Townes first attended FDU in Teaneck, and played two seasons with the Knights. During those two years, GMC Hoops got out to see Townes play twice including the first time against St. Peter’s University in Jersey City on February 23, 2014 (FDU lost 69-60, and at Princeton on November 30, 2015 (lost 91-61). After his sophomore season, Townes transferred to Loyola of Chicago and the Missouri Valley Conference.
In his junior season at Loyola-Chicago, Townes helped lead the Ramblers to the NCAA Final Four, and even played hero by making a three to give Loyola a 69-65 lead over Nevada with 7 seconds to play en route to a 69-68 win and an Elite Eight berth. As a senior, Townes guided Loyola-Chicago to the 2019 NIT. Over his two seasons at Loyola-Chicago, Townes helped the Ramblers post a 52-20 overall record including a 27-9 mark in the MVC while playing and starting in all 72 games. He averaged 30.9 minutes, 13.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.0 steals per game with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.4.
Following his graduation from Loyola-Chicago, Townes played at the 2019 Jersey Shore Basketball League before signing a contract to play professionally overseas in Spain. Playing for UCAM Murcia, Townes averaged 17.7 minutes per game in 14 games this past season. During that time, Townes made 28 of 54 shot attempts from the floor and 6 of 22 from beyond the arc while sinking 11 of 12 from the foul line for a total of 85 points, or an average of 6.1 points per game. In addition, he collected 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game according to Eurobasket.
Jehyve Floyd
A three year varsity player at Sayreville, Floyd only saw action in 6 games as a sophomore for the Bombers, which went 16-11 in 2012-13, and lost to East Brunswick in the 2013 GMCT Quarterfinals. The following year, Floyd broke through, and the Bombers benefited with a 24-4 season, a GMC White crown, a 2014 GMCT Semifinals appearance, and a berth in the 2014 Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals.
As a junior, Floyd played in all 28 games for head coach John Wojcik and the Bombers, and made 128 field goals, a three pointer, and 39 free throws for a total of 295 points along with 130 rebounds, 38 blocks, 21 assists, and 14 steals to average 10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game according to stats compiled at nj.com.
The following season, the 2014-15 campaign, the Bombers regrouped after losing the likes of Corey Taite (Goldey Beacom) and Rob Seraji to graduation, and endured some growing pains. Nevertheless, Floyd along with his younger brother Jahsim, helped the Bombers put together a solid post-season run that included an upset Round of 16 win over 3rd seeded Cardinal McCarrick in South Amboy in the 2015 GMCT.
Senior Season at Sayreville
Continuing to show significant improvement that senior season, Floyd played in all 26 games for Sayreville, and made 184 field goals, 6 threes, and 59 foul shots to lead the team with 453 points, or an average of 17.4 points per game. In addition, Floyd collected 261 rebounds, 87 blocks, 58 assists, and 40 steals, for an average of 10.0 rebounds, 3.3 blocks, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.
Collecting a total of 16 double-doubles in the 2014-15 campaign, Floyd scored in double figures in 24 of the Bombers 26 games including a career high 32 points on 15 field goals and two free throws along with 13 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 assists in a 77-72 victory over South Plainfield on February 23, 2015. Floyd also had a career high 22 boards along with 25 points in a monster double-double performance in a 69-51 loss to East Brunswick January 26, 2015.
Over his three year varsity tenure at Sayreville, Floyd played in 60 games, made 314 field goals, 7 three pointers, and 109 foul shots for a total of 758 points, 392 rebounds, 126 blocks, 79 assists, and 54 steals, or an average of 12.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 1.3 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. Also during that span, Floyd scored in double figures on 41 occasions including 8 games of 20 points or more, and two games of at least 30 points. He had 22 career double-doubles and one triple-double as well. Sayreville went 52-29 overall including a 30-12 record in the GMC White.
Floyd Heads to Holy Cross
Following high school, Floyd moved on to play at Holy Cross in the Patriot League. Originally not slated to play as a freshman, Floyd was able to benefit from a change in the roster prior to the 2015-16 season. Floyd wound up seeing action in 29 games, and averaged 9.4 minutes per game. He made 38 of 59 shots, scored 83 points, collected 45 rebounds, and blocked 21 shots. He continued to improve as his playing time gradually increased.
During his sophomore season in 2016-17, Floyd played in 31 games including three starts, and averaged 12.1 minutes, 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game while improving his performance at the foul line by going 11 of 18 after going only 7 of 22 as a freshman. He also shot 30 of 55 from the floor for 54.5 percent and blocked 25 shots.
Former Bomber Comes into His Own
As a junior at Holy Cross, Floyd played and started in all 31 games for the Crusaders during the 2017-18 season. He averaged 29.8 minutes, 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 1.6 assists, and just under a steal per game. Floyd made 165 of 247 shots from the floor and 47 of 97 from the foul line for a total of 377 points. He led Holy Cross in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots that season.
In his final season at Holy Cross, Floyd played and started in all 33 games during the 2018-19 campaign. He averaged 31.0 minutes, 12.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 blocks, and just under a steal per game while having an assist to turnover ratio of 1.7. Floyd connected on 184 of 275 shots from the floor while making only 58 of 121 from the foul line. The Sayreville native led the Crusaders in two point field goals, rebounds, assists, and blocks while being second in scoring.
College Career Stats
During Floyd’s at Holy Cross, the Crusaders compiled an overall record of 58-73 including a mark of 28-44 in the Patriot League. Holy Cross actually won the Patriot League Tournament in Floyd’s freshman year, and won an NCAA First Four game at Dayton, Ohio over Southern University (59-55) before losing to Oregon in the First Round in 2016. Floyd played in both NCAA Tourney games, saw 17 minutes of action, scored 4 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, blocked one shot, and handed out an assist.
For his college career, Floyd played in 124 games including 67 starts, averaged 20.6 minutes per game, made 417 of 636 shots for 65.6 percent from the floor while also 123 of 258 from the line for a total of 957 points along with 471 rebounds, 204 assists, 193 blocked shots, and 85 steals, or an average of 7.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game. GMC Hoops saw Floyd play college hoops for Holy Cross against Lafayette in Easton, Pennsylvania on February 10, 2019, and he played well with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and a blocked in a 69-67 loss.
Now Playing Professionally in Greece
Following graduation from Holy Cross last year, Floyd signed a contract to play professionally in Greece. During the 2019-20 season, he played for Larisa in the Greek Basketball League, and saw action in 20 games. During that time, Floyd averaged 18.8 minutes, 5.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game as he 41 of 63 shots from the floor for 65.1 percent and was 19 of 34 from the line for 55.9 percent according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Congratulations to both Marques and Jehyve on your selection to play in the TBT, and show the country what Greater Middlesex Conference basketball is all about.