2017 GMC Hoops Player of the Year to be Honored Prior to Falcons Game Versus Arch Rival East Brunswick
METUCHEN, NJ—On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops will be heading over to Maglio Gymnasium to see second ranked St. Joseph’s host arch rival East Brunswick in yet another chapter in this ongoing saga between these two schools starting at 7:00 PM. Prior to that though, there will be a very special ceremony for a very special player.
Letrell West, the 2017 GMC Hoops Player of the Year, will be honored before the game starting at 6:00 PM when his name will be added to the 1,000 point banner in St. Joseph’s gym. West will join the likes of Jay Williams, Quenton DeCosey, Karl Anthony Towns, Wade Baldwin, Marques Townes, Danny Brix, Steve Rennard, and Andrew Bynum, who have achieved the milestone while playing for the Falcons.
West was perhaps one of the greatest stories in Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball since the league’s inception during the 1985-86 campaign. West along with teammates Malachi Walker and Mikey Granda entered the 2016-17 season with a combined 110 points, but combined to show tremendous character and leadership in guiding the younger Falcons along a journey that reached magical heights with another GMC Red title, GMCT Championship, and a 26-2 overall record despite losing two 1,000 point scorers and 11 other players at all levels of the program the year before.
West took on the challenge of being the team’s top scorer and leader. He took his game to another level right from the start of the season as he earned Week One GMC Hoops Player of the Week Honors. West, who transferred to St. Joseph’s prior to the start of his junior year after playing his first two seasons at Piscataway Tech, ended up averaging 20.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.7 apg, and 2.4 spg. West, who only scored 56 points as a junior in 2015-16, increased his scoring by over 10 fold to tally 585 points in 2016-17 for a career total at Joes of 641.
St. Joseph’s went through much of the 2016-17 season unbeaten by winning its first 19 games of the season. Then, after losing to Old Bridge for the first time since the first round of the 2007 GMCT tourney, West raised his game even further by scoring an average of 36 points per game over the next four games including a monster 41 point barrage against 8th seeded Piscataway in the 2017 GMCT Elite Eight at New Brunswick on February 19th. West would save the best for last with a tremendous second half performance against Sayreville in the 2017 GMCT FInal at the RAC on February 24th.
After going to the bench with two fouls, and no points late in the second quarter, West stormed back with all 19 points over the final two periods to help guide the Falcons to a 38-18 surge over the final 18 minutes of action to turn a 26-12 deficit into a 50-44 victory. West, who played in 55 games over his two seasons at Joes, scored in double figures in each of his 28 games his senior year including 12 games with 20 points or more, and four with 33 points or more. West was a true rags to riches story in the GMC during his high school career.
During his first two seasons at Piscataway Tech, West played for two different coaches, Karl Towns Sr., as a freshman, and former Plainfield standout and assistant coach, Mike Gordon as a sophomore. West earned GMC honors as a sophomore at P-Way Tech by scoring 14.4 points per game including a season high 25 points versus South River on January 2018. GMC Hoops plans to cover the event as well as the EB game.