EDISON, NJ–On Tuesday night, GMC Hoops made a stop over to the Physical Education Center on the Campus of Middlesex County College for the third night of action from the 2008 Middlesex County College Summer League. Action in this league began a week ago on June 17th with most of the 15 teams playing in two games. On this night, there was a full slate of contests played at 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:00 PM. The web site managed to capture action from two of the seven games that were played including a future matchup from the GMC Gold between South Amboy and Timothy Christian I, and Highland Park versus South Hunterdon.
South Hunterdon Surges In Second Half To Down Highland Park, 56-49
In the first of the two games GMC Hoops took in, Highland Park was leading 28-19 with about a minute and a half to go in the first half. The Owls then got a field goal at the one minute mark to take a 30-19 lead, and that was how the first half ended as a last second shot by the Eagles from West Jersey was off the mark. After watching the final nine minutes of the first half between South Amboy and Timothy Christian I over on Court #3, the web site returned to action on Court #1 with 11:00 to go and Highland Park still leading, 36-29, but South Hunterdon was beginning to climb back into the fray with a 10-6 run over the first nine minutes to close the gap to single digits.
Moments after GMC Hoops sat down to take in the action, a Highland Park player scored a basket while drawing a foul, but missed the bonus free throw to convert the traditional three point play for a 38-29 lead at the 10:55 mark. Over the next 5:37, the Eagles put together a game deciding 18-2 surge to take a 47-40 lead with 5:18 remaining. The surge would prove to be too much for a Highland Park program, which is trying to turn things around after a difficult 2007-08 campaign with a 2-19 record, to overcome as the Eagles came away with the 56-49 victory. The South Hunterdon assault began with a field goal at the 10:15 mark for a 38-31 Highland Park lead. The Eagles then swiped a steal and drove in for a layup when a Highland Park player gave a hard foul. The shove drew ire from the South Hunterdon bench, which compelled the officiating crew to assess a flagrant foul on the Owls.
The result was a pair of free throws, and when you added a three pointer from earlier, the Highland Park lead was now down to two at 38-36 with 9:01 remaining. Sixteen seconds later, South Hunterdon came up with another steal, and converted that into a layup plus the foul for a three point play that gave the Eagles the lead at 39-38 with 8:45 to play. Almost a minute would pass before the next score occurred, and once again that would be courtesy of South Hunterdon with a field goal at the 7:52 mark for a 41-38 lead. On its next offensive possession, Highland Park got back on the board to pull within one on a nice give and go for a finger roll layup that made the score 41-40 at the 7:35 mark. Thirty-three seconds afterward, South Hunterdon answered with yet another steal that was taken the length of the floor for a layup and a 43-40 advantage with just a bit more than seven minutes to play.
The Eagles then furthered their lead with two free throws at the 5:48 mark for a 45-40 score, and then capped the rampage with another steal for a layin that gave them a seven point, 47-40 lead with 5:18 to play. Following a Highland Park timeout with 5:13 left, the Owls then got an acrobatic move for a score while drawing the foul for a three point play that made it 47-43 at the 4:25 to go. South Hunterdon then replied on a subsequent possession with a field goal at the 3:48 mark for a 49-43 edge. The Owls had a chance to get closer with two straight trips to the foul line at the 2:43 and 1:45 marks respectively, but went 0 of 2 and then 1 of 2 for a 1 of 4 effort overall that made the score just 49-44 as supposed to possibly a one possession game at 49-47. The Owls would get a layin to pull within three at 49-46 at the 1:24 mark, but the Eagles essentially put the game away with a key basket on a floater that made the score, 51-46 at the 1:05 mark.
From there, South Hunterdon then closed out the game with 5 of the final 8 points for the 56-49 win. With the victory, the Eagles move up to 2-1 overall while Highland Park falls to 2-1. Now both teams are tied with South Hunterdon holding a head to head tie breaker for playoff purposes.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Hunterdon (2-1) | 19 | 37 | 56 |
| Highland Park (2-1) | 30 | 19 | 49 |
Timothy Christian I Cruises By South Amboy, 52-36
In this battle of 1-1 teams, Timothy Christian, which has recently agreed with the GMC to join the conference starting in the 2010-11 season, had its Timothy Christian I team take on a future rival in South Amboy from the GMC Gold. After watching the final minute and a half of the first period between Highland Park and South Hunterdon, the web site took a stroll over to the other side of the gym to catch some of the action in this one. Upon arrival, Timothy Christian was leading already by a 16-3 score with nine minutes to go in the first half.
Fifteen seconds or so later, the Guvs got on the board with a field goal for a 16-5 Tiger lead at the 8:45 mark. On its next possession though, TCS I replied with a score of its own for an 18-5 advantage with 8:23 to play in the first half. Tim Simko then tried to get South Amboy going again with a feed inside for a layup attempt that drew a foul. Unfortunately for the Guv faithful in attendance at MCC, their team would come up empty with an 0 of 2 showing at the charity stripe with 7:15 to go in the half. The Tigers would then take advantage a little more than a minute later with a three pointer from the left wing for a 21-5 lead at the 6:07 mark. Following a Timothy Christian I timeout with 6:05 to go before the brief intermission, neither team scored for about 1:20 before South Amboy got back on the board thanks to a steal and a fast break that culminated in a Charmello layup for a 21-7 TCS lead.
Shortly after Timothy Christian I inbounded the ball, and brought it upcourt, Charmello struck again with a steal and assist on a field goal by one of the two O’Connor twins for a 21-9 TCS I lead with 4:31 left in the half. Charmello then made two from the foul line to trim the deficit down to ten at 21-11 with just inside four minutes to play in the half. The Tigers then scored the next three points including a one of two showing at the line for a 22-11 advantage at the 3:14 mark, and then a layup from the right side while picking up the foul (but missed the bonus free throw) for a 24-11 edge at the 2:35 mark. One of the O’Connor twins then did his best to get his team back into the contest by swiping a steal for a layup attempt, and drawing a foul that yielded one of two from the charity stripe for a 24-12 TCS I lead with 1:46 to go before halftime.
The Tigers then closed out the first half scoring with four straight points including an offensive rebound and putback for a 26-12 lead at the 1:33 mark, and a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to take a 28-12 advantage into the brief break. In the second half, it was more of the same although South Amboy did make it somewhat respectable at the end. After again watching the end of the South Hunterdon and Highland Park contest, the web site came over to witness the final 5:11 of action from this game. At the time of return, TCS I had pretty much maintained its lead with a 42-27 score at the 5:11 mark. A bit more than a minute later, Timothy Christian I struck for a layup from the left side for a 44-27 lead. Fifty-seconds after that, the Tigers were on the board again with a field goal for a 46-27 edge at the 3:10 mark. Then, following a South Amboy free throw thanks to a TCS I technical foul at the 3:06 mark, the Tigers took their largest lead of the contest thanks to some fine teamwork, and great passing for a 48-28 lead.
From there, South Amboy scored 8 of the final 12 points to make the score look better cosmetically as Timothy Christian I came away with a 52-36 victory. With the win, the Tigers moved into a tie with South Hunterdon and Highland Park with a 2-1 record overall while South Amboy fell to 1-2 on the young summer. GMC Hoops plans to be back out at MCC on Thursday to take in some more of the action from this league.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy Christian I (2-1) | 28 | 24 | 52 |
| South Amboy (1-2) | 12 | 24 | 36 |