Bishop Ahr, Sayreville, Piscataway, and New Brunswick All Scheduled to Play Non-Conference Foes on Monday
Above is the Flyer for the 2019 New Brunswick High School Martin Luther King Showcase this coming Monday, January 21st. The event has been expanded to include four games involving teams from the GMC, Colonial Valley Conference, Skyland Conference, and Union County Conference.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—On Tuesday afternoon, GMC Hoops learned from New Brunswick High School Boys Basketball Head Coach and former Sayreville standout, Samir Sanu that the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Showcase set for Monday, January 21st at NBHS has expanded its field to four games.
Four teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference will be playing in the event with each team taking on a non-conference opponent. The only two games from last year are back this year with Piscataway taking on Trenton and New Brunswick battling Neighborhood rival, Franklin in the final two contests of the day. In addition, two games have been added involving Bishop Ahr of the GMC Blue Division and Sayreville of the GMC White.
Sayreville will open up the showcase with its game versus Plainfield High School of Union County at 11:30 AM. Bishop Ahr’s game will follow at 1:00 PM when the Trojans face off against Executive Charter School. Four counties and conferences are being represented in the showcase including: Mercer (Colonial Valley Conference), Middlesex (Greater Middlesex Conference), Somerset (Skyland Conference), and Union (Union County Conference).
Three of the four GMC schools playing in the showcase are currently in the GMC Hoops Top Ten (Bishop Ahr at No. 6, New Brunswick at No. 9, and Piscataway at No. 3). Sayreville has struggled this season with a 4-8 overall record, but has recently won at least a share of White Division titles in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 while reaching the GMCT Elite Eight 5 out of the last 6 years with two semifinal appearances in 2014 and 2017, and a GMCT Finals berth in 2018 under the guidance of current head coach, and former Bomber standout, John Wojcik. Sayreville is led by Jaijuan Macklin, Luca Ventricelli, and Kaieme Byers.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ahr, which reached the GMCT Quarterfinals for the first time since 2011 a year ago, has jumped out to its best start since the days of Anthony Rosa and Company back in 1991-92 when the Trojans last won the GMCT title. Under new head coach Bob Turco, who previously coached in the GMC at Monroe, where he made three GMCT Final Four berths in his five years coaching the Falcons before moving on to Notre Dame of Lawrenceville in 2010, BGA has won 11 of its first 13 games and is 7-0 in Blue Division play. The teams is led by Quadry Adams and consists of a supporting cast that includes Jalen Jones, Marquise Billingsley, Derrick Grant, Ernest Carter, and Roselle Catholic transfer, Zayon Marsh.
Piscataway, which faces off against Trenton at 2:30 PM on Monday, is coming off a 52-40 victory over No. 4 J.P. Stevens on Tuesday evening, has played a very tough schedule including the likes of non-conference foes Linden, Elizabeth, West Orange, Hillsborough, and Barringer in addition to its usual GMC Red season docket. Despite that, and an overtime loss at Old Bridge, the Chiefs, coached by former Rutgers standout, Darius Griffin, are 6-5 and still in the GMC Hoops Top 5. P-Way is led by Antonio Chandler, Tyree Barba-Bey, and Mark Davis.
Finally, we have New Brunswick, which is making its first GMC Hoops Top Ten appearance since at least 2012, are off to its best start since losing to neighborhood rival North Brunswick in the 2012 GMCT Quarterfinals and Lakewood in the 2012 Central Jersey Group 3 Quarterfinals. Under the guidance of Sanu, who also was a former teammate of Wojcik at Sayreville, the Zebras have started the season with an 8-3 mark including a 5-1 record in the GMC White with the only loss coming to top ranked Colonia (11-0). New Brunswick has also lost to Elizabeth, which is ranked 9th in New Jersey, and East Brunswick. The Zebras are led by Ahyan Brown-Miller, Tahjay Moore, and Ny’dir Harmon.
Admission to this event is $5.00. Below is the schedule for all four games:
2019 New Brunswick MLK Showcase—Schedule
- Plainfield vs. Sayreville, 11:30 AM
- Executive Charter School vs. Bishop Ahr, 1:00 PM
- Trenton vs. Piscataway, 2:30 PM
- Franklin vs. New Brunswick, 4:00 PM
GMC Hoops plans to cover all four games from the day at New Brunswick.