Perth Amboy @ Middlesex–February 11, 2008

Blue Jays Advance To Round Of 16 For Second Time In Three Years, 55-47

MIDDLESEX, NJ–Last year, when Middlesex played South Amboy I jokingly suggested that they keep playing Amboy teams from years on til.  Litttle did i know, but those words would coincidently be taken to heart as the Jays, now as a favorite hosted the Perth Amboy Panthers in the 2008 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.

Perth Amboy jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter behind 6’5″ center Jamar Bridgeforth.  Middlesex countered with senior center Nick Fariella who consistently drove to the backet with success.  With about two minutes to go in the half, the Jays looked to be on the verge of taking the game out of hand.  Amboy’s Justin Madden then proceeded to hit three consecutive long range field goals in three trips down the court for all of his nine points. Holding onto a 26-23 lead with ten seconds to go in the half, Victor Perez fell trick to the crowds false time chant but made the three pointer nevertheless sending the teams into the locker room tied at 26 with Perth Amboy using a 12-0 run to accomplish that.

The third quarter was quite uneventful with the Panthers Edwin Guerra and Fariella providing most of the scoring.  Guerra and Bridgeforth led Perth Amboy with 6 rebounds each while Middlesex had a balanced effort with Sparky Stockton and Billy Lester ahead of the pack slighty with four, also John Stockton and Kyle Paul Adams slightly behind with three.

The fourth quarter was more chaotic with the fouls piling up for both teams, two technical fouls were called as the Panthers were showing clear frustration.  With approximatly four minutes left in the game Justin Madden was ejected.  Lester helped the Blue Jays keep their lead always slightly out of reach by hitting all six of the technical shots in total en route to nine of ten from the charity stripe and fourteen points total.

Middlesex will travel to North Edison on Thursday to take on fourth seeded John P. Stevens High School.  Fun Fact: J.P. Stevens was an owner of a Textile company now called West Point Home and not only donated the land where JPSHS is but also served on the Edison Board of Education. With the victory, Middlesex snapped a two game losing streak, and improved to 16-5 overall on the season including a 12-5 mark in the GMC. Meanwhile, Perth Amboy fell to 5-17 overall and 5-14 in conference play.

Scorecard

Team 1 2 3 4 Final
Middlesex (16-5) 12 14 17 12 55
Perth Amboy (5-17) 10 16 13 8 47

Three Stars of the Game


  • Nick Fariella – Middlesex – Taking the ball hard to the rack all night and attacking the rim with attitude while also being strong on the defensive end by drawing a charge.  Fariella also contributed 2 blocks and limitless energy.


  • Billy Lester – Middlesex – Showing the touch of a pure shooter Lester hit a short jumper, a pair three point field goal and hit nine of ten free throws including all six of the technical free shots.


  • Jamar Bridgeforth – Perth Amboy – The 6’5″ center dominated the paint in the opening half, his game suffered a bit in the second half but still showed good range from a big guy.


Team Statistics

# Middlesex Points Rebounds Assists Steals Fouls Blocks Other
23 Nick Fariella 15 1 2 2 4 2 0
20 Sparky Stockton 5 4 3 5 1 0 0
12 John Stockton 8 3 0 1 1 0 0
2 Billy Lester 15 4 4 0 0 0 0
5 Mike Perone 5 0 4 2 1 0 0
1 Ryan Farley 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
3 Mike Colacci 7 1 2 0 1 0 0
14 Kyle Paul Adams 0 3 2 0 0 0 0
Totals 55 17 18 10 8 2 0
# Perth Amboy Points Rebounds Assists Steals Fouls Blocks Other
10 Reggae Rojas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Brendan Maxwell 4 2 2 1 5 0 DQ
21 Deforrest Rollins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Jessie Luna 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 Marcus Cheeks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Jamar Bridgeforth 16 7 3 3 2 1 0
25 Alex Nemeth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 Jonathan Fitchett 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 Brian Paulino 2 3 1 0 1 0 0
32 Justin Madden 9 1 2 1 4 0 Ejected
33 Manny Hernandez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 Alex De Los Santos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 Victor Perez 5 0 1 2 2 0 0
40 Edwin Guerra 9 6 1 1 2 0 0
41 Jamie Batista 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 47 19 10 8 17 1 0