Piscataway’s Isaiah Fowler goes up for a score in the fourth quarter against St. Joseph’s in the 2023 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Boys Basketball Tourney Championship at Perth Amboy High School on Friday afternoon. The Freshmen Chiefs completed an undefeated season with a 72-59 victory.
Freshmen Chiefs Complete Undefeated Season with Amboy/GMC Championship
PERTH AMBOY, NJ – Completing an undefeated season is always a tremendous challenge. Especially, when you have to balance that challenge with the quest of winning a county and/or a state title. Not the case with the 2022-23 edition of the Piscataway Freshmen Chiefs. With tremendous support of its fans and coaching staff, these Freshmen Chiefs were determined to finish the season perfect.
After rolling through the first three rounds of the 2023 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament, top seeded Piscataway started strong in the first period against third seeded St. Joseph’s with a 22-12 showing. The Freshmen Chiefs then outscored the Freshmen Falcons by a margin of 19-9 in the second frame to take a seemingly commanding 41-21 lead at the intermission. However, it wouldn’t be that easy for P-Way.
Trailing 60-38 after a relatively even third quarter, St. Joseph’s opened the fourth by scoring 15 of the first 18 points over a span of about 6 minutes to close within single digits at 63-54. Fortunately for Piscataway, the Freshmen Falcons were unable to get any closer as the Freshmen Chiefs completed its undefeated season with a 72-59 victory. Tourney MVP, Josh Lima led all scorers with a game high 23 points on 7 total field goals including three treys, and 6 of 8 from the foul line.
Lima only scored two points on 2 of 2 from the foul line in the first period before scoring 8 in the second, 9 in the third, and 4 in the fourth. Teammate Isaiah Fowler added 15 points on 6 total field goals including two threes, and one of two from the foul line. Na Jay Best chipped in with 14 points on 5 total field goals including two threes and 2 of 3 from the charity stripe. The trio of Lima, Fowler, and Best combined for 18 total field goals including 7 threes, and 9 of 13 from the free throw line for 52 of P-Way’s 72 points.
There were other contributors as well. Mickye Simmons sank two treys for 6 points while Tyler West and Dean Scott each scored 5 points. Matt Freeman and Elijah Foster rounded out the Piscataway scoring with two points each. As a team, the Freshmen Chiefs connected on 25 total field goals including 10 treys, and made 12 of 19 from the foul line. Leading the way in a losing cause for St. Joseph’s was All Tourney team selection, Riley Gorman, who fired in a team high 21 points.
Gorman connected on 7 total field goals including 4 threes and 3 of 5 from the foul line. Robert Doss added 17 points including 10 in the fourth quarter. Logan Graham, another All Freshmen Tourney selection, chipped in with 11 points on four field goals and 3 of 5 from the line. The trio of Gorman, Doss, and Graham accounted for 17 total field goals including 7 three pointers, and 8 of 13 from the foul line.
As a team, St. Joseph’s connected on 21 total field goals including 7 threes, and sank 10 of 18 from the charity stripe. Seven different players scored for the Freshmen Falcons while eight different players scored for the Freshmen Chiefs. Piscataway outscored St. Joseph’s by a margin of 30-28 from within the arc, and 30-21 from long distance. P-Way also had a 12-10 edge in points scored from the foul line. The Freshmen Chiefs sank 63 percent of their foul shots while the Freshmen Falcons made only 56 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe.
Piscataway committed 19 team fouls while St. Joseph’s committed 18. The Freshmen Chiefs scored in double digits in each of the four periods while the Freshmen Falcons scored in double figures in three of the four quarters. Five different players scored for P-Way during its 22 point first quarter. Fowler and Best each led the charge with 8 points including two threes while West, Lima, and Scott each added two.
Gorman led the charge for Joes in the opening period with 7 points including a three while Doss made a pair of free throws and Graham added a field goal for two points. Lima took over for Piscataway in the second with 8 points including two treys while Fowler chipped in with two field goals for 4 points, Scott drained a three, and Best and Freeman each added two. Gorman and Doss countered with treys while Graham added a field goal for the Freshmen Falcons.
St. Joseph’s outscored Piscataway by a margin of 38-31 in the second half. P-Way scored a two point, 19-17 edge in the third for a 60-38 lead. Lima led four different scorers in the frame for the Freshmen Chiefs with 9 points on 4 total field goals including a trey. Simmons knocked down his only two threes of the game in the period while Best and Foster each added buckets. The Freshmen Falcons also had four different players score in the frame including Gorman, who had 9 points on two treys and 3 of 4 from the line.
Graham chipped in with 4 points on two field goals while Doss added a bucket. Joes outscored P-Way by a 21-12 margin in the fourth as Doss connected on 4 total field goals including two treys while Gorman added a bucket, Graham made 2 of 3 from the line, and Trayvon Smith chipped in with a score. Piscataway would finish the game by outscoring St. Joe’s by a margin of 9-6. The Freshmen Chiefs had four different players score in the final frame, but only had 3 field goals in the frame.
P-Way sealed the win at the line by making 6 of 10 from the line including a perfect 4 of 4 by Lima. West and Lima each scored four points while Fowler added 3 and Best chipped in with two on a layup with 57.6 seconds remaining for a 72-57 lead. With the victory, Piscataway achieved its goal of finishing the season undefeated at 23-0. The Freshmen Chiefs averaged 67 points per game while outscoring their foes by 26.1 points per contest.
Piscataway finished 17-0 versus GMC opponents by scoring an overage of 67 points per game and outscoring their conference foes by a margin of 24.5 points per game. Over the course of the Freshmen Tournament, P-Way averaged 69 points per game while giving up only 43 per contest. The Freshmen Chiefs win brought home their fifth tourney title all time in six appearances, and first since 2017.
St. Joseph’s fell short in the final, but turned in quite an effort to reach the Championship Game. The Freshmen Falcons had to defeat 6th seeded Monroe on Monday afternoon in Metuchen, and then knocked off Edison at Cangelosi Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon to advance to the Championship Game. St. Joe’s has played in each of the last three Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tourney finals, and won it all in 2020.
The 2023 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Boys Tourney Champions: Piscataway Chiefs