Three Year Varsity Standout with Chiefs to Play at Olympus Prep
Piscataway’s Tyree Barba-Bey skies for a rebound against Linden in the opening round of the 2019 North Jersey Section 2 Group IV State Playoffs on February 25th. The Chiefs standout senior guard has decided to go the post-graduate route and attend Olympus Prep in Williamstown, New Jersey this coming fall.
PISCATAWAY, NJ—After teaming up with the likes of Antonio Chandler, Mark Davis, and Andre Emden to lead the Piscataway Chiefs to its first GMCT Finals berth since 2011, and its second straight North Jersey Section 2 Group IV semifinals appearance, senior Tyree Barba-Bey has decided to go the post-graduate route by attending Olympus Prep in Williamstown, NJ next fall.
Over the past three years, Barba-Bey contributed to a Piscataway program that made three straight GMCT Elite Eight appearances, its first GMCT Final Four and Championship Game appearance in six years. During the three year span, P-Way has compiled an overall record of 57-25 including a 29-13 mark in the GMC Red. Barba-Bey also made the 2016 GMC Hoops Perth Amboy Tourney All-Tournament Team as a Freshmen when the Frosh Chiefs reached the Amboy/GMC Freshmen Final Four and finished third.
During his three year varsity career at Piscataway, Barba-Bey played in 66 games, made 124 field goals, 39 three pointers, and 133 free throws for a total of 496 points along with 122 rebounds. As a senior, Barba-Bey played the most games in a season with 25, and made 78 field goals, 19 threes, and 86 free throws for a total of 297 points, or an average of 11.9 per game while grabbing 86 rebounds for an average of 3.4 per game according to NJ.com. Barba-Bey was also selected by GMC Hoops to be on the 2019 All GMCT Team.
Barba-Bey scored in double figures in 20 career games including 14 over the course of his senior season. He scored at least 20 points twice this season, and at least 17 points in seven games this season. The 6’2” senior guard scored a career high 25 points on four field goals, four threes, and five foul shots against long time rival, Franklin at PHS on February 9th. The performance sparked four straight games of double figure efforts for Barba-Bey including a 17 point effort on four field goals, a three, and 6 free throws against 4th seeded Bishop Ahr in the 2019 GMCT Quarterfinals.
Despite being plagued by a groin injury in 2017-18, Barba-Bey still managed to play in 20 games for the Chiefs, and made 31 field goals, 17 threes, and 34 free throws to finish with 147 points, or 7.3 points per game along with 1.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists courtesy of NJ.com. He helped contribute to Piscataway’s early season win at St. Joseph’s in December 2017. P-Way also defeated the top ranked Falcons in the second game of the season in 2018-19 to earn regular season splits against the four time defending GMCT Champs in each of the past two year.
Barba-Bey also teamed up with Chandler during AAU season by playing with the NJ Panthers, which has had a number of top GMC players recently including Howard McBurnie, Quadry Adams, and Andrew Olden among others. Olympus Prep is a post-graduate school located in Williamstown in South Jersey. The school played against St. Mary’s of Elizabeth, Newark Eastside, Hun, and St. Joseph’s of Hammonton, and went 1-3. The program has helped former South Jersey standouts such as Justin Ryder and Quincy Wright to get their basketball careers back on track.
The program has only been in existence since the 2017-18 season, and is directed by Rich Marcucci and Todd Beaman, who has been an assistant coach at Rowan University and at Atlantic City High School. The team can play a schedule of over 40 games including against other top post-graduate programs such as Blair Academy and the Phelps School as well as notable powerhouse schools such as the Patrick School. Congratulations Tyree on your next step, and best of luck moving forward.