Raritan Bay Summer League–July 28, 2010

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ–On Wednesday night, GMC Hoops took a trip to South Amboy Middle/High School after work to take in the nightcap game from the thirty-fifth day of action at the 2010 Raritan Bay Summer League. The matchup covered by the site involved two teams from the 5th and 6th Grade Division as Franklin Park, which has been rolling lately, took on We Run. We Run, which is based in Roselle, and has recently competed in a national tournament in Florida, rolled by Franklin Park in this one.

We Run Rambles Past Franklin Park, 45-16

This was the first time all summer that GMC Hoops got a look at the We Run basketball team that competes in the 5th and 6th Grade Division at Raritan Bay. The team, which is based in Roselle, was a late entry into the league, but has created quite a stir. League directors, Tom Reilly and Gary Lange spoke highly of the squad. Lange stated that they’re the best shooting team in the league. Reilly added that they competed in a tournament down in Florida recently. Both were impressed with the skill level and talent these youngsters have. Reilly stated that we’ll be hearing a lot from these youngsters in the years ahead.

Roselle has had teams compete in this league in the past. As a matter of fact, some of the talent currently playing at Roselle High School played in the Raritan Summer League just a few years ago. We Run was taking on a Franklin Park team that had recently rolled past the Shore Blazers in a game covered by the web site on July 12th. This game saw We Run give Franklin Park a dose of its own medicine. The Roselle team jumped out to an 8-1 lead with 12:41 to go in the first half, and never looked back in a 45-16 rout. We Run outscored Franklin Park by a margin of 18-9 in the first half and 27-7 in the second half.

Despite a couple time outs early in the second half, Franklin Park was unable to stem the tide of momentum in the favor of We Run. Although they had a size disadvantage, the players from We Run weren’t intimidated, and took the ball to the basket without fear. On the defensive side of things, We Run played swarming defense that frustrated the Franklin Park squad, and took some of its players out of their games. The kids from we run also had a nice shooting touch with several jumpers from the foul line as well as even some three pointers. In the first half, We Run made two threes, five field goals, and two of four from the line in the first half while Franklin Park made just three field goals, and three of eight from the charity stripe.

We Run opened the scoring with a foul line jumper within the first two minutes of the game for a 2-0 lead. Both teams then exchanged free throws including a one of two showing from the line by We Run at the 14 minute mark. The Roselle squad then added a field goal at the 13:09 mark for a 5-1 lead, and a three pointer with 12:41 to go in the first half for an 8-1 advantage. Franklin Park didn’t get its first field goal of the game until the 11:49 mark when it scored on a layup underneath. We Run then connected on a foul line jumper for a 10-3 lead with 10:49 to go in the first half. We Run added a one of two showing from the foul line for an 11-3 lead before Franklin Park called for time with 8:57 to go in the first half.

The timeout wasn’t the tonic as We Run went right back to work after the stoppage. The team scored four of the next six points including an offensive rebound and follow at the 8:21 mark for a 13-3 lead, and after a layup by Franklin Park made it 13-5 with 7:30 to play in the half, We Run connected on a jumper from the left side for a 15-5 lead at the 5:52 mark. Franklin Park tried to chip away at the deficit with two one of two showings from the foul line at the 5:14 and 2:53 marks respectively, but We Run connected on its second three pointer of the half from the left corner for an 18-7 lead with 2:23 to go in the period.

Franklin Park got a nice drive for a layin with under 30 seconds to go in the half for an 18-9 We Run lead at the intermission. However, Franklin Park wouldn’t get closer after making a floater just seconds into the second half for an 18-11 score. We Run began to pull away with a three pointer at the 19:10 mark, and a layin at the 18:27 mark prompting Franklin Park to call for a timeout trailing 23-11. Again the timeout wasn’t the tonic that was needed as We Run proceeded to score seven of the next nine points including a three pointer before Franklin Park called time again with 14:49 to play, and the score now reading 28-13 in favor of We Run.

Following the timeout, things went from bad to even worse for Franklin Park as they scored on their own basket with 14:22 to play. From there, We Run ended the game with a 15-3 run including a steal for a layup at the 10:54 mark, a nice drive for a left handed layup at the 8:19 mark, and a nice drive for a layup among three Franklin Park defenders to cap the 45-16 victory.

Team 1 2 Total
We Run 18 27 45
Franklin Park 9 7 16

GMC Hoops plans to be back out to Raritan Bay next week.