NEPTUNE, NJ–On Monday night, GMC Hoops traveled down to the Rebounds facility to catch the opening night of action in the 2008 Rebounds Spring League. The league opener marked the first time that the web site caught opening night action. Last year was the first season that GMC Hoops came down to cover the league at all as it made two appearances over the final three weeks of action in 2007.
The focus of the site’s coverage was the first set of games that were taking place at 7:00 PM. In particular, the two matchups that were happening on the Knicks and Celtics courts at the facility. On the Knicks court, East Brunswick was battling St. John Vianney of Holmdel while on the adjacent Celtics court, the Mid-Jersey Heat was facing off against Manasquan. GMC Hoops did not arrive to the gym until moments before halftime in both games, but still managed to catch quite a bit of fine action, especially in the EB vs. SJV contest.
Manasquan Holds Off Mid-Jersey Heat Rally, 48-39
While GMC Hoops was focusing primarily on East Brunswick’s efforts in its game against Vianney, it still managed to take a gander at the action over on the court nearby between the Warriors of Manasquan and the Mid-Jersey Heat. The Mid-Jersey team has two teams in this year’s league with one in Division A and another in Division B. The game looked like it would be a rout early on. Upon arrival for Monday night’s festivities, Manasquan led by a 24-9 margin with 2:30 to go in the first half. Mid-Jersey then scored four of the last seven points to close the gap to 27-13 at the intermission.
In the second half, the Heat opened things up with a 3-0 run in about the first minute and a half to pull within 27-16 before two free throws were made by the Warriors at the 18:31 mark. A bit more than a half minute later, Manasquan scored on a field goal for a 31-16 lead. Mid-Jersey then rallied with a 6-2 spurt over the next 1:26 that closed the gap to eleven again at 33-22 before the Warriors got a turnaround jumper from the left side for a 35-22 lead with 16:34 remaining. Over the next four minutes, the Warriors began to chip into the lead with a 6-5 showing during the stretch to cut the deficit to 40-28 at the 12:35 mark.
Manasquan’s lead then continued to shrink as the Heat registered the next six points including a field goal at the 11:22 mark, a putback off a missed jumper at the 10:38 mark, and then another field goal at the 9:30 mark to expand their run to 12-5, and pull within six at 40-34. Unfortunately, Mid-Jersey was unable to get any closer as the Warriors came up with a very pivotal 8-0 spurt over the subsequent 3:57 to negate the Heat’s advances, and build a 48-34 advantage with 5:33 to play. Mid-Jersey did its best to keep fighting with the final five points of the battle, but ran out of time as Manasquan prevailed with a 48-39 victory. Next week, the Warriors are scheduled to face Lakewood at 8:00 PM on the Sixers court while the Heat are going to face NJ ShoreShots at 7:00 PM on the Knicks court.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manasquan (1-0) | 27 | 21 | 48 |
| Mid-Jersey Heat (0-1) | 13 | 26 | 39 |
East Brunswick Rallies To Top Vianney, 54-53
In the GMC Hoops featured matchup of the night, the East Brunswick Bears were looking to start their journey toward the 2008-09 season on the right foot. This past season, EB was only 4-18 with victories coming against Old Bridge, Asbury Park, Edison, and South River. However, there is plenty of good things to hope for a better showing next year. For starters, the Bears have starters such as Dustin Schuld and Alec Mayo coming back as well as reserves Mauro Tucci, and Kevin Johnson all returning. Furthermore, both the freshmen and JV teams enjoyed a great deal of success during 2007-08. The EB frosh squad earned the top seed, and reached the Championship Game of the 2008 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament while finishing at 19-4. Meanwhile, the JV squad reached the Final Four of the East Brunswick/GMC JV Tournament before losing to eventual champion, Cardinal McCarrick.
Last year, East Brunswick was one of three teams in addition to Monroe and South Amboy that participated in the 2007 Rebounds Spring League. The Bears got off to a sluggish start, but finished strongly including a victory over Monroe late in the season. EB also participated in the 2007 Rebounds Fall League, and again, after a difficult start including an opening night loss to South Amboy, the Bears rebounded to finish at .500. The problem with EB this past season was the fact that it lost so much in terms of veteran talent to graduation not only in 2006-07, but also from 2005-06. Both of those teams reached the GMCT Elite Eight.
Even in losing though, the Bears showed some promise. Take for instance the game East Brunswick played in the final day of action at the 2007 Vaughn Stapleton Classic versus the host school, Bridgewater. Ultimately, the Panthers won the contest easily with their superior talent and experience, but the Bears were competitive, and even made things very interesting for two and a half quarters. In that game, Mayo and Schuld connected on three pointers along with junior Mike Kvidahl while senior forward, Scott Stolzenberg played a superb game. While Stolzenberg along with fellow senior Mike Mello are graduating in June, Schuld and Mayo as well as Kvidahl are returning for their senior seasons. And, Schuld and Mayo showed some of the same form against St. John Vianney of Holmdel on Monday night that they did against Bridgewater over the holidays this past season. Both junior guards came up with three treys each, and combined for 20 points over the final 12:17 of the game while Nick Navara came up with two clutch medium range jumpers to pull out a come from behind victory over the Lancers in opening night action.
After Vianney had taken a 29-17 lead at the intermission on a one of two showing from the foul line after being fouled as time ran out in the first half, the Lancers then scored 10 of the first 14 points of the second half to build up a seemingly commanding lead at 39-21 with 13:38 left. However, the Bears rallied to the tune of a 33-14 surge the rest of the way to pull out the one point, 54-53 victory. Despite sitting out the first few minutes of the second half, Schuld ended up with 11 points on his three treys and two free throws while handing out an assist. Mayo picked up his nine on the three treys that included one that capped a unconventional four point play, and all occurred during a pivotal 1:46 span to close the gap to five at 51-46. Prior to Mayo’s clutch shooting, Vianney had thwarted a previous rally by the Bears that was sparked by Schuld. The Lancers lead had dwindled to just 42-36 when the Holmdel based school scored four straight points for a 46-36 edge with about six minutes to play.
However, the Bears, which only had one field goal in the first 5:56, and was scoreless for nearly three minutes of that span, first got a point on a free throw by Tucci at the 5:36 mark. Then, when Tucci missed the second foul shot, Navarra grabbed the rebound, and kicked out to Mayo at the top of the key for a trey that gave EB life by trimming the deficit back down to 46-40. About 45 seconds later, Mayo struck again for a three pointer for a 46-43 SJV lead with 4:48 left following a Vianney violation on a preceding inbounds play. The Bear rally again hit a bump in the road as the Lancers posted the next five points including a layup at the 4:36 mark, and then a three pointer from the top of the key at the 4:06 mark for a 51-43 advantage. East Brunswick would not be denied though with a 11-3 tear for the win. Mayo sparked the final assault with a three pointer from the left wing at the 3:50 mark for a 51-46 score.
Continuing where Mayo left off, the Bears were able to repel scoring attempts by Vianney over the next two minutes or so before getting a fast break opportunity that was cashed in as Tucci made a nice sharp pass to a teammate for a layup that made the score, 51-48 with 2:04 to go. The Bears then pulled within one as Mayo penetrated into the key, and then kicked opposite to Navarra on the left baseline for a jumper that was true for a 51-50 score at the 1:32 mark. St. John Vianney had an opportunity to get some much needed breathing room on its next possession, but misfired on a one and one at the 1:21 mark. Eight seconds later, Schuld netted his two free throws for a 52-51 lead at the 1:13 mark. The Lancers pulled into the lead with a baseline drive from the left side for a layup, and a 53-52 score at the 38.5 second mark. However, on the next EB possession, Tucci made a play similar to Mayo over a minute earlier as he penetrated into the key, and kicked to Navarra in the left corner for another jumper that was nothing but net for the 54-53 edge at the 20.6 second mark.
Navarra then followed things up with a steal, and promptly drew a foul with nine seconds left. The Lancers then fouled several more times in an attempt to stop the clock, and force EB to the line. However, the Bears didn’t go to the line until the 1.1 second mark, and even though Schuld missed the front end of the bonus, Vianney didn’t have enough time to get off a shot after calling timeout with 0.7 seconds left, and East Brunswick won on its fine come from behind effort. Early on in the second half, St. John Vianney scored 10 of the next 12 points after East Brunswick opened the new half with a basket on a layup by Navarra off an assist by Tucci at the 19:15 mark. EB also made some nice defensive plays including a charge by Mayo at the 17:55 mark. However, the Bears were unable to take advantage as Navarra failed to capitalize on an earlier steal as he had his shot blocked at the 18:42 mark. The Lancers didn’t get on the board in half number two until the 17:30 mark when Vianney put together a transition basket off an air ball fired at the other end by Mayo moments earlier. A little more than a half minute later, St. John Vianney scored again on an offensive rebound and follow for a 33-19 lead.
Both teams then exchanged free throws with the Bears getting two at the 16:19 mark, and Vianney replied with two of their own at the at the 14:55 mark for a 35-21 lead. The Lancers then scored the next four points including an offensive rebound and putback off a missed three point try at the 14:32 mark, and then a short shot in the paint as SJV’s height advantage in the middle appeared to be taking its toll on the visitors from the GMC for the 39-21 edge. On the precipice of defeat, the Bears showed great fortitude with the beginnings of a key rally. Starting with a runner in the lane for a field goal at the 13:04 mark, EB then got three treys from Schuld over a span of 5:46 including one at the 12:17 mark off an assist by Johnson, another at the 9:17 mark, and the final one at the 7:18 mark. The junior guard also handed out an assist on a nice dish for a layup at the 11:42 mark.
This all helped East Brunswick close the gap to six with seven plus minutes to go, and ultimately led to the comeback victory. Next Monday, the Bears are scheduled to play Point Pleasant Boro in an 8:00 PM contest over on the Nets court while Vianney takes on Asbury Park at 9:00 PM on the same court.
| Team | 1 | 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Brunswick (1-0) | 17 | 37 | 54 |
| St. John Vianney (0-1) | 29 | 24 | 53 |