Several Key Matchups On Friday’s Schedule–1/8/10

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–On Friday night, there will be a total of nine games involving teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference including a non-conference game and a crossover. Bishop Ahr will be playing in a non-conference game on late Friday afternoon when it hosts the Academy of Vocational Careers at 5:30 PM. The GMC Blue will have a chance to run its record to 6-0 in crossover games when Spotswood hosts the Governors of South Amboy from the GMC Gold.

All the other contests are divisional games within the GMC Red and White Divisions. J.P. Stevens has a bye from Red Division play while New Brunswick and Sayreville have a bye from White Division competition. Out of those seven divisional games, there are three games that will be interesting to see. Unfortunately, I will not be at any of them since I haven’t had the chance to see Woodbridge yet this season. I’ll be watching the Barrons take on Perth Amboy at WHS. The first contest is from the Red between East Brunswick and Old Bridge at OBHS. Don’t look now, but the Knights have come crashing down to earth with three straight losses including a 58-41 defeat at South Brunswick on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, East Brunswick is on a roll with its best start since that championship year of 1995-96 when the school’s all time leading scorer, Matt VanLeeuwen, led the Bears to the conference championship.

EB has won its first six games including an overtime non-conference victory at Freehold Boro (72-67) on Wednesday afternoon. They’re a very deep squad, and they’ve already won some key games including a two point victory over North Brunswick (63-61) and New Brunswick (68-62). Old Bridge, which is playing in its home opener, started off the season at 4-0 before losing to High Tech from Hudson County in the finale of the Randolph Roundball Festival and suffering a five point defeat at St. Joseph’s after having a one point lead late in the fourth. The Knights gave way to a big surge in the second half by South Brunswick on Wednesday night. The Vikings are 3-1 in divisional play going into its contest with St. Joseph’s tonight at the Bird Cage.

The other two matchups are in the GMC White including the headliner for our friends over at WCTC AM 1450. They have the contest between North Brunswick and Cardinal McCarrick from South Amboy starting at 7:00 PM. You can listen live to the streaming broadcast of the game online. It will be interesting to see how the Eagles play after losing a tough one on the road the other night to Sayreville. McCarrick is 2-2 in divisional play. North Brunswick, on the other hand, has a big chance to make another statement and stake its claim to frontrunner in the White while dropping the Eagles to under .500 in the division with a victory.

Monroe travels to Carteret for what should be a very difficult game for the Purple Birds. The Falcons, which lost last weekend at home to New Brunswick, will be invading territory that has been hostile to visiting teams so far this season. Although the Ramblers are 3-3 overall on the season including a 2-2 record in the White, they are undefeated at home (2-0) with upset wins over McCarrick (57-53) and Sayreville (50-47 2OTs). In addition, Monroe has had some close calls along with its two losses this season. On opening night, the Falcons trailed by 11 late in the fourth quarter at Colonia before pulling out a three point win (60-57). Then, three nights later, they had to go to overtime before beating Sayreville (68-62). MTHS needs a win to keep pace with, or perhaps tie North Brunswick in the standings.

Other matchups around the GMC include Piscataway at Edison, and Colonia at South Plainfield.