Senior Point Guard Leads Trojans to First Win Over Joes Since 1994
SOUTH AMBOY, NJ—In the nightcap of the 2021 Friends of South Amboy Charity Basketball Games Showcase, top ranked St. Thomas Aquinas took on No. 2 St. Joseph’s in a highly anticipated GMC match-up. It was the first meeting between the two schools since the Falcons defeated the Trojans (70-65) in the SFIC Festival at Kean University’s Harwood Arena on January 5, 2020. St. Joseph’s had won the last six meetings between the two schools over the last 27 years, but thanks to Adam Silas, Aquinas was able to pull off an historic win.
Silas, a senior guard, scored a team high 18 points including the final bucket of the third quarter, and back to back threes at the start of the fourth quarter to help the Trojans pull away from a tenuous 46-45 late third quarter lead to a 54-47 advantage with 6:20 remaining. St. Thomas Aquinas hung on from there for an exciting 64-57 victory, the first one over St. Joe’s since February 18, 1994.
The Trojans had four players score in double figures. In addition to Silas, senior Samar Abdullah, junior Kamal Lee, and sophomore Jaden Kelly each chipped in with 11 points. Terrell Pitts had some struggles, but made some big plays on both offense and defense in the second half, and still managed to add 9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, and a steal.
Ethan Simmon overcame a slow start in the first period to score a game high 25 points including 15 straight points in the first half for the Falcons. Junior Josh Ingram chipped in with 16 points while senior point guard, Kwame Herod added 8 in the loss. Both teams had the same amount of points inside the arc (30-30), and Aquinas only had a 24-21 edge in scoring from long distance and won the battle at the the charity stripe by a 10-6 margin.
Six of Aquinas’ seven players got into the scorebook with four scoring in double figures while 6 of 8 Falcons scored including two in double figures. The Trojans also collected 22 points, 11 assists, 11 steals, and 3 blocked shots as a team in the contest. Similar to the game in the SFIC at Kean two years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas came out strong with a 19-8 showing in the opening period.
Abdullah spearheaded the strong start with 8 of his points in the game including two three pointers. Sherief Guinyard (4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal) also contributed with a score while Silas also netted a three pointer. After the Trojans opened the second with a score to go up by a baker’s dozen, the Falcons responded with 6 of the next 9 points including a layup from Herod that closed the gap to 24-14 at the 5:46 mark.
Simmon then took over with his scoring onslaught as he capped a 25-19 Falcons’ showing in the frame by making a shot from beyond half court to beat the buzzer and narrow the deficit to single digits at 38-33 going into the intermission. Silas had just given Aquinas an eight point lead moments before by converting a traditional three point play that seemingly helped the Trojans regain control of the contest.
Building on the momentum it had going into the locker room, St. Joseph’s opened the third with back to back threes from Herod and Ingram to take its first lead of the contest at 39-38. The Trojans then took the lead back by scoring the next three points including an aerobatic bucket from Lee for a 41-39 edge with 3:41 remaining in the third period.
The game remained closed for the balance of the period with Aquinas clinging to a 46-45 late when Silas took over. After a tremendous block at the other end by Pitts, and with the clock winding down in the third, Silas slowed things down a bit, and set up a play for himself as he dribbled over to the right wing in front of his bench and sank a jumper as time ran out in the period for a 48-45 lead.
Then, at the beginning of the fourth, Silas knocked down a three pointer for a 51-45 lead. Following a St. Joseph’s score that tightened things up a bit at 51-47, Silas struck again with another dagger three from the right wing of a drive and kick from Abdullah for a 54-47 lead with 6:20 remaining. The Trojans expanded the lead to 9 before Joes rallied with five straight including an Ingram three with a minute left to pull the Falcons within four at 61-57.
Unfortunately, St. Joseph’s was unable to get any closer as St. Thomas Aquinas netted three from the line down the stretch to salt away the 64-57 victory. Considering both teams were playing shorthanded with Aquinas going without Jaquan Harris (injury), Chris Santner (ineligible until January), and Jalen Pichardo (ineligible until January) and Joes without a half dozen players due to COVID protocols, the game did manage to live up to the hype.
With the victory, the Trojans, which won their season opener over J.F. Kennedy (94-16) on Friday, improved to 2-0 on the young season while the Falcons, which rallied to defeat Monroe (60-49) in their opener on Friday night, dropped to 1-1. Both teams are scheduled to return to action on Tuesday with Aquinas hosting North Brunswick in North Edison on Tuesday night, December 21st at 7:00 PM while St. Joe’s hosts Perth Amboy at Maglio Gymnasium also on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.
DID YOU KNOW? Sherief Guinyard, also a football standout at Aquinas, is the nephew of Timothy Christian’s boys basketball coach, Dennis McNulty. Guinyard, a transfer from Steinert in Hamilton Township, scored led the Spartans with a 118 rebounds as a sophomore a year ago, and tallied 304 points, 268 rebounds, 43 rebounds, 42 steals, and 21 blocks in 37 games played in his first two years at the school according to NJ.com.