Josh Lima, shown here driving past a St. Thomas Aquinas defender in the 2023 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday, led three different Piscataway Freshmen players in double figures with a team high 13 points in top seeded P-Way’s 63-41 victory over 4th seeded Woodbridge in the Semifinals on Monday.
Lima, Best and Simmons Lead Freshmen Chiefs Past Woodbridge in Semifinals
PISCATAWAY, NJ – The 2022-23 Piscataway Freshmen boys basketball team is one step away from perfection. Three Freshmen Chiefs scored in double figures in top seeded Piscataway’s 63-41 victory over fourth seeded Woodbridge in the 2023 Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tourney semifinals on Monday afternoon at Piscataway High School. Josh Lima led the way for the victors with 13 points while Na Jay Best added 12 and Mickaye Simmons chipped in with 10.
Isaiah Fowler also contributed for P-Way with 9 points while Tyler West scored 6 and Savar Adeva tallied 6. Elijah Foster (4 points) and Matt Freeman (2 points) wrapped up the Freshmen Chiefs scoring. Stevie Matthews also saw action in the contest. Woodbridge was led by Keano Ortiz, who poured in a game high 15 points in defeat for the Barrons while teammate Kevin Arroyo added 10 points.
The Freshmen Barrons two top players in the tournament, Sean Russo and Dean Elhossiani, were held in check by the P-Way defense as they combined for only 5 points. Piscataway connected on 27 total field goals including three treys while Woodbridge tallied 16 total field goals including two threes. The Freshmen Chiefs outscored the Freshmen Barrons by a margin of 48-28 from within the arc and 9-6 from long distance. Woodbridge held a 7-6 edge in points scored from the foul line.
Woodbridge made 7 of 11 from the charity stripe for 64 percent while Piscataway was 6 of 10 for 60 percent. Each team had 8 different players score, but P-Way had three score in double figures while Woodbridge only had two. The Freshmen Chiefs committed 11 team fouls versus only 7 for the Freshmen Barrons. The Freshmen Chiefs took control right away as they jumped out to a 24-6 first quarter lead.
Five different Piscataway players scored in the opening frame as Best scored 8 points, Lima added 7, and Fowler chipped in with 5 to account for 83 percent of the Freshmen Chiefs scoring in the period. Meanwhile, P-Way’s defense limited Woodbridge to just one field goal. The rest of the Freshmen Barrons scoring resulted from a 4 of 6 effort at the charity stripe. Although Woodbridge’s offense picked up in the second quarter, it was still outscored 21-12 to trail 45-18 at the intermission.
Piscataway had a more balanced attack in the frame with 7 different players getting into the scoring column. Best, Fowler, and Adeva each scored 4 points on two field goals while Lima added 3. West, Simmons and Foster each added a field goal for two points. Woodbridge compiled five total field goals including two threes thanks to Arroyo, who led the Freshmen Barrons with 6 points in the frame. Russo, Rea, and Ortiz each chipped in with a field goal for two points.
Playing its best quarter of the game, Woodbridge outscored Piscataway by a margin of 18-8 in the third to narrow the deficit to 53-36 heading into the fourth. The Freshmen Barrons connected on 8 two point field goals, and made their only two free throw attempts in the frame. Six different players scored in the period including Ortiz who led the way with 6 points while Arroyo chipped in with 4. Simmons led P-Way in the frame with 6 points while Adeva added a bucket.
The final period was the lowest scoring quarter of the contest as both teams only combined for 15 points. Piscataway got the lion’s share by outscoring Woodbridge 10-5. Four different Freshmen Chiefs scored with Lima and West scoring 3 while Simmons and Freeman added baskets to round out the scoring. Ortiz scored all five of the Freshmen Barrons points on two field goals and a free throw.
With the victory, Piscataway improved to 22-0 on the season, and advances to the Championship Game on Friday afternoon in Perth Amboy at 4:00 PM. The Freshmen Chiefs will take on third seeded St. Joseph’s, which defeated second seeded Edison at Cangelosi Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon after defeating 6th seeded Monroe in the Quarterfinals at Maglio Gymnasium in Metuchen on Monday.
Piscataway and St. Joseph’s already played each other earlier this season. Usually playing each other twice a season, the Freshmen Chiefs and Freshmen Falcons only played each other once due to the revamped scheduled in the realigned GMC Red. P-Way defeated Joes on opening day, December 15th at Maglio, and won 63-46. The Freshmen Chiefs are 16-0 in the GMC as well.
The Freshmen Chiefs, which opened the tournament with an 80-40 victory over 16th seeded New Brunswick, and then followed that up with a 63-34 win over 9th seeded and defending champion, St. Thomas Aquinas in the Quarterfinals, is making its first finals appearance since 2017, and 6th all time.
Meanwhile, Woodbridge concluded its 2022-23 Freshmen boys basketball campaign at 17-5. The Freshmen Barrons defeated 5th seeded South Plainfield (56-42) in the Quarterfinals after opening tourney play with a 75-32 win over 13th seeded Sayreville. In the three games it played in the Freshmen Tournament, Woodbridge averaged 57.3 per game while allowing an average of 46.7 per contest.