South River and Jeremy Grospe – shown here in a January game at Bound Brook – faces a tough foe in Sunday’s GMC Tournament quarterfinals in North Brunswick. (file photo)
Everyone’s attention may be focused on the big game that happens Sunday evening in that professional football league featuring teams from Philadelphia and Kansas City playing in the desert, but ignore the hours’ worth of pregame shows and head over to Middlesex County College in Edison this afternoon for another annual February tradition: the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament boys’ semifinals.
Eight teams will play Sunday, almost right up until kickoff time, for a chance to move on the GMC Tournament semifinals, Wednesday at Monroe High School – which can also be heard on cjsportsradio.com.
But before you hop in your car, take a look at our handy preview of all four of Sunday’s quarterfinal round matchups!
#3 South River (22-2) vs. #6 North Brunswick (20-3), 11 am
Whoever wins this game is going to have one heck of a story to tell. North Brunswick has made it to the round of eight for the first time since, although back then, it wasn’t a rare feat. In fact, that was the last of three straight trips to Middlesex County College, with the first of those – in 2012 – also encompassing a trip to the finals, where they lost to St. Joseph-Metuchen 70-65, the third in a string of nine championships in ten years for the Falcons. For South River, it’s been an even longer road; 1991 was the last time the Rams made the GMC Tournament quarterfinals. But the road ended there at the hands of Bishop Ahr, and they have never been to the semifinals in the history of the league, which began play in 1986. In the old Middlesex County Tournament (1965-1985) they won it twice – in the Kenny Jackson era – beating top-seed Perth Amboy in the 1978 final as the three seed, then topping second-seed Colonia as the top-seed in 1979.
This may prove to be one of the best games of the day. The Rams haven’t played the toughest of schedules, but they’ve beaten a lot of teams handily. Of course, their signature victory was the one that earned them the third-seed to begin with, a 74-66 victory over St. Joseph-Metuchen – which got the four-seed – on December 26th. That was just game four on the season, but perked up people to the fact this South River team could be something special. They also had a huge win at Bound Brook in the nightcap of the GMC-Skyland Challenge. It’s a senior-laden group, which means two things. Not only have they grown up together, they know this is the last go-round. That intangible can bring a little something extra. Senior forwards Roman Santos and Laz Rodriguez lead the way, with Santos averaging 16.7 points a game and 5.5 rebounds, while Rodriguez chips in 14.4 points per contest and 6.7 rebounds, as well as 24 steals on the season. The leader in that department is sophomore Alex Grospe, with 51 on the year, and scoring 12.3 a game, third on the team. He also has dished out 232 assists on the season, a whopping 10.1 per game. His brother Jeremy, a senior, can shoot the three ball, with 65 makes on the year from downtown. Senior Isaac Linarez completes the starting lineup, while fellow senior Kobe Taylor is a sparkplug off the bench. South River can get up and down the floor, play defense, and score inside the paint and outside the arc, averaging six triples a game.
North Brunswick, seemingly, has had the quietest 20-3 year you could have. They’ve been overshadowed in the GMC by St. Thomas Aquinas’ dominance, Colonia’s excellent play all year, South River’s Cinderella season, and the team that edged them out for the white Division title, South Plainfield. They actually split this year, with the Tigers winning on Opening Night by 12 and the Raiders winning the rematch in South Plainfield by five on January 14th. They only have two other losses: to Perth Amboy in the division, and to Ridge in Somerset County, and bring an eight game winning streak into Sunday. But being under-the-radar may suit veteran head coach Ed Breheney just fine. Now in his 33rd season, he’s 458-347 as head coach, and has coached all seven of the program’s 20-win seasons. In the first round win over Old Bridge, Alani Ajigbotosho scored 24 points, the eighth highest scoring total by a North Brunswick player in GMCT history, according to Korbid Thompson of the King James Radio Network. He’s averaging 18.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, leading the team in both categories. But he can also play defense, leading the team with 50 steals. Junior Brandon McCain is the second leading scorer at 10.8 a game, and any team that has senior Frankie Garbolino on it has a shot at a championship. He won a GMCT title last season with the Raiders’ baseball team.
#2 Colonia (17-7) vs. #7 South Brunswick (15-5), 1 pm
Colonia may have swept South Brunswick in two Red Division games this year, but by a total of five points, so this should be a good one the third time around. The first was a 49-46 game on December 22nd, followed by a 54-52 decision for the Patriots on January 21st. Other than that, there’s not a lot of recent history between these two teams, having been in different divisions over the years; their most recent meeting before this season was in January of 2014.
Colonia won ten of its first eleven games, the lone loss coming to Westfield in the LeGrand Holiday jubilee. But they’ve had a couple of rough patches. They lost three of four during one run in mid-January, dropping games to St. Thomas Aquinas, Linden and St. Joe’s, then dropped three in a row to start February to Aquinas again, Ewing, and Hillsborough. But otherwise, they’ve been solid, coming off a 58-45 first round win over Monroe Thursday night. Senior Jaeden Jones runs the point and is second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game, and 73 assists, while senior forward Noah Taylor lead the team with 13.5 a game. The pleasant surprise has been Aiden Derkack, a freshman – whose sister Taylor is a junior on the girls’ team – and in addition to his 11.2 points per game, leads the team with 78 assists on the year, and is a defensive whiz, leading the Patriots with 44 steals. His solid play was instrumental in an 83-78 triple-overtime win over St. Joe’s back in December that helped Colonia earn a second place finish in the GMC Red this season. Colonia can play at a fast pace, and work it around in the half-court, too.
The Vikings appear to be coming together at the right time. They entered the new year at 3-3, and split their first two games in January. Since then, they are 11-1 – the lone loss being the two-point defeat at Colonia in the rematch game – and have won six straight heading into Sunday, including a 13-point win Thursday night in the first round over JP Stevens. Overall, of their five losses, save for a 65-29 loss in their only meeting with Aquinas, their other four losses have come by no more than five points – by five to North Brunswick and three to St. Joe’s. Senior Kalani Antoine is the team’s leading scorer at 19 points per game, with a team-best 47 steals, while fellow senior Harmehar Chhabra is nearly averaging a double-double: 13 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.
#4 St. Joseph, Metuchen (14-9) vs. #5 South Plainfield (20-4), 3 pm
After St. Joseph’s loss to South River, the Tigers were looking for their shot on January third, but the Falcons prevailed 71-57. A win could have given the Tigers the third seed, and maybe even pushed Joe’s down to fifth after the Rams. Now, they get another crack at Joe’s in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal game, where the 2nd-seeded Falcons beat 7th-seed South Plainfield 73-54. Not a lot of recent history here either. That was their first meeting, in fact, since at least before the 2010-2011 season, the last for which season records are readily available online. The Tigers did beat St. Joe’s in 2005, in the GMC Tournament championship game. That was the second win in a row for South, which beat Colonia the year before in 2004.
It’s easy to say the Falcons’ season has been a mixed bag at 14-9, but they have played a tough schedule, with losses to the likes of Seton Hall Prep and St. Benedict’s. And, let’s face it, the South River loss looks much better in hindsight than it did on the day after Christmas. And it’s been hard for people to get out of their heads the idea that this is Karl Towns’ St. Joe’s. It may never be; that was a once-in-a-lifetime group that became – and still is – the only boys’ team from Middlesex County to ever win the Tournament of Champions. Be that as it may, this is a solid club. It all starts with Josh Ingram, a big-time player who comes up big in big games. Forget the losses, this team also stunned Rutgers Prep – the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament – in their own gym. Why? Start with Ingram outdueling Argonauts’ stud Jadin Collins and his 29 points with 33 of his own. And the young man is on fire right now. He has scored 30-plus points in three of his last four games, including a career-high 38 against Spotswood (along with 11 rebounds) that put him over 1,000 points for his career. He’s averaging 22 a game right now, and has eclipsed the 20 point mark in 13 times overall this season, but in eight of his last nine games. Big players, big games, etc., etc. He also went off for a career-high eight threes in the loss to Seton Hall Prep. Jeremy Clayville (18.5 ppg) is the second leading scorer, and Jeremy DeCaro – a football player at Joe’s – hit some big shots down the stretch Thursday night against Spotswood. This is a St. Joseph team that has taken some time to find itself. Now that they have, they’re a real threat.
South Plainfield will have to bring it’s A+ game to beat the Falcons, but that’s far from an impossible task. They will have to close out the game, too. That’s something South River did, and Spotswood almost did Thursday night. The Tigers have just four losses on the season: to Joe’s, as well as North Brunswick, Linden and Ridge (a popular GMC crossover opponent this year). One of their best wins may have come in the GMC-Skyland Challenge in Bound Brook, in the penultimate game of the Anthony Melesurgo-run showcase: a 76-65 win over a solid Franklin team that earned the five-seed in the Somerset County Tournament. Once the GMC scoring leader until Ingram’s late-season surge, senior guard Brandon Dean is right behind him at 20.2 points per game, with a team-leading 39 threes and 61 assists on the season. Dean is flanked in the scoring column by senior guard Michael Mendez at 7.2 points per game and junior forward Ikenna Ibeku at 6.5 per game. But make no mistake about it: this team flows around Dean, who is often a man among boys on the floor. And it will be fun to watch the top two scorers in the league duke this one out.
#1 St. Thomas Aquinas (21-3) vs. #8 Piscataway (11-14), 5 pm
Let’s be brutally honest: St. Thomas is the team to beat in the GMC, bar none. There are other quality teams, to be sure, but until someone proves otherwise, they are No. 1, and looking to win a third straight GMC Tournament title. In their one meeting with Piscataway this season, they beat the Chiefs by 19. But P’way is a bit of an enigma, a team beset by some injuries and absences. Starting to come together, they handed South River its first loss of the season in mid-January. Otherwise, they’ve only played each other four times since 2010, splitting them 2-2.
In between playing the once-around Red Division schedule – except for a pair of wins over both Colonia and St. Joseph – the Falcons have challenged themselves immensely, playing four out-of-state opponents. In New Jersey, but outside of the league, they lost by one to Camden Eastside, and just had two losses last week to the Patrick School and Trenton before opening GMCT play with a 31-point victory over East Brunswick Thursday night. With Adam Silas gone, the Trojans have leaders who’ve stepped up in the names of junior Jaden Kelly and seniors Jalen Pichardo and Terrell Pitts, and the addition of Trenton Catholic transfer Michael “Deuce” Jones has been about as smooth a transition as Bob Turco could ever have hoped for. Jones runs the point, and in addition to a whopping 155 team-leading assists on the year, also is the top-scorer with 16.5 points per game. There is little dropoff after that though, as the Trojans exemplify balanced scoring. How about 12.2 points a game for Pitts, 10.5 for Kelly, then 9.3 for senior guard Kamal Lee, and 9 points and 9 rebounds a game for senior forward Jalen Pichardo. Junior Samir Thomas (7.5 ppg) is another key contributor. Aquinas simply does everything well. There’s no one or two guys to stop or contain. Defending them is like a game of whack-a-mole. Slow one, someone else picks up the slack. It’s exhausting both to play and to watch Aquinas. Win or lose, you’ll need an ice bath after the game, even if you were just sitting in the bleachers.
As for Piscataway, without mincing words, this is the tallest order of the day, no doubt. Bright side? They’re playing better basketball than they did when they started the year 3-8. They’ve gone 8-7 since, including a 60-49 win over Perth Amboy in the first round Thursday. They’ve also played a tough schedule, losing to the Patrick School and Trenton. They can also score, as evidenced by a season-high 94 points in a 98-94 loss at Newark East Side in late January. Though his team doesn’t regularly light up the scoreboard, the Chiefs are balanced. Senior Jonathan Carman is the name to watch, as the forward leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game, and in rebounds at 6.5 per contest. Seniors Jalen Thomas (11.3 ppg) and Evan Benson (9.5 ppg) follow, with Benson hitting a team-best 28 treys, while junior guard Dante Dupiche has hit 24. Do they have the horses to pull off a huge GMCT upset?