Montgomery and Delaware Valley square off in a Skyland Conference Valley Division game on December 19, 2023. (Photo: @PrincipalPino on Twitter)
As things wind down for a few days for Christmas – with holiday tournaments just beyond – there are seven boys’ basketball teams from the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area with unblemished records, and a few more still unbeaten in divisional play.
Of those, five are in the Greater Middlesex Conference, with two in Somerset County.
Cougars, Warriors still perfect…
Perhaps the most notable unbeaten from Somerset is Montgomery, which is 4-0 so far, 2-0 in the Valley Division, with wins over Pingry and West Morris on the road to start the season, then a pair of home wins over Delaware Valley and Morris Knolls. It’s their best start since the COVID-shortened 2021 season, went they went 6-0 to start, and finished 10-4. Senior Steve Donahue is leading the way with 14 points per game for the Monty, which hosts its own Cougar Holiday Classic this week. They host North Hunterdon at 2 pm Wednesday, following Bridgewater-Raritan and Princeton at noon, while the Cougars and Panthers will play each other at 4 pm Friday.
Watchung Hills is the other Somerset County team not to lose yet. The Warriors are 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the newly-configured Raritan Division. Justin Salton’s club has only played two county opponents, and three from the Skyland. They have wins at Bound Brook and over Bridgewater, while they beat Phillipsburg in their opener. Out-of-conference wins have come over Morris Knolls and at Clifton. Junior Zack Patette (16.4 ppg) and senior John Kelly (15.4 ppg) are the top scorers leading a fairly balanced attack. They also play in a Cougar Classic this coming week, this one up at Chatham. It’s a three-game, four-team event, playing the host school Tuesday night at 7, New Providence Wednesday at 3 pm, and Cranford out of Union County on Friday at 1:30 in the afternoon.
GMC’s five have some usual suspects, some not…
The undefeated teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference are somewhat of a mix. On the one hand, there’s St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Joseph-Metuchen in the Red Division, which doesn’t surprise anyone. The other three? South Amboy and Calvary Christian in the Gold, and Timothy Christian in the Blue.
We’ll start with Timothy, as we broadcast their season-opener, a win against JFK in which senior Jalen Fleming eclipsed the 1,000-point mark. The Tigers followed that up with wins at Carteret, South River and Metuchen. They are scoring 73.3 points per game, with an average margin of victory a shade over 23 points. Fleming, of course, is a big reason why, averaging 22.3 points a game, but then there’s junior Myles Dickerson After dropping 20 in the opener against Kennedy, he scored 25 against the Ramblers, 32 against the Rams, and 35 against the Bulldogs, for a tidy 28 points per game. And as Nigerian transfer Chukwudi Raphael Mamah gets more comfortable with the American game and contributes more, the Tigers will be a tough out. Their schedule hasn’t been the best, but it’s not the worst either, but it could get tougher this week. They’re in the Butch Kowal Tournament at Rahway this week, playing the host Indians at 7:30 Wednesday night. If they win, they would likely play Rumson-Fair Haven (currently 31-) in the final Friday night at 7:30; the consolation tips at 6.
The Gold has South Amboy and Calvary Christian, but at least one won’t be undefeated for long. That’s because they face each other on January third in Old Bridge.
But first, the Governors are in the Middlesex/Shore Holiday Tournament at South River this week, taking on Henry Hudson at 11 am Wednesday, before Keansburg and the homestanding Rams play each other at 12:30 pm. The consolation takes place Thursday at 11, followed by the championship at 12:30. South Amboy is led by senior Jake Eberle with 16.6 ppg and 7.8 rpg, while fellow senior Gavin Pelkey is averaging 15.8 points per game.
Calvary Christian will be out at the University of Valley Forge in Pennsylvania at the Patriot Holiday Invitational. They play Thursday against Baptist Regional at 4 pm, then will get either Mount Airy Christian (PA) or Coventry Christian (PA) in the 12:30 consolation or the 3:30 final the next day.
And then, of course, the GMC Red Division, with standbys Aquinas and Joe’s. They will play each other twice this season, but the first of those meetings doesn’t come until January 16th in North Edison. They’ll rematch January 30th in Metuchen.
The Trojans are 5-0 despite turning over their entire roster save for one player, Davon Grant, who had all of 23 career varsity points entering the season. GMC wins have come over JP Stevens, South Brunswick, and Old Bridge, with the victory over the Knights’ being by almost the slimmest of margins, 54-52. They also have wins over New York non-publics, St. Joseph by the Sea on Staten Island and Monsignor Scanlan out of The Bronx. Newcomer Aiden Ur, a junior, leads the scoring with 16.4 points per game, while seniors Paris Papadatos and Rinelson Dilone are adding 14.8 and 14 points a game, respectively. In fact, Dilone is cleaning up on the glass, too, nearly averaging a double-double, with 9.8 boards per contest. Aquinas plays St. Elizabeth (DE) on the Varsity Viking Invitational on Wednesday (time TBA), the are in the Boardwalk Basketball Classic at Wildwoods Convention Center down the Shore, taking on Middle Township of the Cape-Atlantic League at 1:15 in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve.
As for St. Joe’s, they’ve been without senior Jeremy DeCaro, a major piece, but fellow senior Jeremy Clayville has been lighting it up. He’s averaging 26.8 points per game, twice scoring more than 30 points. He had 35 against JP Stevens last Thursday night in a 30-point win, a week after piling up a mammoth 43-point effort – a career high – in a season-opening ten point road win over Piscataway. Fellow seniors Owen Griffin and Dave Caruso also are averaging a shade over 10 points a contest. The Falcons are in the Whitey Dukiet All-American Holiday Classic at Livingston High School this Wednesday, where they’ll take on Morris Knolls Wednesday at 1, before Ridge and Livingston Square off at 3 pm. The consolation game is noon Friday, while the final tips at 2:00.