Metuchen’s Cameron Hayes-Durina tries to get around Dunellen’s Joel Cruz in a GMC crossover game at Faber School in Dunellen on January 25, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
So what if there were no division title implications on the line this late in the season.
Both the Metuchen and Dunellen boys’ basketball teams were 11-3 overall heading into their Saturday matinee tilt at Faber School in Dunellen. The Bulldogs are a half-game behind first-place Piscataway Magnet in the GMC Gold, the Destroyers the same distance behind Middlesex in the Blue.
None of that mattered in a crossover GMC game, nut it was an important game nonetheless, with the victor picking up 39-plus power points from the other.
Well, right from the get-go, Cameron Hayes-Durina did his part to make sure those points went to his team. The junior scored the team’s first seven points of the game, helping Metuchen to a 15-1 lead after one quarter that they never relinquished, en route to a 41-25 win.
Dunellen (11-4, 8-2 GMC Silver) had its chances. Metuchen came off its game a bit in the second quarter, and the Destroyers pulled to within seven after a big and-one midway through the period by Jamael Davis. But they would get no closer, as the Bulldogs (12-3, 5-2 GMC Gold) reasserted themselves.
Hayes-Durina finished with a game-high 21 points, one shy of a season high, three shy of a career high. Dennis Toth chipped in right as six players scored for Metuchen.
Hutchins’ was Dunellen’s high scorer, with 15.
Metuchen has a big one coming up Monday night when it visits first place Metuchen at 5:30. Dunellen faces first-place Piscataway Magnet on January 31.
Click below for postgame reaction from Metuchen junior Cameron Hayes-Durina and head coach james Cardillo, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
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