It’s February! SCT moves on to second round, and GMC division races come into sharper focus

High school basketball season is flying by!

Several county tournaments are already underway, including the Somerset County Tournament, with eight second round games on tap Saturday – four on the boys’ and four on the girls’ side.

Meanwhile, we’re less than a week from the GMC seeding meeting – which will be held next Friday morning, with play-in games taking place next Saturday – and we’re starting to get a clearer picture of who will win their divisions.

Here’s the schedule with times of Saturday’s second-round SCT action, with winners moving on to play at one of the top four seeds in the quarterfinals next Saturday:

SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT 2nd ROUND – GIRLS:

• (9) Mount St. Mary at (8) Immaculata, 11 am – Winner at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s
• (12) Bound Brook at (5) Pingry, 2 pm – Winner at (4) Franklin
• (11) Ridge at (6) Somerville, 10 am – Winner at (3) Hillsborough
• (10) Watchung Hills at (7) Bernards, 12 pm – Winner at (2) Rutgers Prep

SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT 2nd ROUND – BOYS:

• (9) Watchung Hills at (8) Bridgewater-Raritan), 11 am – Winner at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s
• (12) Somerville at (5) Immaculata, 1 pm – Winner at (4) Ridge
• (11) Bernards at (6) Hillsborough, 11:30 am – Winner at (3) Rutgers Prep
• (10) Franklin at (7) Pingry, 12 pm – Winner at (2) Montgomery

As for the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, there’s no intrigue this year as to who the top seeds will be. On the boys’ side, it will be Red Division champion and defending GMCT-champ Colonia, while the girls’ side will have St. Thomas Aquinas as the one-seed. The Red Division champs – who have won the last five full county tournaments going back to 2019 (when they were still called Bishop Ahr) have steamrolled through the GMC this year, winning Red Division games alone by an average of around 44 points.

Here’s a look at the other divisions on both sides, and how they shape up heading into the final week before the seeding.

GREATER MIDDDLESEX CONFERENCE BOYS: Division winners are guaranteed a top-12 seed in the county tournament, but only the top-eight receive double-byes into the first round. Seeds nine through 12 get a play-in round bye, and start play in the preliminary round of 32.

• Red Division: Despite falling to Old Bridge, 65-59, on Thursday, Colonia finished Red Division play at 9-1, ahead of second-place Piscataway at 7-2, which the Patriots beat twice this season.
• White Division: Sayreville leads the White at 10-1, with South Plainfield second at 8-3, and while they meet again this Tuesday, that’s the only division game remaining, so the Bombers win the White. Even if the Tigers were to win and they split, it would leave Sayreville 10-2 and South Plainfield 9-3, a full game back.
• Blue Division: Edison and Timothy Christian remain neck-and-neck, with the Eagles at 7-1, the Tigers at 6-1, and a lot of basketball to play. Timothy Christian has Carteret at home Monday, a visit to New Brunswick Wednesday, and a home game with Edison that could decide the division if the Tigers win their first two games of the week. Edison plays two division games this week. Besides their visit to Timothy on Thursday, they visit JP Stevens the night before. It’s very likely Thursday’s meeting will decide the division.
• Gold Division: There’s a “sort of” three-way tie at the top with lots of basketball to be played. Metuchen is 7-2, while Middlesex and Spotswood are both 6-2, tied in the loss column but with an extra game in hand. The Bulldogs have one division game left, at JFK on Monday. Middlesex visits Spotswood Thursday, which could be a big factor. Spotswood visits South River on Tuesday, with a day off before hosting the Blue Jays. The Chargers already lost to them once, and already split with Metuchen. Middlesex and Metuchen also split. This one might go down to the wire!
• Silver Division: The champ here is Dunellen, which is 12-2 in the division, and won it by a game over Piscataway Magnet (11-3).

GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE GIRLS: Division winners are guaranteed a top eight seed ion the county tournament, giving them a double-by to the first round, the round of 16.

• Red Division: Easy. St. Thomas Aquinas is the Red Division champ at 11-0.
• White Division: Middlesex clinched the White Division Wednesday with a win over North Brunswick, coupled with Spotswood’s overtime loss to Edison, as the Blue Jays finished 12-2, the Chargers 11-3.
• Blue Division: It’s not a three-way tie, but it is a three-way race between Carteret (11-0), Metuchen (10-1), and Highland Park (9-2), all with three division games left to play. The scenarios here could get very involved, but a lot will be decided they all square off against at least one of others this week. Carteret visits South River Monday, then plays at Highland Park Wednesday and at Metuchen Thursday. The Ramblers are in the drivers’ seat, as they have already beaten both this season. Metuchen gets Highland Park at home Monday, then after a Wednesday trip to JFK, hosts Carteret Thursday. Metuchen has a won over the Owls already, but lost its first meeting with the Ramblers. And Highland Park visits Metuchen Monday, before getting Carteret at home Wednesday. They lost to both earlier this year. But, as of now, their online schedule says they play JFK Friday – after the seeding meeting – and that could not only affect them, but also the others, where a division champ might not be determined by the time the committee meets Friday morning. Of course, Carteret could avoid that with a sweep this week, or maybe even two wins, depending how everything else shakes out. Already having wins over both its nearest competitors also gives the Ramblers a leg up.
• Gold Division: Calvary Christian is the easy winner here at 14-0 – by the way, they’re 16-1 overall – a full four games ahead of Mother Seton.