Metuchen claims lone upset in GMC Tournament boys’ round of 16, while Wojcik gets 200th win for Sayreville, Vick sets new personal best in East Brunswick win

Things went mostly in line with the seeds on Thursday night in the boys’ basketball GMC Tournament First Round, as seven higher seeds were victorious and moved on to Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The only upset was a mild one in terms of numbers, but a big one for the small schools, as 9th-seed and White National Division Champion knocked off 8th-seed Old Bridge on the road, 60-44.

After years of being held at neutral sites, the quarterfinals will be played on the home courts of higher seeded teams this Saturday, all on the same day, allowing for three girls/boys doubleheaders. That will include East Brunswick, Colonia, and Piscataway. And there’s going to be an “All-Brainy Boro” matchup as the public high school Metuchen, travels across town to take on St. Joseph of Metuchen, the GMCT’s top seed.

Scroll through for brief game recaps of Thursday’s first round action, followed by Saturday’s matchups, with some times still TBA.

(1) St. Joseph-Metuchen 86, (17) Monroe 49: St. Joseph (23-1) jumped out to a big lead in this one on a monster first quarter, 20-6, and they led by 25 at the break in a battle of the Falcons. Monroe (6-17) got 12 in defeat from Jaden Sangster.

(9) Metuchen 60, (8) Old Bridge 44: The Bulldogs (21-2) fell behind early, 19-4 after one quarter, but rallied in the second to take a 24-21 lead at the half, and never looked back. Cameron Hayes-Durina scored 24 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the foul line to lead Metuchen, while Matt Smith had 16 and Reece Osborn-Jones added 11 in the road win. Old Bridge falls to 8-15 with the loss.

(5) St. Thomas Aquinas 62, (21) JP Stevens 54: Two Trojans picked up double-doubles as Aquinas (10-13) pulled away in the third quarter. Up 27-26 at halftime, they outscored the Hawks (11-13) 22-10 to give them enough cushion to hold off JP Stevens in the fourth. Zymere Weaver had 21 points and 11 rebounds, going 5-of-6 at the line, while Albion Ahmetaj added 12 points and 10 boards, and went 4-of-5 at the stripe.

(4) East Brunswick 88, (13) Middlesex 53: The Bears (19-5) got a career high 30 points from senior Cam Vick and he Bears hit nine treys in rout to a dominant win over the Blue Jays (16-8). East Brunswick led by ten after one and 18 at the break, up 43-25. Triston Harvey added 13 while Dylan McLean scored a dozen and Matt Mikulka added 11. Julian Samuels led Middlesex with 21 points in defeat, including three triples.

(3) Colonia 62, (14) South Brunswick 34: The Patriots (15-8) won their ninth straight game as they continue to surge at the right time, getting 15 points from Jayce Rodriguez, while Desmond Rudanovic had just two points but grabbed 12 rebounds for Colonia. The Pats trailed 9-8 after one, but turned that into a six point advantage by the half, then pulled away on the strength of a 26-10 third quarter to keep the Vikings at more than arms’ length over the final eight minutes. Arjun Jadhav led South Brunswick (13-9) with eight points.

(6) South Plainfield 79, (11) Woodbridge 54: The Tigers (16-9) got 28 points from Andrew Bena in the win, including 2-of-2 at the line and four three-pointers. Aiden Noblecilla added 14, and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. The Barrons fall to 6-15 with the loss.

(7) Sayreville 59, (10) Perth Amboy 53: Bombers’ head coach John Wojick picked up his 200th career coaching win, as Sayreville (15-9) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit – 27-20 – to come back and win by six. In fact, the Panthers even led in the final three minutes, but the Bombers made some big shots late for the victory. Read all about it, plus catch postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen, in Alec Crouthamel’s game story, at the link.

(2) Piscataway 95, (18) North Plainfield 40: The Chiefs (18-6) cruised to the win behind 18 points from Isaiah Fowler. Piscataway controlled this one virtually wire-to-wire, leading 59-26 at halftime.

BOYS’ GMC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL ROUND – SATURDAY, FEB. 14

(9) Metuchen at (1) St. Joseph-Metuchen, 1 pm
(5) St. Thomas Aquinas at (4) East Brunswick, 12 pm
(6) South Plainfield at (3) Colonia, 3 pm
(7) Sayreville at (2) Piscataway, 1 pm