GMC Tournament Boys Semis are set with familiar names, as St. Joseph, Piscataway, Colonia, St. Thomas Aquinas advance out of Saturday’s quarterfinals

The second GMC Tournament boys’ basketball semifinal at Monroe Township High School Wednesday night will feature the league’s only two parochial schools, with top-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen taking on fifth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas.

That’ll follow the opener: a rematch of last year’s GMC title game, as second-seed Piscataway takes on third-seed Colonia.

Of course, much of the personnel there will be different, as will be the case in the night cap, with two new coaches at he helms of those schools. (Sort of.) Tom Weiler is in his first year taking over the Trojans program, and alum Mark Taylor is in the first year of his second-go-round with the Falcons.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have a live broadcast of both semifinal games this Wednesday, with the opener at 5 and the second game at 7. Click here to listen. Winners move on to Friday night’s 8 pm final back down at Monroe, following the girls’ final at 6 pm.

Scroll through for recaps of Saturday’s action, with postgame reaction from Piscataway and St. Thomas Aquinas.

(1) St. Joseph-Metuchen 85, (9) Metuchen 30: In the most lopsided game of the day, the Falcons (24-1) handled the Bulldogs (21-3) easily. Four St. Joe’s players hit double figures, led by Aidan Carter, who had a rare 20-point, 10-assist double-double. Jordan Mason added 14, Imaad Johnson scored a dozen, and Chase Pettiford added 11 for the Falcons in the win.

(5) St. Thomas Aquinas 74, (4) East Brunswick 66: Albion Ahmetaj scored a career high 28 points and added 12 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, as the Trojans (11-13) avenged a 69-52 loss at East Brunswick on the final day of January. Zymere weaver also had a double-double, finishing with 15 points and ten rebounds, as well as seven assists, while going 8-of-10 from the foul line. St. Thomas scored the opening bucket and led nearly wire-to-wire, up 31-24 at the half. East Brunswick (19-6) got 26 points – including six threes – from Matt Mikulka, while Cam Vick added 19, two treys, and went 5-of-5 at the stripe.

(3) Colonia 51, (6) South Plainfield 48: This one was a low-scoring affair early, with the Patriots (17-8) leading 21-12 at the half. But the Patriots hung on for the win. The Tigers (16-11) had a chance late. Down five, 46-41, with 1:20 to play after a pair of free throws, things went back and forth until Andrew Bena drained a left corner three with 6.5 seconds to go, cutting the lead to 49-48. Jayce Rodriguez made a pair of free throws at the other end with 5.3 to go, putting Colonia back up by three, but a buzer-beating attempt from the right corner by Aiden Noblecilla missed and the Pats survived and advanced.

(2) Piscataway 80, (7) Sayrveille 66: The Chiefs (19-6) came from behind to beat the Bombers (15-10), avenging a one-point, 68-67 loss on January 8th. Landon Pernell and Donald Nwaigwe each scored 23 points in the game to lead all scorers, with Pernell connecting for six triples. Pernell was part of a key sequence in the fourth quarter, where he drove to the basket, scored and drew a foul, then Sayreville was called for a bench technical. Pernell made all three free throws, making it a five-point possession. Sam Jones finished with 21 to lead the Bombers, while Chidi Chukwurah had 20 in defeat.

GMC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18 at MONROE TWP. H.S.

(2) Piscataway vs. (3) Colonia, 5 pm
(1) St. Joseph-Metuchen vs. (5) St. Thomas Aquinas, 7 pm