Tag: Bob Turco

Plainfield guard Micah Gordon (5) skies for a dunk.
by Alec Crouthamel

Top-seeded Piscataway falls to Plainfield in North 2 Group 4 semifinals

You could feel it walking into the building. Playoff basketball intensity.

Or, to be more specific, before walking into the building, in a line that stretched nearly the entire length of Piscataway High School ahead of the North 2 Group 4 semifinal between the top-seeded Chiefs (23-8) and fourth-seeded Plainfield.

In the end, though, the Cardinals’ (22-5) top-end talent and pressure on both sides of the floor propelled Plainfield to a 73-56 road victory, continuing its quest to defend its Group 4 state title from last year.

The Cardinals took the “basketball is a game of runs” adage to the extreme, working three different “Killshots” — a run of 10-0 or more, coined by college basketball data scientist Evan Miyakawa — to pull ahead for good and keep the game out of reach.

Plainfield star guard Micah Gordon led all scorers with 23 points, as part of a quartet of Cardinals in double-figures. Forward Rashawn Williams added 18 points as a force at the basket, while Devin Thomas added 11 and Tylor Hunter scored ten points.

Senior forward Isaiah Fowler led Piscataway’s offense in one of his top scoring performances of the year, scoring a team-high 22 points with four three-pointers. Guards Josh Lima and Landon Pernell also added 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Both teams came out of the gate throwing haymakers, with a combined five three-pointers in the first quarter. The Chiefs caught fire near the midway point of the frame, building up a 17-10 lead with an 11-3 run.

That was when Plainfield woke back up.

The Cardinals worked an extended 18-0 run to take a double-digit lead for the first time, as their backcourt pressure and uptempo offense took Piscataway completely out of its rhythm. It felt like an avalanche falling on the Chiefs with multiple backcourt steals in a row, as Gordon electrified the always-raucous Plainfield faithful with a dazzling array of finishes at the basket.

Piscataway managed to slow it down on offense and worked its way back into the game towards the end of the first half, knocking down two straight treys to cut the deficit to five points. But just when it seemed like the Chiefs were landing their counterpunch — with an equally frenzied home crowd of their own — the Cardinals landed another blow with an 11-0 run to end the first half, going into the locker room with a commanding 41-25 lead.

Plainfield kept the foot on the gas to open the third quarter, as well. Piscataway senior forward Donald Nwaigwe drew an and-one in the post, but Thomas and Gordon each knocked down deep three-pointers to stretch the Cardinals’ lead to 20 points in the half’s opening minutes.

Even with the big-time deficit, the Chiefs had one final burst left in them, working a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to nine points. Plainfield kept up the trend and responded accordingly, ripping off another 10-0 run, ending the third quarter with an 18-point lead and all of the momentum.

The Cardinals slowed the pace down with the big lead in the fourth quarter and worked some timely buckets, including six points from Williams.

In a battle of teams of similar size and uptempo style, Plainfield came away victorious thanks to its devastating spurt-ability and took control for good.

The Cardinals will face off against second-seeded Linden — who defeated the three-seed Union in the opposite semifinal — for a chance at a second straight sectional title in their third straight appearance. Piscataway’s season comes to a close in Bob Turco’s second year at the helm, moving a round further than a season ago.

Click below to hear postgame reactions from Piscataway head coach Bob Turco with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

In third epic this year, Piscataway rallies from halftime deficit to edge Colonia, earn trip to second straight GMC Tournament title tilt

An hour or so before Wednesday night’s GMC Tournament semifinal, Piscataway came into the gym as a walking MASH unit.

Senior Josh Lima was about 80-percent due to a tight quad, head coach Bob Turco said before the game. Tyler West had a tricky knee and didn’t get to play much, in the end, And Landon Pernell, the football team quarterback just starting to get his basketball legs, also has been bothered by a calf injury

But the second-seeded Chiefs – though they were down 28-22 at the half – persevered, and had others step up, in coming out with a 64-61 win over third-seed Colonia, sending Piscataway back to the GMC’s championship game for a second year in a row.

The Chiefs (20-6) made it there last year in a big turnaround under first-year head coach Bob Turco, who raised eyebrows when he left St. Thomas Aquinas, where he had won GMC titles in 2020, 2022 and 2023. He got bested last year by his former ballplayer at Carteret and protege Jose Rodriguez and Colonia in the final, but not this time.

Turco told his team at halftime they just needed to execute. They had the game plan. Just go out and do it. And do it they did.

After Izayah Brown kept the team in the game early with eight first half points off the bench to lead the Chiefs, the starters took the ball and ran with it, literally, in the second half.

Thanks to Piscataway Township and Mayor Brian Wahler for sponsoring tonight’s game!

It was a tight game throughout. No one led by more than seven. Piscataway came out hot to start the second half and finally – after chipping away – got their first lead of the game at the 4:01 mark of the third period on a three by Landon Pernell. Another shortly after extended their lead, and while there were a couple of ties after that, the Chiefs never gave the lead back.

Pernell finished with 14, Brown with 16, and senior Donald Nwaigwe finished with 17, including a monster dunk late with the game still in the balance.

Dylan Chiera led Colonia (16-9) – which had gone 14-2 since a tough 2-6 start – with 14 points, while Jayce Rodriguez added 13, but the team’s leading three-point shooter – who had 66 on the year coming in – was held to just one make from beyond the arc.

Piscataway will face the winner of the second Wednesday night semifinal between top-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen and fifth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas. The final will be back here at Monroe Twp. High School at 8 pm, following the girls’ title game between St. Thomas Aquinas and East Brunswick at 6 pm. Both games can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Click below for postgame reaction from Piscataway senior Donald Nwaigwe and head coach Bob Turco, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Expect another thriller: Wednesday rematch of 2025 GMC Tournament final pits Piscataway against Colonia for trip to 2026 title tilt

Last year’s GMC Tournament final was an exciting one, for a number of reasons. Besides the fact is was some great, high-level basketball between Piscataway and Colonia, it was the first all-public title game since 2006, when the Patriots beat Metuchen for the championship.

It was Bob Turco taking the Chiefs to the finals in his first year as head coach, and for the first time since 2019. And it was the veteran mentor’s sixth straight appearance in the finals, the first five of those coming while he was at St. Thomas Aquinas. In fact, he and protege Jose Rodriguez had met in the finals the year before, just with Turco leading a different team.

Wednesday night, the two will meet again, with a trip to the finals on the line as they square off in the opener of a GMCT semifinal doubleheader that you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Second-seed Piscataway (19-6) and third-seed Colonia (16-8) will play at 5 pm, with pregame at 4:45. Join Mike Pavlichko and Vin Ebenau for all the action, with the second game scheduled to tip at 7 pm between top-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen and 5th-seed St. Thomas Aquinas. Click here to listen.

While Colonia was considered a favorite to repeat even before the 2024-25 season began, Piscataway was the story last year: Turco taking an 11-14 team from the year prior to the county final with a 22-4 mark.

This year, Colonia is the big story. In the summer, Aiden Derkack transferred to national powerhouse Spire Academy in Ohio. Defender extraordinaire Zach Smith graduated. In December, glue guy R.J. Wortman announced he’d signed on to play Rutgers football, and enrolled in January, leaving him off the roster. And Colin Kroner and Julien Jones didn’t return.

The immediate result was that the Patriots started the season just 2-6. But over the last five weeks and change, they are 14-2. Among the highlights, a revenge win at Piscataway by three – avenging a home loss to the Chiefs by two in December – and a 52-46 win over state-ranked and previously-unbeaten Wall in their final game before GMC Tournament play.

Jayce Rodriguez – coach Jose Rodriguez’ son – and Dylan Chiera are the two most experienced players back. Their steadiness has helped the rest of the team find its footing. If there was ever a more apt place to use the cliche “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” we don’t know about it. Rodriuguz is scoring 20.4 points per game, with a team-best (by far) 66 treys, while Chiera is averaging 10.2, with a team-best 94 rebounds and 29 steals, tied with fellow senior Nfa Clyne.

The defense also has been a key, and while their points allowed have gone down, their scoring has gone up.

The fact these two have played two epics this season should come as no surprise. The Chiefs have some major ballers, too and much of last year’s key players are back. That includes Donald Nwaigwe, one of four players averaging double figures on a balanced squad where the top three scorers are seniors.

Nwaigwe is scoring at a 16.3 point clip, followed by Isaiah Fowler (14.4) and Josh Lima (13.0) while junior Landon Pernell – who Turco says has found his “basketball legs” after playing quarterback for the football team this fall – is averaging 12.7 per game, and has hit a team-high 42 treys on the year.

Thanks to Piscataway Township and Mayor Brian Wahler for sponsoring tonight’s Piscataway game!

These are two teams that can shoot, get to the basket, rebound, play defense, and frustrate the heck out of opponents, and like the earlier meetings this year, should come right down to the wire again.

Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:

Piscataway head coach Bob Turco with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko
Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebenau

by Mike Pavlichko

Early January battle of unbeatens – No. 5 St. Joseph at No. 4 Piscataway Saturday – has big implications in GMC Tournament race

While the Greater Middlesex Conference doesn’t seed its tournament until early February, Saturday’s matinee between fourth-ranked Piscataway and fifth-ranked St. Joseph-Metuchen could have a lot to say in deciding the top part of the bracket.

The Chiefs and Colonia were last year’s finalists. The Patriots lost a ton of talent for various reasons, and while they should improve by the stretch run, they’ve struggled early. St. Joseph hired alum and former coach Mark Taylor, who brought in a slew of transfer talent to go with some solid pieces already in place, and East Brunswick is off and running to its best start since the days of Bo Henning manning the sidelines and players like Amir Bell and Rob Ukuwuba in the early 2010s.

All that said, while it’s still just the first of two meetings between the two, St. Joe’s visit to Piscataway Saturday has all the trappings of a conference tourney game from the round of eight on.

OF course, you can hear tomorrow’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with tip-off tentatively set for about 11:45 – shortly after the 10 am JV game ends. Pregame starts 15 minutes prior; Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe will call all the action. Click here to listen.

The Falcons will, for sure, have the height advantage, with Rutgers Prep transfer Andrew Kretkowski now with the Falcons. The 6′ 7″ junior already has asserted himself in a leadership role, and is scoring just under 20 points per game. Senior guard Alijah Murphy is one of the key returnees, and big Ryan Hilongos will get time, too.

Piscataway coach Bob Turco may say “Attitude and Effort” is the team’s mantra, but it might as well be “An ugly win is as good as a pretty one.” That’s not because they play poorly; quite the opposite. They play a stifling defense, dive all over, and get a ton of steals. In fact, of their top eight rotation players who have made 69 total game appearances, 62 have earned at least one steal in a game.

That means it’s not just one or two guys breaking up passes and forcing turnovers. Everyone in the lineup is doing it, night in and night out.

Both teams might need oxygen tanks by the time this one’s through.

Click below to hear pregame interviews with both head coaches:

Piscataway head coach Bob Turco with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko
St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Mark Taylor with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 4 Piscataway takes down No. 8 Colonia in double OT for first win over Patriots in 13 years

It was almost 13 years to the day – 13 years and two days, to be exact – so it seemed to make some cosmic sense that this would would take an extra eight minutes.

No. 4 Piscataway would need two overtimes, but the Chiefs topped No. 8 Colonia on the road Monday night, 75-73, for their first win over the Patriots since December 20, 2012 – in a contest heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – ending an eleven-game losing streak in the series.

Of course, the two head coaches – Bob Turco of Piscataway and Jose Rodriguez of Colonia – have coached against each other many times, including some big games over the years when Turco was at St. Thomas Aquinas, before he became head coach of the Chiefs last season, where they lost two regular season games to Colonia, and the GMC Tournament final.

Piscataway looked on its way to a win early on, playing its trademark defense – even if it wasn’t quite in midseason form yet – with Colonia missing on some shots, and looking tentative on offense. Still, they only trailed by five at the half, 33-28. It could have been more, except the Patriots’ Jayce Rodriguez got three gift free throws – and made two – as he got fouled on a prayer three at the buzzer that had no chance.

After the break, Colonia became more aggressive on offense, realizing they might not get many good looks at the basket. They worked harder, took some chancy shots, but started sinking them. They would take just their second lead of the game in the third quarter, and go up by as many as eight late in the period, up 45-37 heading into what many figured would be the last eight minutes of the game.

In the fourth, the lead changed hands a couple of times. In the 90 seconds, Piscataway took a 53-52 lead on a baseline layup by Josh Lima. After two fouls the other way, the Patriots were in the bonus, and sophomore Chris Charles split a pair to tie the game at 53.

Dylan Chiera found Jayden Johnson with 52 seconds to go on a backdoor pass, then Lima found Donald Nwaigwe with 38 seconds left on a layup for the answer, tying it at 55. Then after a rebound and time out, Colonia got called for a five-second violation, Piscataway inbounded with 12 seconds to go but a Lima shot from the top of the key over a double team missed everything to send the game to overtime.

The teams would trade the lead a few more times in the first OT. With 30 seconds left, Lima picked up a steal for the Chiefs, drove to the foul line with 14.5 to go and dropped in a scoop layup, drawing contact, to go up one, 64-63. But he missed the and-one free throw, Colonia got the ball after it went off Piscataway on the rebound.

The Patriots drew a foul on Lima, his fifth, ending his night. Rodriguez hit the first to tie it 64-64, but missed the second with 8.6 seconds remaining. Piscataway got the rebound, and called time out, but with 1.8 seconds left, Nfa Clyne got called for his fifth, to foul out, and Tyler West went to the foul line for two, right in the face of the student section, the “Colonia Crazies.”

West missed both free throws, Colonia got the rebound with 0.1 on the clock, and the officials put two-tenths back on, not enough time for any more than a tip-in. They inbounded to Rodriguez, and his three-quarter court three wasn’t close, sending the game to overtime No. 2.

The lead again went back and fourth in the sixth period. With 1:03 to go, Isaiah Fowler got fouled on a three that he missed, but he made all three from the line to tie the game at 69. Colonia countered with a putback by Chiera to make it 71-69. Rodriguez committed a foul on the other end, putting Fowler back at the line, where he split a pair to make it 71-70.

On the rebound off the second shot, Donald Nwaigwe got a putback to put the Chiefs up by one, but then he committed a foul in the backcourt, sending Rodriguez to the line where he hit both to make it 73-72 Colonia. Nwaigwe got fouled the other way, and tied it up by making both to put the Chiefs up 74-73 with 54.5 left.

Colonia came down the floor, ran some clock, and after a miss, got a rebound from Jayden Johnson with 30.6 on the clock, prompting the Patriots to call their last time out.

Rodriguez drove to the basket and had a shot rim-out, with the Chiefs getting the rebound, and drawing a foul. That’s where Isaiah Fowler hit the first to go up two, then missed the second. A rebound by Jayden Johnson gave Colonia the ball, and a pull-up three for the lead missed, while the rebound went to the Chiefs who hurled the ball down the floor to seal the deal, winning it 75-73.

Watch the game’s final sequence, with play-by-play by Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel!

For Colonia (2-3, 2-2 GMC Red American), Jayce Rodriguez scored a career-high 37 points, eight in overtime, and he hit four treys. The only other player in double figures for the Pats was Chiera, with ten.

Piscataway (5-0, 3-0 GMC Red American) got 25 from Nwaigwe, including seven in OT, and 18 from Isaiah Fowler. Lima added 15 for the Chiefs.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from Piscataway junior Izayah Brown and head coach Bob Turco, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Logo of Sportsplex at Metuchen promoting their open gym sessions, featuring various sports icons.
by Mike Pavlichko

No. 4 Piscataway hitting from the arc, playing takeaway defense as they visit No. 8 Colonia in GMC Finals rematch

On paper, it’s a rematch, featuring the two teams that reached last year’s GMC final, with the victorious team having won its second straight.

But looked at another way on paper, it’s not quite.

Colonia is missing several key contributors to that game against Piscataway, with Aidan Derkack now at Spire Academy in Ohio, R.J. Wortman leaving high school early to enroll at Rutgers, where he’ll play football on scholarship, defensive specialist Zach Smith graduated, and Julien Jones and Colin Kroner not suiting up this year.

But Piscataway head coach Bob Turco knows Colonia well. Besides battling last year, they’d do the same prior to that when Turco was at St. Thomas Aquinas; they even met in the 2024 final.

And what does Turco know about Colonia? They still have dudes.

So even if a challenging first four games of the year have left the No. 8 Patriots 2-2, while fourth-ranked Piscataway is 4-0, he knows – and so do we, frankly – that this one is going to be a battle, as it always is.

You can hear Monday night’s game – our final regular season broadcast before the New Year – on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel on the call. Pregame starts around 5:45 with tip-off set for 6 pm; click here to listen.

For its part, Piscataway is getting incredible point production. They are averaging almost 86 points per game in their first four – wins over McKee/Staten Island Tech (NY), West Orange, St. Thomas Aquinas and Old Bridge – and are averaging more than seven threes per game.

Of course, Turco is a defensive minded coach, believing that the defense fuels the offense. So maybe that’s been it. Because Piscataway has 88 steals and 85 assists through its first four games, more than four times as many steals and more than double the number of assists Colonia has.

While numbers don’t always tell the whole story, they tell a good part of it on the floor. Watch them, and they scrap on defense, deflecting many passes, too. The steals and tips lead to passes up the floor where the Chiefs can get a ton of points in transition.

Click below to hear Piscataway head coach Bob Turco talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Alec Crouthamel

Battle-tested No. 8 Colonia returns home to host No. 4 Piscataway in GMCT title rematch

Jose Rodriguez has his team where he wants them.

Amid an even start — two wins, two losses — against some stiff competition, No. 8 Colonia boys basketball has seen new players enter the fold, and experienced ones expanding on their experiences and roles from the past.

It’s been a narrow line to balance so far for Rodriguez, now in his eighth season at the helm, working between playing some of the tougher competition in and out of the GMC, but his team is hungry to improve daily, and are taking the responsibilities in stride.

The latest challenge comes in another conference matchup, as No. 4 Piscataway comes to town in a rematch of last season’s GMC Tournament Championship.

You can hear Monday evening’s game between the Patriots (2-2) and the Chiefs (4-0) live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with tip-off set for 6 pm and pregame at 5:45. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will call all the action; click here to listen.

The history between Rodriguez and Piscataway head coach Bob Turco — two games removed from a milestone 400th victory on Wednesday — has been long-chronicled, but Colonia figures to bring shotmaking and athleticism to the table in the latest iteration between the two.

Of the returning players stepping into elevated roles, sophomore guard Jayce Rodriguez has flourished, putting up points in bunches. He had a terrific summer, according to his head coach — and father — and comes into the week averaging 22 points per game.

Senior point guard Dylan Chiera brings battle-tested leadership and playmaking on both ends of the floor, and has stepped into a bigger on-ball role himself.

There’s some new blood, as well.

Freshman Desmond Rudanovic has started his high school career in (long) stride at 6-foot-7, leading the team in rebounding and providing touch and versatility at his size. He will likely have to be the equalizer against an athletic Piscataway frontcourt, but one he has a size advantage over.

The Patriots also boast plenty of athletes ready to get after it on the defensive side, led by senior Nfa Clyne — who causes havoc with his speed and strength on the ball defensively — with underclassmen Tyronn Holloway and Jayden Johnson waiting in the wings.

All told, Colonia’s two losses to St. Peter’s Prep and No. 5 St. Joseph-Metuchen, as well as wins over St. Thomas Aquinas and Old Bridge, all serve as moments to continue to grow, potentially into a team nobody will want to face as the calendar flips to 2026.

The Chiefs will have to be up to that task on Monday night in Colonia.

Click below to hear Colonia head coach Jose Rodriguez preview Monday’s game against Piscataway and discuss the Patriots’ season so far with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:

by Mike Pavlichko

Piscataway’s Bob Turco wins 400th game as Chiefs tops West Orange at home, 94-73

Bob Turco is the latest member of the “400 win” club in New Jersey.

The veteran skipper picked up his 400th win Wednesday night in Piscataway, where his Chiefs were 94-73 winners over West Orange in an early-season non-conference tilt.

Turco is now 400-127 in his 20th year of coaching, giving him an average of 21 wins a year at a mix of both public and private schools.

After starting out as an assistant at his alma mater, Carteret, working under his younger brother Dave – who’s now at Kean and coached St. Joseph-Metuchen to a Tournament of Champions title in 2014 – the younger Turco moved on to Monroe, where he was 97-42 over five seasons. He then spent seven seasons at Notre Dame in Lawrenceville (155-45) and six at St. Thomas Aquinas in Edison (122-34) before moving to Piscataway last season.

Last year, he took over a team that was 11-14 in 2023-24 and got them to the GMC Tournament final, where they fell to Colonia, 70-63. It was the program’s first county title game appearance since 2019, but Turco’s fifth straight trip, having made the previous four – winning three – as head coach at Aquinas.

He’s also the first and only coach in GMC history to take three different teams to the finals, also taking Monroe in 2010, when they played St. Joseph and his brother, Dave.

The Chiefs host Aquinas – where Turco remains a Vice-Principal – Thursday night, then Old Bridge Saturday afternoon before heading to Colonia Monday for a 6 pm game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel calling all the action.

Click below to hear Piscataway head coach Bob Turco with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Chiefs turned it around in 2024-45, now Turco looks for Piscataway boys to take the next step

It won’t be easy, it never is. But if it were, would it be as fun?

Bob Turco has made multiple coaching stops in his career, three of which have come in the Greater Middlesex Conference, where he’s the only coach to bring that many different schools to a GMC Tournament final.

But last year, when he brought the third of those teams to the championship game, may have been the most fun he’s had.

Going from St. Thomas Aquinas to a public school in Piscataway meant he’d no longer have to “build” a team; he would mostly get the kids he had, the ones who wanted to be there, and coach them up, then coach them up some more.

So, he took an 11-14 team in 2023-24 to 24-6, finishing second in the Red Division, along with a trip to the GMC finals, where they lost to Colonia. Not too shabby for Year One.

Year two starts Saturday in Edison in Game Two of the Outerbridge Crossing Challenge, an opening weekend showcase Turco wanted to host at Piscataway, but has been moved to various locations as their new gym floor awaits completion after heavy rains caused flooding this fall that damaged several athletic spaces.

The Chiefs will “host” McKee/Staten Island Tech out of New York City, which already has begin its season (they start earlier in New York) and is 3-2 on the year in the PSAL, the New York City Public School Athletic League. They were 11-15 last season.

You can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio at approximately 2:30 pm, following the 1 pm opener between Edison and Petrides. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will call both games; click here to listen.

Head coach Charles Donohue is looking forward to the challenge, and looking at last year’s GMC finals against Colonia, he was impressed most with their poise under pressure, as well as their pressure and defense.

They return senior Nizayah Jordan, the Seagull’s top scorer last season, averaging 17.4 points per game, while hitting 53 times from beyond the arc. They’ll also be looking to get more scoring out of senior point guard Terrence Legrand.

For Piscataway, it’ll be dealing with graduation losses of Nate Davis (14.5 ppg, 53 treys, 49 steals) and Vaughn Turner (9.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg), but has plenty of talent back, including long-distance shooter Josh Lima (10.3 ppg), football starting QB Landon Pernell (7.9 pppg, 28 treys, team-best 116 assists) and swing Donald Nwaigwe (11.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg), the team’s top returning scorer from last year’s GMCT runner-up team.

Click below to hear a preview of the Piscatway/McKee-Staten Island Tech game from both head coaches

Piscataway head coach Bob Turco with Mike Pavlichko
McKee/Staten Island Tech head coach Charlie Donohue with Alec Crouthamel
by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year: Piscataway’s Bob Turco helped Chiefs turn themselves into GMC contenders again

See that headline up above? Most people would have written that to say “Bob Turco turned Chiefs into GMC contenders.”

But if we’d written that, he probably wouldn’t be too happy.

Turco left St. Thomas Aquinas after last season to take over a Piscataway program that has had more than its share of success over the years, but it had been a while since they were considered one of the top teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference.

It was a major coup for Piscataway.

After getting the Chiefs’ job at the end of last April, Turco kept the kids together, and had them play together as much as they were allowed to over the summer and in the fall. They bonded, competed and got better.

And when the season started, they kept getting better, kept improving. All the credit to them, says Turco. He saw their potential, but they bought in, he’ll tell you. They realized their potential, he’ll say.

For that, Turco will take it, but he’ll also tell you this award belongs more to his players than him, because they are the ones that turned themselves into contenders.

Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s an excellent coach.

He’s one of only two current GMC boys’ coaches who have ever won the GMC Tournament, the other being Colonia’s Jose Rodriguez, his former player at Carteret. He’s 398-129 in 19 seasons as a head coach at four schools – in addition to Piscataway and STA, he also was the head man at Notre Dame in Lawrenceville, which followed his first head coaching job at Monroe.

He’s also now been to the county finals at all four stops along the way, after making the GMC title game this year, falling to Colonia.

“I probably should retire now,” he jokes. But he won’t.

Those he counts as his mentors have impeccable credentials in their own rights. There’s Bob Molarz, who gave him his start as a seventh- and eighth-grade coach at Carteret. He spent a few years at Colonia where he learned how to run a program – and about defense – from Ken Pace. Then it was back to work with his brother, Dave, at Carteret. Later, the two coached against each other when Bob was at Monroe and his brother was at St. Joe’s in the 2010 GMC Tournament Final, the only siblings to face off as head coaches in that game. He worked under Ken Pace at Colonia as well, another GMC Tournament Champion.

OK, so maybe it’s not just the players’ award, too. Maybe it actually does “take a village,” as Turco would put it.

Click below to hear from Piscataway Coach Bob Turco, the 2024-25 Central Jersey Sports Radio Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year: