In the last six years that St. Thomas Aquinas has won the GMC Tournament, they have faced Monroe and Colonia twice, South Brunswick and Edison once.
And while they’re a heavy favorite to get back to the finals again this year – and win it all – there’s one certainty: they will finally face someone new if and when they get there.
Second-seed East Brunswick (20-4) and third-seed Piscataway (15-7) haven’t seen the title game in a while, but one of them will be there Friday night down at Monroe Township High School. To get there, they’ll have to win the opener of Tuesday night’s GMC Tournament semifinal doubleheader, also at Monroe.
You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen calling all the action. Coverage begins at 4:45 with the pregame show, and tip-off between the Bears and Chiefs at 5:00. Click here to listen. The game will be immediately followed by top-seed and six-time defending champ St. Thomas Aquinas playing fourth-seed Colonia at 7 pm.
East Brunswick has been fantastic all year long, in a season that has been the culmination of the vast majority of the team playing together for the last several years, even before they got to high school. They’re fast and athletic, can play “D” and shoot the three. Ava Catanho leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per game, and has a team-high 49 treys on the year, with juniors Zoey Alexio and Sophia Tannura not far behind, with 46 and 42, respectively. They are one of the top three-point shooting teams in the state, with 188 on the year coming into the game.
Julianna DelosSantos-Branson – “JDB,” as she’s known to her teammates, is the team’s top rebounder at 8.3 per game, and also has a team-best 19 blocks and 15 steals. Sophomore Ava Krzywdzinski dishes out 5.3 assists per contest.
They’ll face a Piscataway team that scores a little less – just under 54 points per game, while EB scores 59 – but can also hit from beyond the arc, with 135 on the season, led by sophomore Caelyn Cook, who has 47 treys, while leading the team in scoring at 13.5 and assists with 67. Sophomore Alyssa Iduh averages a double-double – 11.8 points and 14.1 rebounds, while also rejecting a team-best 64 shots. He has 15 double-doubles in 22 games played this season. Another sophomore, Violet Azcona, has 54 steals to lead the team, averaging 11.5 points a game.
Notice a trend here? This team is young. There are no seniors on the roster, one junior, and two freshmen. The starting lineup is all sophomores, as are their top six scorers.
East Brunswick may have a little more depth in what has been a tremendous season, the Bears’ first 20-win campaign since 2017-18. They lost in the GMC Tournament semifinals that year, and were knocked out of the state tournament in the first round. They are hoping for a better outcome this year, seeking their first finals berth since 2016, when they beat Monroe for their sixth county title overall.
Piscataway is seeking its first trip back since 2018, when they also won it, beating Edison for their 14th overall crown.
The Bears and Chiefs combined have won 17 of the 39 GMC Tournament titles, heading into this, the 40th edition. Two of Piscataway’s and one of East Brunswick’s crowns came in the old Middlesex County Tournament, before the formation of the GMC in 1985-86.
Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:
