Boys basketball: South Plainfield finally gets over the hump in GMCT quarterfinals
PISCATAWAY — After back-to-back losses in the quarterfinal round of the GMC Tournament, the South Plainfield High School boys basketball team wanted more.
The Tigers finally got it Saturday.
In a taut contest in which neither team managed more than a five-point lead until the final seconds, sixth-seeded South Plainfield outlasted third-seeded Monroe for a 53-46 victory.to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals against second-seeded Colonia.
“It’s a really great feeling, the last two years we got to the same exact game and lost to the same team, St. Joseph,” senior Ikenna Ibeku said, as his teammates celebrated. “We wanted to break through this year and we finally got to do it. That’s why we’re going crazy, it’s a really great feeling. And we’re not done yet.”
The Tigers (18-6) were led, ironically, by a pair of Piscataway transfers in Naim Mouzon, who scored all of his game-high 18 points in the second half, and Dante Dupiche, who netted 10 points. Ibeku tallied six points, five rebounds and a team-leading five assists, most coming on back-door cuts to Mouzon.
“Coach really believes in my passing ability so he tries to get me in spots where I can facilitate for the team,” noted Ibeku. (Monroe) is good in their zone so when I got to the high post I was just looking for cutters and, if they leave me, it’s my time to go.”
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The score was deadlocked at 24-all at halftime as Monroe (15-7) dictated the tempo. South Plainfield coach John Greco looked to change that at halftime.
“We think we’re one of the most athletic teams in the GMC, we knew that (Monroe) wants to play a lot of zone and sit back,” Ibeku said. “Coach always tells us to run, run, run and, when we don’t have it, to slow it down. We kind of picked our moments, whenever we got to go we went, and whenever we had to slow it down we slowed it down and tried to control our offense.”
The senior forward contributed the first and last baskets to an 8-0 run that left the Tigers with the biggest lead of the contest up to that juncture at 36-31. The lead changed hands four times in the first four minutes of the final quarter until South Plainfield took the lead for good on back-to-back baskets with a 3 from Dupiche and a jumper by Ibeku.
“We’ve been in dogfights all year, every single game has pretty much been close,” Ibeku stated. “At this point we’re kind of used to these close games and when it comes down to a close game, we believe in our execution. We know what to do and coach has prepared us, so we believe in ourselves.”
Myles Marabuto paced Monroe with 17 points and Brody Piscitelli chipped in 14.
GMC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS ROUNDUP
St. Joseph 83, Timothy Christian 68: Ninth-seeded Timothy Christian (15-8) amassed a 34-25 advantage midway through the second quarter but top-seeded St. Joseph (18-7) closed out the half with a 15-3 run, then scored the first eight points of the third quarter to break the game open. Timothy Christian rallied to 65-62 but Jeremy Clayville, who nailed three 3-pointers in scoring 25 points for the Falcons, scored on three-point play to ignite another 9-2 run. Jalen Fleming paced the Tigers with a game-high 26 points and Myles Dickerson added 25. St. Joseph will oppose St. Thomas in Wednesday’s semifinal round.
St. Thomas Aquinas 57, East Brunswick 45: Aiden Ur deposited seven consecutive points for fourth-seeded St. Thomas (15-9) after 12th-seeded East Brunswick (12-13) closed to 41-40 early in the fourth quarter as the Trojans seized control. The junior guard powered the three-time defending GMCT champs with 23 points and Rinelson Dilone contributed 15 points and 15 rebounds. Tiger Tanurra led East Brunswick with 14 points, nailing a trey in each quarter, while Brian Hennessy added 12 before injuring an ankle in the third quarter and sitting out the remainder of the contest.
Colonia 65, Woodbridge 38: Aiden Derkack had 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lift second-seeded Colonia (16-8) into Wednesday’s semifinal round. The sophomore forward recorded five points over the final three minutes of the first half as Colonia went on a 14-3 tear to erase a 23-14 deficit. Nadino Joseph had 13 points to top seventh-seeded Woodbridge (15-7), which made one-of-16 shots in the third quarter as the Patriots outscored it, 14-3, to bring a 42-29 advantage into the final period.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Boys basketball: South Plainfield finally gets over hump in GMCT
