Monroe posts early upset in GMCT play
Handful of local teams advance to second round
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff Above, Monroe’s Bernard Mitchell tries to shoot over an East Brunswick defender during Tuesday’s GMCT first-round game in East Brunswick. At left, EB’s Josh SIms takes the ball to the basket.

Local high school hoops teams tipped-off in Greater Middlesex Tournament action Tuesday night to mixed results.

While most of the games involving local teams produced the expected result, there was one first-round upset involving a pair of neighboring townships.

The Monroe boys team headed into East Brunswick Tuesday night as the tournament’s 22nd seed, and looking to prove itself a far better team than it was given credit for.

They did just that, knocking off the 11th-seeded Bears, 65-47, thanks in large part to a decided edge from the foul line — 28-6.

The game was close at the half, with East Brunswick holding a 24-23 lead, but the Falcons took over in the second half, led by A.J. Rudowitz, who scored all of his 16 points after the break.

Monroe (9-12) outscored the Bears 19-9 in the third, and then used a 23-9 fourth-quarter run to put the game away and advance to the second round, where they’ll face sixth-seeded New Brunswick tomorrow night.

Colin Horsch and K.J. Rolland each added 11 points for the Falcons in the win, while the Bears (10-12) were led by John Byrne’s 17 points

In New Brunswick, the Falcons will be facing a 12-8 Zebras team coming off an impressive first-round win over No. 27 Spotswood.

New Brunswick raced out to an 18-4 lead in the first and never looked back in routing the Chargers, thanks in large part to a dominant offensive performance from Jonathan Casilla (16 points and seven rebounds) and a stellar team defensive performance that held Spotswood in single digits in all four quarters.

With the loss, the Chargers finished the year at 3-14.

The Sayreville Bombers also advanced to the second round with a 62-42 win over rival South River on Tuesday night.

The 16th-seeded Bombers rode the hot shooting of senior Brian Miklaszewski, who finished with 29 points and was 7-of-9 from three-point range, but were unable to put away the Rams until the fourth quarter. In that final stanza, the Bombers outscored the 15-6 Rams, 18-7, to advance to the next round.

That means a date with top-seeded South Brunswick tomorrow night in South Brunswick. The Vikings have put together a brilliant season, and are one of the more balanced teams in the conference. However, Sayreville may have the firepower to hang around with the Vikings and pull off an upset down the stretch.

The Old Bridge Knights, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, made short work of 25th-seeded St. Peters, jumping out to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter, and cruising to a 78-43 first-round win.

Tim Lucas led the Knights with 18 points and seven steals, and will look to put forth a similar effort tomorrow night when the Knights (10-11) host ninth-seeded Dunellen — a 72-58 first-round winner over No. 24 Highland Park on Tuesday.

Winners of tomorrow’s games will advance to the quarterfinal round, scheduled for Sunday at Middlesex County College. The semifinals will follow on Tuesday, also at MCC, with the finals slated for next Friday at the Louis Brown Athletic Center at Rutgers.

The local girls teams were not as fortunate, as only two of the six local teams in action advanced to the second round.

The East Brunswick Bears, the seventh seed, had no trouble in disposing of No. 26 J.F. Kennedy on Tuesday, 81-29.

A total of 10 different players scored for the Bears in this one, as they put 53 points on the board by halftime.

This game essentially served as a warm-up for the Bears (15-7), who expect a stiffer challenge from 10th-seeded Woodbridge in tonight’s second round.

The Barrons (14-6) also put forth an impressive effort in the first round, blowing past South River, 60-26. The Barrons allowed just six first-half points en route to a 41-6 lead at the break, and cruised from there, setting up tonight’s intriguing matchup with the Bears in East Brunswick.

The Spotswood Chargers will also be back in action tonight following their 50-31 win over Mother Seton on Tuesday.

The Chargers (14-7), the 14th seed in the girls bracket, squeaked out a 62-55 overtime win over the Setters just three days prior to Tuesday night’s game, and had no intentions letting this get that close. They closed out the first half with a 14-2, as Jill Dickinson scored eight of her game high 16 points.

Stacey Cappella added 14 for the Chargers, who will take on third-seeded South Brunswick tonight in the second round.

Old Bridge put up a good fight against Carteret in their first-round matchup, but eventually lost to the No. 16 seed, 46-38.

Carteret jumped out to a 17-6 lead after the first quarter, leaving the Knights to play catch-up the rest of the way. They certainly tried, led by Sierra Allen’s 17-point effort, but fell short in the end, finishing the year at 4-16.

The two remaining local girls teams — Sayreville and Monroe — both suffered lop-sided first-round losses on Monday to close out their seasons.

The Bombers fell to ninth-seeded Bishop Ahr, 56-31, to finish the season at 2-18.

Monroe dropped a 62-37 contest to No. 6 Piscataway. The Falcons led early, 9-8, but was unable to slow down the Chiefs from there and finished the year at 0-21.

Winners of tonight’s second-round games will be back in action on Saturday in the quarterfinal round, to be played at South Brunswick High School. The girls semifinals are set for Monday, also at South Brunswick, while the finals will precede the boys final at Rutgers next Friday.