Edison shocks Bishop Ahr; North Brunswick advances

By Mike Becker
@realmikebecker

The J.F. Kennedy High School girls basketball team earned the top seed for the upcoming Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, which was seeded Friday morning by a committee of athletic directors in a meeting at Spotswood.

Perth Amboy received the No. 2 seed followed by defending champion South Brunswick, Bishop Ahr, and North Brunswick to round out the top five seeds.

Games will begin with the play in round on Monday at the higher seeded team's home site.

The play in round was originally scheduled to be played Saturday, but all teams opted to move their games to Monday due to the inclement weather.

Preliminary round games, which are at the home site of the higher seeded team, were scheduled for Monday though five of the eight games will be played on Tuesday, as those games involve teams playing in play in games on Monday.

First round games are scheduled for Wednesday at the home site of the higher seeded team while the quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday Feb. 16 at Middlesex County College with game times of 12 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.

The semifinals are scheduled to take place on Tuesday Feb. 19 in a doubleheader at South Brunswick at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The finals will be held on Friday Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at the RAC (Rutgers University), with the boys' final following it at 8 p.m.

17-Wardlaw-Hartridge at 16-Middlesex, winner at 1-J.F. Kennedy; 25-J.P. Stevens at 24-Highland Park, winner at 9-Sayreville, winner at 8-Timothy Christian; 28-Mother Seton at 21-South River, winner at 12-Colonia, winner at 5-North Brunswick; 29-New Brunswick at 20-Old Bridge, winner at 13-Edison, winner at 4-Bishop Ahr; 19-Timothy Christian at 14-Colonia, winner at 3-South Brunswick; 27-South Amboy at 22-East Brunswick, winner at 11-South Plainfield, winner at 6-Woodbridge; 26-Carteret at 23-Perth Amboy Tech, winner at 10-Spotswood, winner at 7-Piscataway; 18-Cardinal McCarrick at 15-Monroe, winner at 2-Perth Amboy .

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@njpressmedia.com

Monday
Play In Round
South Amboy at East Brunswick, 4 p.m.
Carteret at Perth Amboy Tech, 4:30 p.m.
Old Bridge at New Brunswick, 4:30 p.m.
Mother Seton at South River, 5 p.m.
J.P. Stevens at Carteret, 6 p.m.
Preliminary Round
Wardlaw-Hartridge at Middlesex, 4:15 p.m.
Dunellen at Metuchen, 7 p.m.
Cardinal McCarrick at Monroe, 5 p.m.

There was heavy debate for the No. 1 seed between J.F. Kennedy and Perth Amboy with one unnamed AD fighting hard for Perth Amboy, but he/she lost their fight on a 3-1 vote.

The next big debate came at the No. 5 seed, where it was between Woodbridge and North Brunswick. The four voting AD's came to a 2-2 split and North Brunswick was awarded the seed as the committee co-chair broke the tie.

In looking at the bracket, in my opinion the right side/bottom of the bracket is the tougher side with No. 2 Perth Amboy, No. 3 South Brunswick, No. 6 Woodbridge, and No. 7 Piscataway, the top four teams in the Red Division. This side of the bracket will be a gauntlet and whoever gets out of it I would have to peg as a slight favorite in the final. The other side of the bracket is top seed J.F. Kennedy along with Bishop Ahr, North Brunswick, and Timothy Christian, who got the No. 8 seed by default.

The quarterfinal round is shaping up for a fantastic slate of four games if the favorites hold up to get there.

Here's a sneak peek at my GMC Tournament ballot that ran in today's paper. Also, follow @My_CJSports on Twitter as we will be providing updates on the seeds from the seeding meeting tomorrow at 8 a.m.

1. Perth Amboy (9-2): Have clinched the Red Division regardless if they win or lose tonight against Woodbridge, as they would win a three-team tiebreaker between Woodbridge and South Brunswick.

2. South Brunswick (11-3): Two of the Vikings’ three losses in the GMC have come to Perth Amboy.

3. J.F. Kennedy (18-0): Though playing in the weaker Blue Division, the Mustangs are one of five undefeated teams left in the state and clinched the Blue Division outright with a win over Spotswood last night.

4. Bishop Ahr (14-2): The Trojans land here as outright White Division champs.

5. Woodbridge (10-5): Head-to-head losses to both Bishop Ahr and J.F. Kennedy will make it tough for the Barrons to jump either team.

6. Piscataway (10-4): The Chiefs have two wins over Perth Amboy, but also have two losses to Woodbridge.

7. North Brunswick (13-5): The Raiders have a win over Bishop Ahr, though they also have a loss to Colonia.

8. Timothy Christian (15-2): Presumed Gold Division winner gets this spot by default, though a win over Dunellen on Wednesday was needed to assure it, otherwise both teams would be guaranteed top-9 seeds.

9. Sayreville (11-5): Since transfer Alyssa McDonough joined the lineup, the Bombers are 7-1 against GMC teams.

10. South Plainfield (10-6): Next best team available and has several close losses.

11. Colonia (9-8): The Patriots have played well as of late, winning four of their past five, the only loss coming in a nail-biter to J.F. Kennedy.

12. Spotswood (15-3): Clearly the second-best team in the Blue Division, the Chargers land here.

13. Edison (6-11): It's been a struggle of late for the Eagles, who have dropped seven straight.

14. Metuchen (11-5): The Bulldogs barely edge out Middlesex, but a win over Spotswood helps their cause a little.

15. Middlesex (10-6): The Blue Jays had won six straight until dropping its past two..

16. Monroe (6-9): The Falcons’ only win against a team above them is over Colonia, whom they defeated once in three tries.

17. Wardlaw-Hartridge; 18. Cardinal McCarrick; 19. Dunellen; 20. Old Bridge; 21. East Brunswick; 22. Highland Park; 23. Carteret; 24. J.P. Stevens; 25. New Brunswick; 26. Mother Seton; 27. Perth Amboy Tech; 28. South River; 29. South Amboy.

CN Roundup: CLICK HERE

Also, continue reading to see standings through Tuesday's games

In the boys bracket, Ridge will by vying for their first county title since 2010. Gill bounced back from a loss in that final to capture each of the past two titles and will be shooting for a three-peat from the No. 2 seed. Somerset Tech did not enter, so the boys field consists of 15 teams – one less than the girls.

It was a clean sweep last season as the Gill girls won the SCT for the third time in the past four years. Bridgewater-Raritan, which lost the 2010 and 2011 finals, received the No. 2 seed.

Games will be held on each of the next five Saturdays beginning this week with the first round.

Games are played at the site of the higher seed through the quarterfinals, with a boys and girls semifinals quadruple-header set for Feb. 16 at Montgomery and a finals doubleheader set for Feb. 23 at Bridgewater-Raritan.

Girls: 16-Bound Brook at 9-Montgomery, winner at 8-Ridge, winner at 1-Gill St. Bernard’s; 13-North Plainfield at 12-Manville, winner at 5-Rutgers Prep, winner at 4-Watchung Hills; 14-Bernards at 11-Pingry, winner at 6-Somerville, winner at 3-Franklin; 15-Mount St. Mary at 10-Hillsborough, winner at 7-Immaculata, winner at 2-Bridgewater-Raritan.

Boys: 9-Somerville at 8-Bridgewater-Raritan, winner at 1-Ridge; 13-North Plainfield at 12-Franklin, winner at 5-Watchung Hills, winner at 4-Hillsborough; 14-Pingry at 11-Bernards, winner at 6-Rutgers Prep, winner at 3-Bound Brook; 15-Manville at 10-Immaculata, winner at 7-Montgomery, winner at 2-Gill St. Bernard’s.

Look for a more complete version in Thursday's papers.

1. Gill St. Bernard’s (11-2, 5-0); 2. Bridgewater-Raritan (13-1, 7-1); 3. Franklin (9-5, 5-3); 4. Watchung Hills (8-5, 4-2); 5. Rutgers Prep (6-3, 2-2); 6. Immaculata (7-8, 2-7); 7. Somerville (7-7, 2-0); 8. Ridge (4-10, 2-3); 9. Montgomery (6-8, 1-3); 10. Hillsborough (2-10, 0-8); 11. Pingry (5-9, 4-3); 12. Manville (8-6, 4-2); 13. North Plainfield (5-7, 3-1); 14. Mount St. Mary (5-8, 3-5); 15. Bernards (4-7, 2-2); 16. Bound Brook (0-11, 0-6).

Quick Analysis: It was easy to seed the top three, but my first -- and biggest -- sticking point came at No. 4 as Watchung Hills and Rutgers Prep have very similar resumes (both lost to Bridgewater-Raritan and Franklin by double figures and squeaked past Immaculata). As usual, there is the one Group IV school with the glaringly poor record (Hillsborough) who will have to make a case on strength of schedule against the smaller schools. And No. 11-15 is kind of a mess has at least one win against another team in the quintet.

Danaejah Grant, the all-time leading scorer at Piscataway High School, is transferring to St. John's University and will begin attending classes next week, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Grant, who was ranked as the No. 65 player in the 2012 recruiting class by ESPN's HoopGurlz, began her freshman season at Clemson, where she was averaging a team-best 13.4 points per game during a 1-6 start.

Citing homesickness, the two-time High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year for both the Courier News and The Home News Tribune, opted to transfer after one semester and narrowed her list of destinations to St. John's, Seton Hall and Rutgers.

Grant visited St. John's on Dec. 27 but only recently finalized her decision. Per NCAA transfer rules, she must sit out until the end of the first semester next season when she will join Newark natives Aliyyah Thompson and Amber Thompson on the New Jersey-influenced roster.

“It’s going to be quite hard for me to sit out," Grant, who averaged 24.4 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.2 steals, 3.1 assists and two blocks as a senior at Piscataway, said last month when announcing her transfer. " I just try to look at the bright side of things. While I’m sitting out, I can get faster, stronger, thinner and just get in better shape to play on the next level because I can say I wasn’t in the best shape that I wanted to be.”