Win over Eagles gives Metuchen the top seed
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

METUCHEN — For the first time in school history, the Metuchen High School boys basketball team will compete in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

With noteworthy road wins over Cardinal McCarrick and J.F. Kennedy this week the Bulldogs improved to 17-1.

The GMC Blue Division champs went 14-0 in division play and will begin their quest for a GMCT title at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, when the winner of a first-round meeting between No. 16 Woodbridge and No. 17 North Brunswick pays a visit.

“I was a little surprised to learn we got the top seed,” Metuchen head coach Rich Stoner said. “I didn’t think they’d give it to a Blue Division team, but it was nice to see the coaches and the athletic directors acknowledge what we’ve done this season. Now, we have to go out and uphold our seeding.”

Metuchen certainly looks poised to make a run at the title game to be held at the RAC on the Rutgers University campus Feb. 23 after posting its biggest road victory of the season last week. With forward Marqus Blakeley, one of the county’s top scorers with over 20 points per game, finishing with a season-low eight points the Bulldogs still managed to beat a very strong Cardinal McCarrick team by a 66-57 score.

“That was a really nice win for us,” Stoner said. “That’s a really tough place to play in.”

In the first meeting between the two schools, Lamar Nichols hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to win it for the Bulldogs 67-65. This time around, Nichols put his stamp on the game once again by leading Metuchen with 19 points.

“Blakely got two early fouls and picked up his third right away in the second quarter,” Stoner said. “We were able to keep Marqus out the entire third because the other guys stepped up. Lamar did a great job in every aspect. He scored, rebounded, hit shots and beat guys to the basket.”

While the county’s leading scorer, Vincente Rosario, led McCarrick with 35 points, he didn’t have much help as the Eagles’ next high scorer finished with six. On the other hand, the Bulldogs had double-digit scoring efforts from Jon Brown and Nick Storts in addition to Nichols’ 19.

Brown also picked up two early fouls, but managed to stay on the floor and ultimately finished with 14.

“Jon played a really strong second quarter,” Stoner said. “With Marqus on the bench, Jon kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win.”

While Brown kept the game tight in the early going, Storts was his usual consistent self and helped seal the deal down the stretch.

“Nick played like a senior,” Stoner said. “He hit big shot after big shot, and he was a real leader on the floor.”

The Bulldogs followed the win over McCarrick by spoiling JFK’s senior night 75-63 on Friday.

“That was a real dogfight,” Stoner said. “We were down by six with about 4:00 to go before we went on a 23-2 run to end it. JFK played a lot better than they did in our first meeting. They were able to knock down a bunch of threes, and that kept them around.”

Metuchen went to a full-court press in the closing minutes and the defensive upgrade proved too much for JFK.

“When we press like we’re capable of, we’re pretty tough,” Stoner said. “We struggled shooting the ball early on, and the defensive pressure got us back on track.”

Dejuan Miller started off strong getting a lot of inside touches in the first half before Blakely came on big in the final minutes. Both finished with 22 points.

“Dejuan got started early on and really rolled on the offensive end,” Stoner said. “He also pulled down a lot of offensive rebounds in that first half.”

Should the Bulldogs advance beyond the first round tomorrow, they will resume tournament play at 5 p.m. on Saturday at South Brunswick High School.