Boys Basketball: Old Bridge advances to GMCT semifinals

NEW BRUNSWICK - The Old Bridge High School boys basketball team is peaking at the right time. 

Riding a three-game win streak and having won seven of their last eight games, the third-seeded Knights (18-6) entered the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday with laser focus. Behind 30 points from Julius Belton, Old Bridge defeated sixth-seeded Bishop Ahr 68-42 to advance to the tournament semifinals for just the second time in program history. 

BOYS BASKETBALL: COLONIA TOPS WOODBRIDGE IN GMC TOURNAMENT

GIRLS BASKETBALL: PISCATAWAY ADVANCES TO GMCT SEMIFINALS

GIRLS BASKETBALL: PINGRY UPENDS SOMERVILLE IN SCT

"We did it six years ago and this is the second time. It's a good group of kids, they're working hard, they're very young and they're getting better every game, so we're happy," Old Bridge coach Jim Macomber said. "We've been grooming them, so a lot of these kids played a lot as sophomores, they played a lot of minutes last year, this group beat St. Joe's last year at St. Joe's, so they're accustomed and getting better every day."

Old Bridge defeated Bishop Ahr (17-5) by one point, 69-68, back on Jan. 30, and on Sunday the Knights showed that they had learned a few lessons from that game. 

"We watched some film and we saw that (Alex) Santiago and (Quadry) Adams killed us last game, so we just tried to shut them down and that's what we did today," Old Bridge's Ryan Delacuesta said. 

Old Bridge led from the start, taking a 10-4 lead after the first quarter and outscored the Trojans 24-12 in the second quarter for a 34-16 lead at halftime. 

Bishop Ahr opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to pull to within 34-23, but 3-pointer from Mike Oliva gave the Knights a 37-23 with 5:11 left. The Trojans outscored Old Bridge 15-13 in the third quarter, but the Knights still held a commanding 47-31 lead heading into the fourth. 

"The last time we played them we gave them a lot of easy baskets, a lot of transition baskets, and that was our key today, we didn't want that to happen," Macomber said. "So we focused on really getting back on defense and trying to contain Santiago and Adams, their two best players, and we really did a good job of that."

Old Bridge held Bishop Ahr to its lowest point total of the season as Santiago and Adams were each held to only nine points. Santiago scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter. 

"The last game we had, we won by one off a game-winner so we were expecting it to be close but we played bad that game," Belton said. "We knew we could come out and take over from the start. (Our defense was) much better than last time, last time was a high-scoring game, this time they scored in the 40s so we did our job."

Delecuesta scored 13 points and Oliva recorded 13 points and nine rebounds. Belton finished 16-of-17 from the line while as a team Old Bridge sank 32-of-39. Bishop Ahr had a tough day at the line and finished 8-of-22.

Old Bridge will face seventh-seeded Colonia in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at South Brunswick High School. Colonia defeated second-seeded Piscataway 71-63. 

"We're just playing with high energy and playing defense, that's what we focus on," Belton said. "We're just playing with a lot of energy, we know we can do it and we just go from there. We're definitely peaking at the right time." 

GMC QUARTERFINAL ROUNDUP

Carteret 62, Perth Amboy 57: Isaiah Daniels-Porter led fourth-seeded Carteret (20-4) with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Zamar Brake scored 10 points. Timothy Ellis finished with 11 assists and four points. Malik Austin chipped in nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. For No. 12 Perth Amboy (11-13), Joshua Cabezudo scored a game-high 24 points. Luis Bonilla added nine points. Carteret will face top-seeded St. Joseph (Met.) in the semifinals on Tuesday at South Brusnwick. 

Colonia 71, Piscataway 63: Frank Lehmann and Luke Valeriano each scored 18 points to pace seventh-seeded Colonia (14-8). Connor Bevilacqua finished with 12 points. Tyree Barba-Bey led second-seeded Piscataway (20-3) with 16 points. Antonio Chandler recorded 13 points and Mattias Arrindell contributed 12 points. 

St. Joseph (Met.) 67, Edison 61: Luke Fresco led top-seeded St. Joseph (19-4) with 19 points. Tyree Taganeca-Ford scored 18 points and K-Shawn Schulters finished with 11 points. For ninth-seeded Edison (15-11), Abu Kaikai recorded a double-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and one assist. Christian Wantong added 17 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal. Paul Rago chipped i n 14 points. 

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego