Tarca earns stripes in Montgomery High boys’ basketball’s win over Hunterdon Central

MONTGOMERY — As soon as Greg Tarca sent in a pass to senior center Mike Rubayo, he realized that if he cut to the basket, an opportunity for points would be there.

“I just sent it into the post, and I knew that once the defender turned his back that I would be open on the cut,” Tarca, a junior guard on the Montgomery High School boys’ basketball team, said. “Mike gave me a great pass, and I was able to put it in.”

Tarca, who also hit a 3 earlier in the fourth quarter, not only laid in the basket, he also drew a foul. After hitting the and-one shot, Tarca concluded a sequence that gave Montgomery the three points they needed to edge out Hunterdon Central, 46-43, Saturday.

What’s even more storybook about Tarca’s game-winning three-point play is the fact that it came during his first minutes as a varsity player.

Montgomery head coach Kris Grundy’s staff promotes a junior varsity player for each game and gives that player what they call the “hustle” jersey, which is earned through strong play in practice and in JV games. Well, when Grundy continued to hand that jersey out to Tarca game-after-game, he finally decided to give the junior a full-time uniform.

“(Greg) has gotten that ‘hustle’ jersey a lot, but just a few weeks ago, we decided that he had worked really hard and that he deserved a varsity uniform,” Grundy said. 
“We had a feeling (in this game) as a staff about how well he’s been playing in practice and for the JV, so we said, ‘Let’s just give him a look.’”

With Hunterdon Central (9-7) working hard to stop the 6-foot-8 Rubayo, Grundy decided to beef up his team’s size at the guard position.

Tarca was the choice to fill that role, and he thrived in it, scoring all six of his points in the fourth quarter as well as taking a player-control foul with the Cougars (10-7) down 37-36 — the only time they trailed all game.

“Hunterdon Central was trying to isolate us in the post, so I wanted to go with more size for the guard position, and Greg fits that bill,” Grundy said.

“I was really just looking for defense (out of him), but he ended up hitting a 3 and getting the and-one there at the end.”

Before running the play, which ultimately led to the game-winning shot, Grundy took a timeout and let Rubayo, who led the Cougars with 16 points, know that a double-team would be coming if he got the ball in the post.

“We told him during the timeout that they would double-team him; there was no doubt in our minds,” Grundy said.

“Sure enough, the double came. Mike kept his head up, and he found Greg cutting, and it ended in a layup, and it was game over.”

In addition to Tarca and Rubayo, the Cougars also received strong performances from junior guard/forward Justin Kovacevich with nine points and nine rebounds and junior guard Tim Youreneff, who finished the game with eight points.

MONTGOMERY 46, HUNTERDON CENTRAL 43
HUNTERDON CENTRAL (43): Michael Knight 2-0-1-5, Jeffrey Dzierawiec 5-2-0-16, Eric Adams 5-0-1-11, Jason Cabinda 1-0-3-5, John Patrick 0-0-3-3, Bryan Ezema 1-0-1-3, Myles Thomas 0-0-0-0, Samuel Sperrazza 0-0-0-0, Ryan Lynn 0-0-0-0, Thomas Dragon 0-0-0-0, Jonathan McNeil 0-0-0-0, George Daly 0-0-0-0, Seth Meade. Totals 14-2-9-43.
MONTGOMERY (46): Mike Rubayo 6-0-4-16, Zach DeVincenzo 0-0-0-0, Brandon Solomon 0-0-0-0, Zaryab Ayub 0-0-0-0, Josh Bozzick 0-0-0-0, Gavin Columbia 0-0-0-0, Andew Egladydous 0-0-0-0, Justin Kovacevich 3-0-3-9, Tim Youreneff 1-2-0-8, Darron Wallace 0-0-1-1, Chase Ta 2-0-2-6, Greg Tarca 1-1-1-6. Totals: 13-3-11-46.
Hunterdon Central (9-7) 11 10 12 10—43
Montgomery (10-7) 13 14 8 11—46