Uncharacteristic play ends St. Anthony season early
It was unsettling to watch St. Anthony’s basketball season end too early last Monday night, losing to rival St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth, 50-46, in the NJSIAA Parochial B North semifinals at St. Peter’s College’s Yanitelli Center.
It was unnerving because the Friars didn’t play like, er, well – the Friars.
The Friars committed turnover after turnover, some 24 in all. Shockingly, they were not the best defensive team on the floor. That thought alone is unthinkable. There was a three-minute stretch in the fourth quarter where the Friars couldn’t even get off a shot. That’s how devastating the St. Patrick’s defense was.
The Friars also wasted several timeouts in scrums for loose balls throughout the course of the game, so the Friars were without a single timeout for the final five minutes. The lack of timeouts couldn’t allow coach Bob Hurley the opportunity to set up different strategies, both offensively and defensively, down the stretch of the game.
"No one wanted to be in our situation," Hurley said. "Without the timeouts, we couldn’t stop a flow. Our inexperienced guards had to play with no comfort of a timeout."
The Friars’ youth in the backcourt finally showed. A polished senior from St. Patrick’s, Michael Nardi, who is headed to Villanova, simply took over the game down the stretch. Nardi scored a game-high 19 points and the Friars had no answer for him whatsoever.
"Our guards were just not of their caliber," Hurley said. "None of our guards had any varsity experience before this year. Derrick Mercer was on the freshman team. Otis Campbell was on the JV. Sean McCurdy played freshman and JV at St. Joseph’s in Trumbull, Conn. They all got flustered and we never solved the problem of getting good looks. I think it was the pressure of playing in a big game, in front of a big crowd, plus a lack of poise."
Hurley credited the St. Patrick’s defense, but thought his team’s inability to handle the pressure was a bigger factor.
"We were able to beat teams this year that were enormous," Hurley said. "But we had trouble with teams that had quickness and put pressure on us. I knew we were going to have trouble unless Campbell or McCurdy stepped up and played very well. Neither really did. And poor Derrick Mercer was thrown to the wolves out there. Our kids lost their wits. They were frazzled. After all we’ve been through this year, we should be able to advance the ball. The fact that we couldn’t function was more us not executing, but they were clearly superior to us."
It was almost painful to watch. It was almost like you weren’t really watching St. Anthony, the team and program that we had become so accustomed to winning and playing well in big games and doing all the right things all of the time.
"It looked like we didn’t coach them well," Hurley said. "It didn’t look like we had good players. We ran nothing offensively in the fourth quarter. We just played."
The Friars seemed to have everything working early on. They led by as many as 11 (18-7) in the second quarter.
"That was fool’s money," Hurley said. "It was not going to continue. They had a senior team, an experienced team that came in a little tight because they were favored. I think maybe we would have been better off if we were only up six or eight. Being up 11 made them more aware of what was going on. We opened the door, then had the opportunity to rip the door off the hinges, but we closed the door."
Sure enough, led by inspired play from seniors Nardi and 6-10 center Grant Billmeier, who was playing in front of his future coach at Seton Hall, Louis Orr, the Celtics made a strong run and came back to tie the score at 21-21 at halftime.
From that point on, the game became a chess match, with the teams trading momentum and the lead. Nardi hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and a bigger bomb to open the fourth, giving the Celtics a six-point lead. It looked as if they were poised to blow the Friars out of Yanitelli.
But the Friars scored seven straight points. A perfectly timed tip by Terrence Roberts off a missed free throw cut the lead to 37-36, and then little Derrick Mercer snuck behind the defense for a reverse layup that gave the Friars a 38-37 lead with 2:17 remaining.
The lead was short-lived. Campbell fouled Nardi attempting a 3-pointer and the cool-as-ice senior nailed all three, giving the Celtics a 40-38 lead with 2:00 remaining.
The Friars’ Lamar Alston tied the score on a rebound basket, then gave the Friars a 41-40 lead with 1:25 left with one free throw.
The defining moment of the game soon ensued. Nardi was fouled and stepped to the line to shoot a one-and-one free throw, but he missed the shot. Billmeier alertly grabbed the miss, put it back in and was fouled, giving the Celtics the lead for good at 43-41 with 1:07 remaining.
Nardi then made all four of his free throw attempts in the final 23 seconds to ice away the win for the Celtics, assuring that there will be a new NJSIAA Tournament of Champions winner this year. There will be no "three-peat" for the Friars.
In other years, the early end to the season might have frustrated Hurley or angered the long-time coach, who will now have to wait until next year to collect his historic 800th career coaching victory.
But not this time.
"It’s not as disappointing as it may seem," Hurley said. "I think we got as much out of this group as we could. Of all the years I’ve coached, this loss had as little sting of all the losses (to end seasons). We had our eyes open to it all year. We had no experience in the backcourt. We struggled offensively all year and never really had an identity. We endured a soap opera of injuries and suspensions. And we lost our best all-around player (Obie Nwadike) to an (ankle) injury that he never really recovered from."
Added Hurley, "My expectations really weren’t there. The bottom line is that they’re just better than us."
Sometimes, the game can be just that simple.