The 2009-2010 Hudson Reporter All-Area Boys’ and Girls’ High School Basketball Teams feature a host of talented players, many of whom are repeat honorees from a year ago.
Among the boys, there are four players who have collected All-Area honors once again. With the girls, there are eight repeat performers. That’s a good sign of consistency among the players’ talent levels. If they were good enough to repeat, it means that they are being remaining among the top players Hudson County can offer.
The Boys’ All-Area team features two repeat First Team selections, namely guard Myles Davis and forward Ronald Roberts of St. Peter’s Prep. Both young men were instrumental in the Marauders’ first NJSIAA state sectional title in 26 years. Roberts has already signed a letter of intent to play at St. John’s University in the fall. Junior sharpshooter Davis will be one of the top recruited players in all of New Jersey in the months to come.
Roberts averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Marauders, while Davis averaged close to 22 points per contest.
The two Marauders are joined on the First Team by two St. Anthony stalwarts, namely guard Elijah Carter and forward Derrick Williams, perhaps the two biggest reasons why the Friars captured the NJSIAA Non-Public B North title this season.
Williams was perhaps the most stabilizing force the Friars had, averaging close to 17 points and 10 rebounds per contest. He will be a standout at the University of Richmond in the years to come. Carter, headed for St. Bonaventure in the fall, averaged 15 points per contest and was the Friars’ leader in the stretch drive, evidenced by the 28-point, 14-rebound performance he had against Paterson Catholic last week.
The final First Team honoree is Noel Allen of North Bergen, who earns The Hudson Reporter Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year honor. Allen, who was a second team honoree last year, averaged 26 points and 14 rebounds per contest for the Bruins, who went to the Hudson County tourney finals and the second round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV playoffs. Without the 6-foot-6 Allen, the Bruins never would have come close to winning 21 games like they did. He was clearly the most important player in the county and will definitely get a Division I scholarship if he can get the necessary grades in the coming months.
The Hudson Reporter Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year could very well earn the honors every year. The legendary St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley is not the nation’s best schoolboy coach for nothing, as his 970-plus career wins, 24 state championships, nine T of C titles and three national crowns prove it.
But this might have been Hurley’s best coaching job, losing two key players right before the season opener and taking a host of role players and turning them into serviceable starters. Every game was guessing game as to which Friar was going to start and which one would be the leading scorer. It was a masterful job and almost a miracle in itself that this team won 27 games.
On the girls’ side, two players, namely Lisa Rovatsos of Bayonne and Andrea Innis of Secaucus are repeat First Team honorees.
The other First Team members are Innis’ teammate Shannon Waters of Secaucus, Zierra Williams of Lincoln, and Desiree Denmark of Marist. Waters was a Second Team honoree last year.
Other repeat honorees on the team include Bria Smith of St. Dominic Academy, Christina Gill and Diane Forker of Holy Family Academy, Ashley Vazzona of North Bergen, and Ashley Vasquez of Marist.
For the second straight year, the Hudson Reporter Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year is 5-10 junior Innis of Secaucus, who had another monstrous season, averaging 18.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and five assists and four steals per game for the Patriots, who won 20 games for a second straight season. Innis is well on her way to carving her niche as one of the best basketball players in the school’s history.
The Hudson Reporter Girls’ Basketball Coach of the Year is Tom Best of Lincoln, who molded his team together to make a late surge, reaching the Hudson County tournament finals and the second round of the NJSIAA Group II state tourney.
All in all, it was a fine season for local basketball, culminating with the crowning of two state sectional champions in boys’ basketball. – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.