It’s safe to say that St. Anthony has been the premier boys’ high school basketball program in Hudson County for more than three decades.
Ever since the legendary Bob Hurley took over the St. Anthony program in the early 1970s, the Friars have clearly been the cream of the crop. It’s not even up for debate, when you consider their 24 NJSIAA state titles, their nine Tournament of Champions wins, and their three mythical national championships.
Over the years, there were times when local opponents were poised to knock the Friars from their pedestal, their place of prominence. In 1988, Ferris defeated the Friars in a hotly contested game that only fueled the fire for what was an incredibly tense rivalry. Four years later, Marist knocked the Friars out of the NJSIAA Parochial B playoffs en route to the Royal Knights’ lone appearance in the NJSIAA T of C.
But those chances have been few and far between. One is because the fabulous Friars have been that dominant. Two, there haven’t been many chances for the Friars to face local squads that have been at the very least competitive and comparable.
Until last Saturday night, when the ever-so-rising and currently arrived Marauders of St. Peter’s Prep took the floor against the Friars to cap what was a marvelous day of basketball at the Jersey City Armory in the Dan Finn Classic.
Over the past three seasons, the Marauders have been making quantum leaps up the New Jersey high school basketball food chain. They started by winning the HCIAA Coviello title in 2008 with a team packed with freshmen and continued by duplicating that county crown a year ago with an even better team, one that posted a 23-3 record and earning state rankings and recognition in the process.
So when the organizers of the Dan Finn Classic – the tourney assembled to remember the former Prep soccer/basketball standout who was tragically killed when struck by a vehicle in South Carolina in 2004 – decided to place Prep in the marquee game against the Friars, it became a contest that was highly anticipated and anxiously awaited.
“This was a game that everyone wanted to see,” Hurley said.
And after it was over, it was well worth the wait.
Last Saturday’s Prep-St. Anthony showdown was the best basketball game involving two Jersey City high school’s since the days of Ferris-St. Anthony in 1988, the last season that the Friars were members of the HCIAA.
This showdown, pitting the No. 2-state ranked Friars and the No. 4-ranked Marauders, was worth the price of admission – and more.
For the first time in almost 20 years, there might have been a changing of the guard when it comes to Hudson County basketball supremacy.
And with 2:05 left in the game, it certainly appeared that the supplanting of the local kings was about to take place.
The Marauders held a nine-point advantage, 58-49, after Ronald Roberts made a rebound basket for the St. John’s-bound forward’s 17th point of the game. Prep was just two minutes away from taking the reign as local hoops’ king.
But something mystical occurred at that point. Maybe it was a little bit of the upstart Marauders actually fathoming the idea that they were on the throes of knocking off mighty St. Anthony. Or maybe it was a little bit of the Friar talent finally coming together all at the right time.
“We knew that the last two minutes were going to decide the game,” said St. Anthony junior guard Jordan Quick, one of the team’s unsung heroes who have stepped up in the absence of expected starters Ashton Pankey and Devon Collier.
“We knew that we had to step it up and play together,” said Quick, who earned Player of the Game honors by scoring a team-high 17 points. “We had to keep our composure. The game wasn’t over yet.”
Sure wasn’t. While the Marauders began to make critical mistakes, the Friars kept creeping back. They had converted on just two 3-point field goals on 11 tries for the first 30 minutes of the game. They calmly canned four straight in the final two minutes, with Quick making two of those.
It’s inexplicable how that can actually happen, how a team could be so miserable shooting long range shots could find the wherewithal to make four straight with the game on the line.
“Welcome to the wonderful and crazy world of high school basketball,” Hurley said. “There’s an emotional ebb and flow going on and there is no rhyme or reason for something like that to happen. You can’t explain it.”
After Roberts made his rebound basket, Elijah Carter made a long range shot, cutting the lead to 58-52 with 1:36 left. The Marauders missed a shot and Quick came down the floor to nail another 3-point bomb, slicing the lead to 58-55 with 1:10 remaining.
You could sense the tide turning and the intensity building. Suddenly, the changing of the guard didn’t feel as imminent as it did a minute earlier.
Basketball purists wondered why Prep head coach Mike Kelly, the Jersey City police lieutenant whose involvement with the fatal shooting of Detective Marc DiNardo was so brilliantly described in Steve Politi’s column last week in The Star-Ledger, was not willing to use some sort of delay tactic to protect the lead.
After all, there is no shot clock in high school basketball. With a nine-point lead and two minutes remaining, the Marauders’ lone foe at that point was the clock. One would think that you pull the ball out, spread the floor, play keep-away with the Friars and let the clock run out or force them to foul you.
But after the game, Kelly said that he didn’t want to do that with his team.
“I think the physicality of the game wouldn’t allow us to pull the ball out and delay,” Kelly said. “Our guards weren’t physical enough against their guards. I knew that they were not going to go away easily. We just weren’t ready to hold the ball there, because they were guarding the hell out of us.”
The Marauders certainly had their chances to ice the victory, even after the Friars started raining threes. But Roberts missed two free throws with 1:05 left. Just one there might have sealed the deal.
Then after Lucious “Lucky” Jones drains a 27-footer from the top of the key with 41 seconds left to tie the game at 58-58, Prep’s point guard Kevin Walker, who had been rock solid all night, missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 36 seconds left.
Everything that could go wrong for the Marauders down the stretch did. The Friars suddenly got hot for some reason. The Marauders turned the ball over, then missed three free throws.
“The game was over,” Kelly said. “They hit some monster shots. We missed free throws. We needed just one more basket, maybe one free throw, maybe even one rebound. It’s just the way it goes.”
The Friars actually had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Derrick Williams, the Richmond-bound senior forward who had 15 points, missed an easy put-back as the buzzer sounded, sending the game to overtime.
But the chance for the Marauders to secure the win and the place on the local pedestal had slipped away. Jones, who earned the nickname of “Lucky” back after the win, dropped in another three-point bomb with two minutes remaining in overtime to give the Friars the lead for good.
“Lucky was lucky for us with those three-pointers,” Hurley said. “Lucky for us, he was shooting well.”
And in typical St. Anthony fashion, the Friars put the game away by making four free throws in the final 27 seconds, earning a hard-fought and memorable 67-64 victory.
After the game, the emotions were flowing. Some of the Prep players were so distraught that they couldn’t leave the court. They were slumped over, looking like they were going to be physically sick.
“This one doesn’t just sting,” Kelly said. “This flat out jack hammered us. They deserved to win. They made the shots. They weren’t ready to give it to us.”
“It was a great win for us in a great high school basketball game,” Hurley said. “It’s just a case of where we’re not going to be out of a game where there still is time and still a chance to stop the clock. Prep has an outstanding team and they really don’t have a weakness. Their program has really developed.”
Has a new rivalry been born?
“I don’t know about a rivalry,” said Hurley, who is a graduate of St. Peter’s Prep, but hadn’t faced the Marauders in almost 20 years.
However, it was a night to remember. The Finn Classic, in its fourth year, had its best night. A good donation was made to the family of the slain police detective DiNardo. There were more than 3,000 in attendance for the finale. It was the best basketball game in Hudson County, with the electricity and excitement, in decades.
“If it’s to make this event work, then we’d love to do it again,” Hurley said.
Let’s book it now.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.