St. Anthony Wins T of C; Completes Perfect 32-0 Season
EAST RUTHERFORD - One of the greatest teams in the history of New Jersey high school basketball completed a perfect season in the last, and biggest, game of the year.
Top-seeded St. Anthony of Jersey City fended off a scrappy Science Park team, 69-36, Monday night to win the Tournament of Champions title before 5,383 fans at the Izod Center.
St. Anthony, the Non-Public B state champ and the No. 1 team in the USA Today Super 25 rankings, finished its season at 32-0, the fifth perfect campaign in the 36-year tenure of head coach Bob Hurley.
"We just wanted it more this year," said Rutgers-bound guard Mike Rosario, who scored a game-high 21 points and was named the game MVP. "Nobody wanted it more than us in the country."
The Friars, who feature six players headed to Division 1 programs on scholarship, won their 10th T of C title in the 20-year history of the event, and their first since 2004. The current seniors had never won a state title before capturing a national record 25th championship this season.
"It's a great accomplishment for the kids," Hurley said. "It's credibility for me even though we've been very successful and my seniors, it's real credibility for them because they can now be compared to the best teams the school's ever had and I feel really good for them for that."
Playing in front of Rutgers head coach Fred Hill, Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez, Villanova coach Jay Wright and Manhattan coach Barry Rohrssen, Rosario, the 6-foot-2 McDonald's All-American, tallied 13 in the first half, when the Friars took a 34-28 advantage.
Marquette-bound guard Tyshawn Taylor was extremely active in the paint and finished with 17 points,
scoring 10 on 5-of-5 shooting before the break. Paterson's Travon Woodall, who is headed to Pittsburgh, scored seven points.
Dominic Cheek, the talented 6-5 junior wing who suffered a ruptured bursa sac in his knee before the semifinal victory over Immaculata, started and concluded with five points.
"It's something you remember always," said former St. Anthony star Jerry Walker, who went undefeated when the Friars won the first T of C crown in 1989. "They'll cherish it, they'll always remember it."
No. 2 Science Park, the Group 1 and Essex County champ, ended its season at 29-3.
After holding a slim 34-28 halftime lead, the Friars opened the second half with an 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Rosario, to seize a 42-28 edge. By outscoring the Chargers 15-5 in the third period, St. Anthony took a 49-33 after three periods. St. Anthony outscored Science Park 35-8 in the second half.
"It was sort of a game at halftime," Hurley said, "but the defense second half was incredible."
St. Anthony raced out to a 12-3 first-quarter lead, but the Newark school used a 13-4 run to tie the game at 16. Senior forward Stanley Elliot scored eight of his 11 points in the first half.
The Chargers closed the first half on a 12-6 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from Anthony Baskerville.
"For this last game, no matter what you do to try to relax, the underdog's got such a great advantage because the underdog's probably trying not to lose more than you're trying to win," Hurley said.
This St. Anthony team will never play together again, but the six Division I players will head off to college knowing they joined an elite fraternity of state and T of C champs from the Jersey City school that does not even have its own gym.
"They have been weight training since last April," Hurley said. "They have done everything a kid can do to try to be successful.
"When they head off to college now, they're never going to shake their head and say, 'Gee, I don't know if I'm ready for this.' They're all going to adjust very well because they've developed a good work ethic."
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS WINNERS
BOYS
1989 - St. Anthony
1990 - Elizabeth
1991 - St. Anthony
1992 - Shawnee
1993 - St. Anthony
1994 - Orange
1995 - St. Anthony
1996 - St. Anthony
1997 - St. Anthony
1998 - St. Patrick
1999 - Seton Hall Prep
2000 - Camden
2001 - St. Anthony
2002 - St. Anthony
2003 - St. Patrick
2004 - St. Anthony
2005 - Seton Hall Prep
2006 - St. Patrick
2007 - St. Patrick
2008 - St. Anthony
Most Titles:
St. Anthony - 9
Most Appearances:
Seton Hall Prep - 11
St. Anthony - 10
GIRLS
1989 - Hoffman
1990 - Paterson Kennedy
1991 - St. John Vianney
1992 - St. Peter's
1993 - St. John Vianney
1994 - Mt. St. Dominic
1995 - St. John Vianney
1996 - Red Bank Catholic
1997 - St. John Vianney
1998 - West Morris Mendham
1999 - St. John Vianney
2000 - Red Bank Catholic
2001 - Sterling
2002 - Trenton
2003 - Shabazz
2004 - Shabazz
2005 - Camden Wilson
2006 - Shabazz
2007 - University
2008 - Shabazz
Most Titles:
St. John Vianney - 5
Shabazz - 4
Most Appearances:
St. John Vianney - 11
(Photos courtesy Kevin Wexler, Herald News)
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