St. Anthony, the defending national high school champ, pulled out a narrow 57-54 victory over Paterson Eastside Sunday at the New Years Jump-Off at Teaneck High School.
The Friars improved to 8-1 but arent blowing out opponents like they did last year when they featured six Division I players.
“We made a lot of mistakes so it really came down to who made fewer mistakes, them or us,” St. Anthony head coach Bob Hurley told the Jersey Journal.
“We’re still young and we haven’t yet worked it all out,” said Hurley.
Villanova-bound guard Dominic Cheek scored 22 points for the Friars and Quinnipiac commit Jamee Jackson added 16.
Eastside (0-4), which features Robert Morris-bound guard Karon Abraham, has yet to win its first game after reaching the Passaic County and North 1, Group 4 finals last year.
“Starting out like this, now I’m frustrated,” Abraham told The Record (NJ) of Hackensack. “I have to be a leader now.
“So I’m coming back and finishing my senior year strong
St. Anthony will get some frontcourt help mid-January when transfers Devon Collier, Ashton Pankey and Derrick Williams become eligible.
St. Patrick, the favorite to win the Tournament of Champions, also gets guard Kyrie Irving after 30 days. He will team up with North Carolina-bound guard Dexter Strickland to form what should be the top backcourt in the Garden State.
***St. Peter’s upset Don Bosco, 57-48, behind 22 points from Miles Davis.
***St. Benedict’s and St. Patrick are No. 3 and 4, respectively, in the latest PrepNation.com poll. Dan Hurley’s St. Benedict’s club has already won the Kreul Classic in Florida and the Gatorade International Championship in Puerto Rico, while Kevin Boyle’s St Pats team won the Beach Ball Classic and reached the final of City of Palms before falling to No. 1 Mater Dei. Highly touted sophomore forward Michael Gilchrist (pictured) erupted for 31 points and 14 rebounds in the Beach Ball final against Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler.
Rice is No. 21 in the PrepNation poll, while St. Anthony and Lincoln both dropped out.
