In the wake of the cancellation of the SNY Invitational, defending national champion St. Anthony has added games next month against New York City powers Thomas Jefferson and Lincoln.
The Friars (13-0), currently No. 5 in the Five Star Basketball Power Rankings, will take part in a doubleheader at Lincoln on Feb. 15. St. Anthony will meet Jefferson in the first game, likely around 5 p.m., followed by Lincoln against St. Raymond’s.
St. Anthony has also added a game against Isaiah Whitehead and Lincoln Feb. 21 at St. Anthony.
“It’s a good test for me personally,” Lincoln coach Tiny Morton told SNY.tv. “I love to coach against a Hall of Famer [St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley]. As a coach, you get a chance to coach against someone like that, you get a chance to steal some things before your playoffs start.”
St. Anthony’s bid for a second straight undefeated season should get interesting next month.
The Friars visit Plainfield — always a tough place to play — Feb. 7 and then face a loaded Huntington (W.V.) Prep squad Feb. 11 in the Primetime Shootout before hosting Linden Feb. 13. That will be followed by the Jefferson game.
“The baskets are 10 feet high,” Hurley said of going to Plainfield. “Kyle Anderson has played in some pretty big games in his life, as has Jerome Frink, and the other guys. It will be a good preparation for the state tournament.”
Hurley said he was looking to add another game and might possibly play Chris Obekpa and Our Savior New American at some point. Our Savior is also scheduled to host St. Benedict’s Prep, No. 14 in the Five Star rankings, March 8.
As for the cancellation of the SNY Invitational after LIU notified SNY 48 hours before the event, Hurley said: “The assumption everybody had is that it was Grandfathered in because of some reason.
He added: “LIU should know this [about the NCAA rule]. It’s their responsibility. It’s ridiculous that there’s a compliance officer and every place in the country has gotten out of the different tournaments because of this and they don’t know it.”
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Hurley said James Madison is the latest school to become involved with the 6-8 Jerome Frink, but that he “won’t make any visits until after the season.” Hurley added: “I think his performance against [Jabari] Parker showed that he can play against guys with reputations, which he’s done for quite a while.”
