By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
After a 28-1 regular season that has them sitting at No. 5 in the latest ESPN 25 Power Rankings, Syracuse-bound Tyler Ennis, Pittsburgh pledge Mike Young and St. Benedict’s Prep will go in search of their first National High School Invitational Tournament title beginning April 4 and will do so as the No. 4 seed as matchups and seeds for the eight-team event were revealed on Tuesday morning.
The Gray Bees, who own a win over St. Anthony and whose lone loss was to Blair Academy, will open play at NHSI on April 4 at 2 p.m. against No. 5 seed La Lumiere (Ind.) as part of a quarterfinal quadruple-header at Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md.
The rest of the quarterfinal schedule will have No. 3 seed Prime Prep (Texas) take on sixth-seeded and Florida 7A state champion Blanche Ely at noon, No. 2 seed Montverde Academy (Fla.) take on seventh-seeded Oak Hill Academy (Va.) at 4 p.m. and top-seeded, unbeaten Findlay Prep (Nev.) will face No. 8 seed Montrose Christian (Md.) at 6 p.m.
A semifinal doubleheader will take place on April 5 at 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., while the final is set for April 6 at 1 p.m.
While St. Benedict’s Prep has never won NHSI, Findlay Prep has won the event three out of four years, including last season. If Findlay Prep and Montverde Academy, which is coached by former St. Patrick of Elizabeth head coach Kevin Boyle, get to Saturday’s final, that game will very likely act as an unofficial national championship games. The two teams currently sit at No. 1 and No. 2 in both the ESPN 25 Power Rankings and USA Today Super 25.
Boyle is no stranger to unofficial national championship games. In what would be his final game at St. Patrick, the Celtics dropped a 62-45 to St. Anthony in the 2011 NJSIAA Non-Public North B final at Rutgers. The Celtics and Friars entered the game ranked first and second, respectively, in all national polls. St. Anthony would go on to win the New Jersey Tournament of Champions and the unofficial national championship. Boyle left for Montverde less than a month later.
