TOMS RIVER, N.J. — Jagan Mosely didn’t want his lasting legacy at St. Anthony’s to be the leader of the first senior class under Bob Hurley never to win a state title.
So the Georgetown-bound guard, who sports “0” on his jersey as a constant self-reminder that he has no rings, took matters into his own hands on Saturday at the Pine Belt Arena.
Facing the same Roselle Catholic program that had deprived St. Anthony’s of a Non-Public B championship each of the last three seasons, Mosely dropped a game-high 16 points, 9 of which came in the fourth quarter, leading the Friars to a 53-37 win for their 28th state title all-time-and their first since 2012.
St. Anthony’s (30-0, ranked No. 4 nationally per USA Today) was well on its way toward running Roselle Catholic (22-8, No. 2 in the state) out of the gym, disposing of the Lions as if they were just another North Non-Public B cupcake. Daniel Mading, a junior who is already committed to Bobby Hurley at Arizona State, pushed St. Anthony’s lead to 37-21 late in the third quarter on a three-pointer from the corner.
But Roselle Catholic proceeded to go on a 15-3 run, highlighted by 6 points from Matt Bullock, a highly decorated senior aiming for his fourth state title. (Postgame, Hurley referred to Bullock as ‘perhaps the strongest high school kid in the United States.’) Just like that, it was a 40-36 contest.
That’s when Mosely reaffirmed that, surrounded by an overabundance of high-level Division 1 talent, he was the best player on the court, at least for one night.
Mosely followed an Asante Gist three-pointer with a huge triple of his own from the right wing. Moments later, Mosely provided the dagger, finishing a straightaway layup by taking it right into the chest of Roselle Catholic’s Naz Reid, drawing a foul in the process. Mosely later added a free throw for good measure, contributing 6 points in St. Anthony’s game-ending 13-1 run.
“I wasn’t worried,” Mosely insisted. “I knew that my team was the more mature team, coming with at least eight seniors, and they were mostly a young team. I knew we were going to come out on top anyway.”
Mosely wasn’t the lone Friar senior to play with an inspiring sense of urgency. Juvaris Hayes chipped in with 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Idris Joyner had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and more importantly held Reid scoreless after halftime.
“It feels good,” said fellow senior and future NJIT Highlander Shyquan Gibbs. “We walked in here like, ‘We got to do it this year,’ because the past three years we just had our heads down walking to the locker room, and now we could walk out here with our chest up.”
“We all wanted it, but [St. Anthony’s] played like they wanted it more,” Reid said afterward.
Notorious for his relentless, 94-feet man-to-man defense, Hurley masterfully mixed in some zone to disrupt Roselle Catholic, resulting in a normally high-powered Lions attack often settling for low-percentage looks.
“[Playing zone] probably gave us a little extra energy as the game went on, but it also showed us that they really shot a lot of jump shots,” said Hurley, who graded his team’s performance a 6.5 out of 10.
“This was going to be a game of conditioning and quickness, and we can put our hats on, and we can guard anybody at the high school level,” he continued. I don’t care who we play against.”
St. Anthony’s now turns its focus to capturing the 13th Tournament of Champions title in program history, where it will be the overwhelming favorite. Hurley sees the TOC as icing on the cake, all but conceding that the real state champion was determined on Saturday. That might be partly attributed to Mosely and his classmates never having previously experienced life after the Non-Public B final.
“Our championship’s today,” Hurley said. “I’ll talk to the kids about the other thing [TOC] that they’ve never been involved in. We’ve won a bunch of those Tournament of Champions. Today was the championship. We’re now playing with house money. So anything we do after this, it’s not going to reflect on our accomplishments for the season.”
For the last three years, the day after the sectional title has been one of mourning for St. Anthony’s following a season-ending loss to Roselle Catholic.
The fourth time proved to be the charm, however. Thanks to the late-game heroics of Mosely, Hurley and the Friars are looking forward to a rare off day on Sunday.
“We’ll go to church,” Hurley said, “and we’ll thank the big guy for giving us the opportunity to play at a level today that was deserving of the effort they put in all year.”
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