NEW YORK — Cole Anthony does not have pleasant memories of the final basketball game of his sophomore season at Archbishop Molloy High School.
Anthony missed on his attempted layup with three seconds left in regulation and the Stanners lost to Cardinal Hayes, 64-62, in the CHSAA Class AA Intersectional championship at Fordham University’s Rose Hill Gym.
To this day, Anthony blames himself for the team’s loss.
“We weren’t ready to play, the whole team,” the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Anthony told me last week in the Molloy gym in Briarwood. “None of us came to play. I remember the practice before, dudes were smiling. And that’s probably on me, it was probably on me not to put them mentally in check, but we weren’t ready for that game.”
Anthony, the son of former NBA point guard Greg Anthony, can’t wait for the 2017-18 high school season to start so he and his teammates can begin to make up for that loss. With Anthony, 7-foot-2 senior center Moses Brown and 6-7 senior wing Khalid Moore, the Stanners have three players being recruited at the highest levels — and an excellent chance to redeem themselves after last season. They also have a strong supporting cast with guys like Jamal Watson, Daniel Braster, Jade Hse and Nick Balfour.
“I mean I can’t even put in words how much that’s motivating us,” Anthony said of last year’s loss. “We have dudes that weren’t even on the team, they’re just as motivated as the rest of us.”
How good can this Molloy team be?
“I think we can be the No. 1 team in the country,” Anthony said. “We got a bunch of dudes who are here and are willing to buy in and play for the greater good of the team, so there’s no reason we couldn’t be the No. 1 team in the country.”
Cole Anthony had to give some jelly ? @The_ColeAnthony pic.twitter.com/v7ITQTy0Dt
— Overtime (@overtime) June 16, 2017
Longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski graduated Molloy in the early 1960s and has seen their entire basketball history.
“It has the potential to be a very good team, and they do have a great chance to win the city championship,” Konchalski said of this year’s squad. “But the No. 1 team in the country, I don’t know that.”
“We could be very good,” Molloy coach Mike McCleary said this summer. “I think we have the potential to be very good. Certainly the best team I’ve ever coached if they’re all here.”
Anthony is the engine that makes Molloy go. He averaged 20.7 points, 7.0 assists and 1.9 steals in Catholic League play last year en route to his second straight All-CHSAA first-team honors, and then followed that up by averaging 18.6 points, 6.7 assists and 2.5 steals with the PSA Cardinals this summer on the Nike EYBL circuit.
Anthony and his family don’t openly discuss recruiting, but Duke, Louisville and Kansas are among those involved. At a recent workout, Miami head coach Jim Larranaga and assistants from Oregon, Villanova and Cal were also on hand.
“He’s wide open now,” PSA Cardinals coach said Mark Carter said of Anthony’s recruitment, adding that Anthony consults with his family during the process.
It’s regular for Cole Anthony ? @The_ColeAnthony pic.twitter.com/FlvEL8Vtk4
— Overtime (@overtime) June 25, 2017
Anthony is ranked the No. 6 overall player in the Class of 2019 by ESPN.com, and he’s slotted as the No. 1 guard in that class, just ahead of UCLA commit LaMelo Ball, the younger brother of Lakers guard Lonzo Ball. Still, Konchalski calls Anthony “the best guard in the country irrespective of class.”
“First of all, he has a tremendous blend of athleticism, size and skill, and he has a great will,” Konchalski said. “He’s gotta learn the nuances of running a halfcourt team and last year he deferred a lot more than he did as a freshman and he tried to get his teammates involved, but he’s gotta learn when to shoot, when to pass. Sometimes he doesn’t take over the game quickly enough, and other times he tries to do too much himself. But that’s just going to come, he’s only a junior in high school.”
Carter added: “Seeing his work ethic and his drive, it’s unlike any high school player that I’ve seen in a long time. A lof of guys have it, but Cole is just like a machine. We haven’t seen anything like that from a guard in New York City. He’s cemented himself as arguably the best guard in the country regardless of class.”
Anthony, of course, has a built-in support system in the form of his father, the former Knicks point guard, who is always available to counsel and mentor him on his game and the business of basketball in general. Greg is a constant fixture at his son’s high school and AAU games.
“He’s given me a lot of advice and honestly it’s just been a blessing to have him as a resource that a lot of people don’t have,” Anthony told Rivals.com this summer. “I just try to take all the knowledge I can get from him.”
Anthony and the Stanners will be showcased on the biggest stages this season. They are already locked into several national events, including the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Florida in December, the Hoophall Classic at the Naismith Hall of Fame in January and the SNY Invitational in New York later in January, where they will be joined by fellow area powers Hudson Catholic, Long Island Lutheran and Cardinal Hayes, the team that ended Molloy’s season. Molloy could also play a league game on ESPNU against Catholic League rival Christ the King.
“It’s going to be different because I don’t think this school has done that in a while,” Anthony said. “Not everyone is going to be used to traveling that much, but I think it’s going to be a very good experience for us, going out and showing everyone that we’re the No. 1 team in the country.”
In March, Anthony fully expects to be back fighting for city and state titles. Will he consider it a failure if the Stanners don’t win a city championship?
“Yeah,” he said, “most definitely.”
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Photo: Jon Lopez/Nike
