By ADAM ZAGORIA
Only two programs in the history of New Jersey prep basketball have ever won more than two Tournament of Champions titles.
You may have heard of them.
Led by Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley, St. Anthony’s won 13 TOC titles, most recently in 2016.
Under legendary coach Kevin Boyle, St. Patrick’s won five. Rebranded as the Patrick School, they won a sixth last season under co-coaches Chris Chavannes and Mike Rice.
On Sunday evening in Trenton, coach Dave Boff and top-seeded Roselle Catholic (28-4) can make history by winning their third TOC title when they face No. 2 Don Bosco Prep (29-2) at Cure Insurance Arena. The Lions previously won in 2013 and ’15, while Don Bosco lost in last year’s final to the Patrick School and has never won before.
“It would be huge for us to get our third,” Boff said Friday by phone. “It would be something that would separate us from the other program that has two. I think Seton Hall Prep also has two TOCs, so it would put us into different company where our program would be along with St. Pat’s and St. Anthony’s as having the most TOCs, and I just think that that would be something special for our program to just kind of put ourselves in the super-elite level programs in the history of the state.”
The game will feature a slew of high- and mid-major commits and prospects. Roselle Catholic has LSU-bound big man Naz Reid, a McDonald’s All-American, as well as Delaware-bound guard Ithiel Horton and high-major 2019 prospects Kahlil Whitney and Josh Pierre-Louis.
Don Bosco features Rutgers-bound guard Ron Harper Jr., St. John’s-bound forward Marcellus Earlington and St. Peter’s-bound point guard Matthew Herasme.
“We obviously have our hands full with an extremely talented team,” Bosco coach Kevin Diverio said. “We just have to go out and play as hard as we can, play the best that we can, and see how we do.”
A year ago, Bosco lost to a loaded Patrick School team that had six D-1 commits, including current Kentucky freshman Nick Richards and current Seton Hall frosh Jordan Walker. Earlington and Harper each scored 13 apiece in that game.
Champs. Good for them. pic.twitter.com/QDk7EJYMjz
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 21, 2017
“They’ve actually talked about it [winning] this season, more than I would’ve thought,” Diverio said. “So I think it was definitely a goal that they had and I know we’re excited to actually get back there and compete in the game and give it another shot.”
He added: “For the school it would be tremendous. For these kids, they’ve had a tremendous run for 2-3 years and to be able to bring the gold trophy home for the school would be a tremendous achievement. Even just to bring one back to Bergen County would be special.”
Boff knows the Ironmen will be especially motivated after last year.
“It’s a team that’s been ranked in the top five in the state of New Jersey all year,” Boff said. “They played in the TOC final last year and the majority of the kids on this year’s team played in the TOC final last year, so they’re really experienced. They’ve been here before and so all those things make them a difficult opponent.”
Boff knows history will be on the line Sunday but he hasn’t touched on it with his team.
“We’ve stuck to the goals that this group has had this year,” he said. “They wanted to be the first Roselle Catholic team to win all the championships that you can win in a season — conference, county, section, state and TOC.
“And neither of our TOC teams did that because we had never won the [Union] County before so they’ve accomplished the first four and the challenge now is to go out and finish the job on Sunday.”
LIST OF TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS WINNERS
1989 – St. Anthony 62, Elizabeth 55
1990 – Elizabeth 65, St. Anthony 62
1991 – St. Anthony 63, Seton Hall Prep 39
1992 – Shawnee 46, Marist 41
1993 – St. Anthony 84, Middle Township 59
1994 – Orange 64, Paterson Catholic 56
1995 – St. Anthony 47, Shawnee 44
1996 – St. Anthony 65, Shawnee 57 (OT)
1997 – St. Anthony 69, Seton Hall Prep 63
1998 – St. Patrick 62, Seton Hall Prep 49
1999 – Seton Hall Prep 54, Teaneck 45
2000 – Camden 50. Seton Hall Prep 46
2001 – St. Anthony 48, Shabazz 47
2002 – St. Anthony 69, Neptune 49
2003 – St. Patrick 61, Camden Catholic 38
2004 – St. Anthony 67, Bloomfield Tech 55
2005 – Seton Hall Prep 63, St. Patrick 60
2006 – St. Patrick 61, Linden 54
2007 – St. Patrick 85, Bloomfield Tech 61
2008 – St. Anthony 69, Science Park 36
2009 – St. Patrick 59, Science Park 57
2010 – Trenton Catholic 53, Camden Catholic 39
2011 – St. Anthony 61, Plainfield 49
2012 – St. Anthony 66, Plainfield 62
2013 – Roselle Catholic 65, St. Joe’s-Metuchen 49
2014 – St. Joe’s-Metuchen 85, St. Peter’s Prep 72
2015 – Roselle Catholic 57, Pope John XXIII 45
2016 – St. Anthony’s 55, Linden 38
2017 – Patrick School 69, Don Bosco Prep 55
