ROSELLE, N.J. — Malachi Richardson didn’t start very well against St. Anthony in the PrimeTime Shootout at Roselle Catholic.
But he sure finished on a high note.
After going scoreless in the first half, the Syracuse pledge hit a game-winning floater in the lane with 28 seconds remaining to propel Trenton Catholic Academy to a 51-50 victory over St. Anthony.
“I played horrible in the first half, but I picked it up in the second half and so did my team. And we came out with a victory towards the end,” the 6-foot-5 Richardson told SNY.tv after scoring all 12 of his points in the second half. He remains 14 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
Myles Powell, a 6-foot reclassified sophomore, scored 25 points in the win for Trenton Catholic.
Uncommitted senior Tarin Smith led St. Anthony with 22 points and junior forward Markis McDuffie added 17 in the loss.
St. Anthony led 46-42 before Trenton Catholic closed the game on a 9-4 run that included five points from Powell, including his fourth 3-pointer that put his team ahead 47-46.
With Trenton Catholic trailing 50-49 and 50 seconds remaining, Richardson drove the lane and hit a mid-range floater to give his team a 51-50 lead.
St. Anthony was called for an offensive foul on the other end but with 7 seconds on the clock, Trenton Catholic missed the front end of a one-and-one. Smith had one last chance win it for the Friars, but he crashed into a Trenton Catholic player and no foul was called, leaving Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley angry with the officials as the game ended.
Playing alongside current Syracuse freshman forward Tyler Roberson, Richardson won the Tournament of Champions at Roselle Catholic a year ago before transferring.
So he is more than familiar with the gym and the rims at his old school.
“It’s big because no one expected us to win this game,” Powell said. “It was the pressure on them, not us, to win this game. It was a chip on their shoulder so we just tried to win.”
Powell, who transferred from Medford Tech and has already scored 1,000 points in his career, has interest from Drexel, Temple, Rutgers, Rider, Quinnipiac and Seton Hall, but no offers.
He says he’ll grow to 6-3 and projects as a shooting guard in college. He can definitely shoot it. He scored 36 earlier this year against Pennsbury.
“It feels good to play with Mali because everybody’s focused on Malachi so it it just makes my job easier,” Powell said. “So when they do that, I just try to do what I do best and shoot.”
As for Richardson, he attended last week’s Duke-Syracuse epic at the Carrier Dome, as did 2016 Gill St. Bernard’s guard Tyus Battle, who scored 21 in his team’s win earlier in the day.
“I was there, it was an amazing game,” he said. “C.J. [Fair] played very well, the whole team, Tyler [Ennis], everybody, it was a great win.”
At Syracuse, Richardson said he’ll play “the two or the three, the top of the zone, the bottom of the zone, just get out there and contribute to the team.
“I’m just trying to finish out high school and get there.”
FREE THROWS
Ole Miss and Duquesne are the latest to offer St. Anthony’s Smith…SMU is involved with McDuffie, a junior.
