On the same night St. Anthony ran its two-year long winning streak to 60 games, it’s chief rival for the last two decades, St. Patrick, played what could be the last game in school history.
UCLA-bound point guard Kyle Anderson scored 34 points to lead the Friars to a 90-24 rout of Oratory Prep in the New Jersey North Non-Public B quarterfinals in Jersey City.
Anderson eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the second straight game, having gone for 35 in Saturday’s win over Medford Tech.
Since arriving at St. Anthony to play for Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley in 2010 following the closing of Paterson Catholic, Anderson is now 60-0 in a Friars uniform.
“It was great to see my team being unselfish. We talked about this — this is the improvement we have to make. The way we shared the ball was great,” Anderson, who added nine rebounds and five steals, told The Jersey Journal. “We’re just looking to roll in the state tournament.”
That roll won’t include a rematch with St. Patrick after the Celtics were eliminated by Gill St. Bernard’s, 63-45, in Gladstone, N.J.
It was announced earlier this week that St. Patrick — the oldest parochial school in New Jersey and the school that produced current NBA players Kyrie Irving, Al Harrington and Sam Dalembert — would close at the end of the year for financial reasons.
“It’s sad,” St. Patrick principal Joe Picaro told The Star-Ledger. “It’s certainly the passing of an era. … [It’s been] unbelievable. You take this small school from E-port and have them become such a national force. To encapsulate it, it’s been way beyond anyone’s expectations.”
A year ago, St. Anthony and St. Patrick met in the mythical national championship game at Rutgers.
Both teams were undefeated going into the North Non-Public B final, but Anderson’s block on current Kentucky freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist helped turn the momentum and the Friars ended up winning the game, 62-45, and ending St. Pat’s season — and Gilchrist’s career.
Following that loss, former St. Pat’s coach Kevin Boyle, who produced more than 50 Division I recruits — including Irving, Kidd-Gilchrist and North Carolina guard Dexter Strickland — announced he was leaving for Montverde (Fla.) Academy.
“We had a great run,” Boyle, who won seven state titles and five New Jersey Tournament of Champions crowns in his 23-year tenure, told the Ledger.
This year’s St. Patrick was not nearly as loaded as Boyle’s last club and ended up falling to a Gill St. Bernard’s team that is led by uncommitted 2013 point guard Jaren Sina.
“[If the school closes] I’ll be heartbroken,” St. Patrick forward Dana Raysor told The Ledger. “St. Patrick’s is a legendary place, a legendary school, too. A lot of great players came through there. And it’s a family. Everybody there is like family. The kids that play baseball. The principal, the teachers. I’d be devastated if the school closed.”
The Ledger reported that Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union) said yesterday he and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) are working on a proposal to keep St. Patrick open. Jim Goodness, director of communications for the Archdiocese, confirmed to the paper Lesniak and Cryan met with Archdiocese officials yesterday.
“There are a lot of people concerned about the situation,” Goodness said. “But at this point there hasn’t been any change.”
So as one era ends, St. Anthony moves forward with its 60-game winning streak and will face Dwight-Englewood on Saturday.
Photos: Jersey Journal & Star-Ledger
