After ending St. Anthony’s 83-game winning streak in dramatic fashion Friday night, St. Benedict’s Prep could have easily suffered a letdown 24 hours later.
The Gray Bees (20-1), ranked No. 5 in the USA Today poll, had to turn around and play Cape Henry Collegiate (Va.) on Saturday in Atlantic City.
But they didn’t stumble and instead handled Cape Henry, 78-58, behind 20 points from sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe, 19 points and 13 rebounds from Pitt-bound forward Mike Young and 19 points from Syracuse-bound point guard Tyler Ennis.
Old Dominion commit Denzell Taylor added 11 rebounds.
Cape Henry fell to 19-2 on the season.
St. Anthony also got back on the winning track, knocking off Ridgewood, 82-43 on Saturday.
Despite the loss to St. Ben’s, St. Anthony will remain a heavy favorite to win their third straight New Jersey Tournament of Champions title, although Georgetown commit Reggie Cameron and Hudson Catholic should give them a run in the North Non-Public B bracket.
Meantime, St. Benedict’s goal is to get to the ESPN National High School championship and compete for a title.
“Our Tournament of Champions is making the NHSI, the National High Invitational on ESPN at the end of the year,” St. Ben’s coach Mark Taylor said after the St. Anthony game. “That’s our Tournament of Champions, so if we don’t get there we feel like it hasn’t been an accomplishment.
“We want to beat national-level teams. We played Montrose [Christian] and now we just beat No. 4 in the country and that’s why our kids come to St. Benedict’s and that’s the kind of competition we want to play.”
The Gray Bees will get another good test Tuesday when they host newly-minted Cincinnati commit Jermaine Lawrence and Pope John XXIII.
Photo: St. Benedict’s Prep
