Bob Hurley has won more than 1,000 games and 12 New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles in his Hall of Fame coaching career at St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City, N.J.
Yet in the past few years, one school and one coach have been a real thorn in his side.
Roselle Catholic and coach Dave Boff have ended St. Anthony’s season three years in a row in the Non-Public B State title game, and the Lions have won four of their last five games with St. Anthony’s.
The teams will meet again on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Non-Public B final at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River. Hurley and St. Anthony’s (29-0), No. 4 in the USA Today poll, will put their perfect record on the line against the Lions (22-7), who have won two of the last three TOC titles. The winner of this game will remain the favorite to win another TOC later this month.
“I’m only worried about this particular game,” Hurley told me Friday by phone. “The past doesn’t really [matter], different players with different teams have been in this game.”
The game is loaded with Division 1 prospects. St. Anthony’s features six players signed or committed to D-1 programs, including Georgetown-bound guard Jagan Mosely, Eastern Kentucky signee Asante Gist and Arizona State commit Daniel Mading. Gist, who as a freshman at Roselle Catholic won the TOC, is seeking to become the first player in state history to win the TOC title with two different schools.
RC, meantime, has no player committed yet, but a slew of talented players including 6-4 senior guard Matt Bullock, seeking to win his fourth state title and third TOC crown.
“Bullock is a unique high school player,” Hurley said of the uncommitted guard who has been RC’s best player in recent weeks. “He’s a matchup nightmare because he can take bigger kids out, face them up, and score when he’s away from the basket. He’s ridiculous the way he can get his hands on the ball and just secure it. If you put a small on him, at the end of the day he can bench press 400 pounds.
“He can certainly be an outstanding mid-major player. Maybe his size, he’s kind of a tweener and his body type maybe people think he’s not agile enough, so they’re missing the boat. He passes the eye test because every time I see him matched up against somebody who’s talented, he seems to be the best player on the floor.”
The Lions, who knocked off St. Patrick’s in the South Non-Public B semifinals and then Gill St. Bernard’s in the South final, also feature sophomore big man Naz Reid, junior forward Andre Rafus and junior point guard Nate Pierre-Louis — all high-level D-1 recruits.
“[Saturday’s] game presents real issues because we’re considerably smaller,” Hurley said. “And so in being considerably smaller we have to shoot well. We have to try to keep their physicality from being a factor and at the same time their perimeter guys can make shots, so we can’t just try to surround Bullock and Nazi and not be conscious of [Gilberto] Cue and Nate [Pierre-Louis].”
Hurley pointed out that Roselle Catholic has also been tested — including four games with St. Pat’s that they split 2-2 — more than St. Anthony’s has.
“They’ve played a great schedule,” Hurley said. “Our North Jersey tournament wasn’t good preparation for this game, we just didn’t have any tough games during the tournament. And South Jersey being much stronger, they’ve had from the Union County Tournament to now, they’ve played a lot of tough games.
“And we played a good schedule but we’ve had a couple games in a row where we haven’t been challenged. So we’ve tried to simulate it in practice and I hope that works.”
