Episode Four – Legacy: Bob Hurley
Here is Episode 4 of SHOWTIME Sports’
Rhode Island is headed to the NCAA
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — This may have been the end of the line for the storied St. Anthony’s basketball program.
In what potentially could have been the school’s last boys basketball game ever — and the final game coached by the Naismith Hall of Famer Bob Hurley — Hudson Catholic downed the Friars, 64-61, to win the New Jersey North Non-Public B title at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
St. Anthony’s faces a financial crisis and needs approximately $500,000 to avoid closing its doors after this school year. SHOWTIME Sports is documenting St. Anthony’s season and its cameras covered the game.
Hudson Catholic’s “Big Three” of high-major Division 1 recruits was simply too much — even for Hurley’s legendary defense — as they combined for 60 points.
Junior point guard Jahvon Quinerly scored a game-high 25 before fouling out and junior small forward Louis King scored 20 points for the Hawks, whose coach, Nick Mariniello, had never before beaten St. Anthony’s. Junior guard Luther Muhammad added 15 points.
“This is just a great feeling right now, I can’t even explain it,” Quinerly said. “But our season’s not over. We got I think St. Pat’s next so we looking onto that but we’re excited right now. It’s our first time beating them. This is my first time beating them. Ever. It’s a great feeling.”
Hudson Catholic — and not St. Anthony’s — will meet The Patrick School in the Non-Public B final on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Ritacco Center in Toms River, N.J.
It’s a rematch of a game played Dec. 18 at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., in which The Patrick School prevailed, 65-63.
Kentucky-bound Nick Richards scored a career-high 28 points and 16 points to lead The Patrick School to a 71-62 victory over Roselle Catholic in the South B final at Jackson Liberty earlier Wednesday.
Patrick School is your South Jersey, Non-Public B champs #TPSvsRC pic.twitter.com/pAnqtz0Lmr
— Richard Greco (@RichardGrecoHS) March 9, 2017
Ithiel Horton led St. Anthony’s with 17 points and Howard-bound guard R.J. Cole added 16 for St. Anthony’s.
Hurley did not want to speculate on the school’s future after the loss.
“The last thing in the world, you’d be sitting in a press conference after losing the North Jersey final, and be thinking about like something outside of what just happened to us,” Hurley said. “The expression my father used to use all the time, there’s a time and a place for everything. And discussing that right now is just not appropriate. We’re dealing with what just happened on the basketball court. There’s enough emotion for us going through that because we gave ourselves a chance to go to Saturday. We had the opportunity to go to Saturday and didn’t play well enough. And that’s hard.”
Mariniello estimated his school hadn’t beaten St. Anthony’s since the 1976-77 season, and he hopes it’s not the end of the run for the the storied program.
“You know what, I don’t want them to close,” Mariniello told me Tuesday. “We don’t want to see any Catholic schools close, and especially them because it’s a storied institution with a storied coach and we want to be able to compete against that.
Hudson Catholic coach Nick Mariniello has never beaten St. Anthony’s and legendary coach Bob Hurley.
The two Catholic schools are Jersey City rivals and will meet Wednesday night in the highly anticipated North Non-Public B final at 8 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center. The Friars are the No. 1 seed in the bracket and the defending New Jersey Tournament of Champions, while the Hawks are the No. 2 seed.
Because of the school’s dire financial situation, the next game St. Anthony’s loses could be the final game ever played by the school’s basketball team. The potential final season is being documented by SHOWTIME Sports.
“You know what, I don’t want them to close,” Mariniello said Tuesday by phone. “We don’t want to see any Catholic schools close, and especially them because it’s a storied institution with a storied coach and we want to be able to compete against that.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Survive and advance has taken on a whole new meaning for Bob Hurley and the St. Anthony’s Friars this March.
With the tiny Catholic school literally fighting to survive, every game in the New Jersey state tournament could be the legendary program’s last.
Ever.
“Yeah, we mentioned it to each other, said this might be our last time together, period,” Howard-bound senior guard R.J. Cole told ZAGSBLOG after pouring in a team-high 26 points as St. Anthony’s knocked off Montclair Immaculate, 66-52, in the North Non-Public B quarterfinals before a packed house on Friday night. The Friars won despite 31 points from junior guard Jalen Carey, who is being courted by Seton Hall, UConn, Notre Dame and Kansas, among others.
“Next year the school might not be here,” Cole added of St. Anthony’s. “So we all had to go out with a chip on our shoulder and keep competing and win.”
