Kentucky-Bound Nick Richards Leads The Patrick School into New Jersey TOC Final
Kentucky-bound big man Nick Richards went off
Kentucky-bound big man Nick Richards went off
Minnesota-bound guard Jamir Harris and The Patrick
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.
By DENNIS CHAMBERS
RAHWAY, N.J. — The Patrick School continued its road towards the ultimate goal Monday night with a 66-56 victory over the Ranney School in the South Non-Public B semifinals at Rahway High School.
The ultimate goal would be a victory in the New Jersey Tournament of Champions later this month.
Ranked No. 1 in the state all season, the Celtics go in to each playoff matchup with the bigger picture in the back of their minds .
“No question this team’s goals are to win a state championship and a ToC,” co-head coach Mike Rice said about his team’s ambitions. “When you’re at the top of the food chain for as many weeks as we’ve been your goal is to win. So, we’ll win. No doubt our goals are state championship and ToC.”
The Celtics will now face rival Roselle Catholic for a fourth time this season in the South Non-Public B final on Wednesday night at Jackson Liberty (7 p.m.). The Lions beat Gill St. Bernard’s, 54-51, on Monday despite being without junior big man Naz Reid, whose status for Wednesday’s game is uncertain. The Patrick School is 3-0 against Roselle Catholic this season, including a win in the Union County semifinals.
Reigning ToC champion St. Anthony’s will face Hudson Catholic in the North Non-Public B final on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Rutgers. The winners of those two games will then play for the Non-Public B state title on Saturday in Toms River.
UNION, N.J. — The outlook didn’t appear great for Nick Richards and The Patrick School entering the fourth quarter of their Union County Tournament semifinal on Tuesday night.
The 6-foot-11 Kentucky-bound big man had just three points to go with his three fouls and the defending champion Celtics trailed rival Roselle Catholic by three points entering the final stanza.
“It’s my last year as a senior, I don’t want to go out losing like this so I had to turn up,” Richards said. “I had to leave it all out there.”
Richards did just that, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the fourth as No. 2-seeded Patrick School outscored No. 3 Roselle Catholic, 26-14, en route to a 55-46 victory at Kean University. Richards added eight rebounds as his team improved to 3-0 against Roselle Catholic this season.
NEWARK — Whether he believes the Earth is flat or the Moon landing was faked, you can say this about Kyrie Irving.
He continues to help students at his alma mater, The Patrick School, including paying the $11,000 tuition of 12-year-old Spencer Joyner, a seventh-grader who was diagnosed in November with pseudotumor cerebri, a debilitating condition that results in migraine headaches and can cause vision loss.
Spencer sat courtside at the Villanova-Seton Hall game on Saturday at the Prudential Center, next to his father, Mel Joyner, and his AAU coach, Prophet Kates of the NY Jayhawks.
Mel said when his son first walked into the Prudential Center, which had more than 16,000 fans in attendance, Spencer said, “Wow.”
