PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Elijah Carter wasn’t pleased with his junior campaign. The St. Anthony guard wasn’t one of the main options on offense and he watched from the bench as his team’s title run fell short in the state playoffs last year.
He sure made up for it this time around.
Carter, bound for St. Bonaventure next fall, recorded a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds to lift the Friars to a 63-49 victory over heavily favored Paterson Catholic in the Non-Public North B championship at the RAC on Thursday.
“He’s is a kid who didn’t like the player he was as a junior,” St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said of his senior leader. “Last year he couldn’t dunk; this year he can dunk the ball with two hands. He’s done great becoming a better player.”
Carter shot 7-of-12 from the floor and hit four three-pointers in helping the Friars (27-2) punch their ticket to the overall Non-Public B title game this weekend against Trenton Catholic.
This dominating defensive performance paved the way to earn revenge for St. Anthony, which fell to the Cougars (28-1) in the semifinals of this tournament last season. For Carter and company, it wasn’t a tall order to face the sixth-best team in the country according to the most recent USA Today poll either.
“It wasn’t intimidating at all,” Carter said. “Last year they only beat us by five and we’re a different team now. We bought into the system. This felt good. We want to win the whole thing. It’s exciting.”
The Friars, also ranked among the top 20 in the nation, forced 15 turnovers and held Paterson Catholic to eight points in each of the first two quarters. Despite holding a team that consistently scored over 70 points per game to such shoddy offensive numbers, Hurley was not surprised at his team’s effort.
“I thought something like this would happen,” Hurley said. “I thought that we have been underappreciated all season, but quietly we got better and better… Out of every team I’ve had I think this group made the most progress over a season. It’s also one of the best defensive teams I’ve ever had.”
Seton Hall-bound senior Fuquan Edwin poured in 22 points for the Cougars, but he got little support elsewhere. Kyle Anderson scored 10 points and junior point guard Myles Mack chipped in nine, but both stars shot a combined 6-for-23.
“This was a nine,” said Hurley, whose team converted 29-of-36 free throws. “We made some mistakes throughout the game, but I thought we had control and we made our free throws.”
ST. PETER’S PREP 64, SETON HALL PREP 54: Ronald Roberts registered 16 points and JJ Hladik added 14 to help the Marauders cruise past the Pirates in the Non-Public North A final.
Kevin Walker contributed 12 points for St. Peter’s Prep, which outscored the opposition, 24-10, in the fourth quarter en route to improving to 25-3 on the season. The Marauders will now face Camden Catholic in the overall Non-Public A title game.
Junior point guard Sterling Gibbs scored a game-high 22 points for the Pirates, who finished the campaign with a 26-3 record.
Star senior forward John Caprio notched 12 points and 14 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Seton Hall Prep squandered a 44-40 lead at the end of the third.
FITZSIMMONS:We forgot that Bob Hurley and his St. Anthony's hoops team never runs out of magic.
