WEST ORANGE- When the ‘3-ball’ is working at an all-time level of accuracy why change the formulat for success?
That overriding factor was certainly fully evident in Saturday’s 79th Essex County Tournament final as top-seeded Seton Hall Prep connected on a blistering 11-of-17 from beyond the arc and played superb team defense against a bigger St. Benedict’s team while registering a 68-63 victory for its record 21st ECT title and 17th in the past 30 years in an entertaining, fast-paced contest played before a large crowd in West Orange High School’s Tarnoff Gymnasium.
The Pirates (18-6) rode their dynamic backcourt of juniors Anthony Gonzalez and Avery George and sophomore Infinite Sincere-Amen Ra who combined for all 11 of their team’s 3-pointers to establish a defining tone with their ultra-hot shooting right from the get-go.
SHP was a bit undersized against a Gray Bees team (18-8) that has three starters who are 6-foot-5 or taller, but the Pirates’ 6-5 senior forward Alex Ante (7 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks) and 6-4 senior Daniel Beazer (5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal) were superb in their complementary work on both ends of the floor, while also defending well inside against the mostly bigger bodies from St. Benedict’s.
The versatile 6-3 George supplemented his timely perimeter shooting, which included a trio of 3-pointers and 14 points, with excellent defense, including at times working against the Gray Bees’ talented 6-5 junior Daniel Hinkov, who was held in check for the most part finishing with 9 points.
St. Benedict’s, which made 6 of its 21 3-point attempts, received solid efforts from its highly-touted 6-5 freshman guard MJ Postell, who finished with a game-high 24 points, and junior point guard Jack Liz Martinez, who had 15 points.
Along with George, backcourt mates Gonzalez (18 points, including his own trio of 3’s, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) and Sincere-Amen Ra (team-high 22 points, with five 3-pointers and 4 rebounds) were also superb throughout the contest as SHP prevailed behind its impressive shooting and overall defense in the third and pivotal ‘rubber’ match between the county’s two top teams this season, who entered this week tied atop the Super Essex Conference-American Division standings, each at 7-2 with one more game each to play.
The Gray Bees had been victorious in the most recent regular season showdown between the two, 60-55, back on Feb. 3, at Dalton Gym in Newark.
“While we each had a win against each other this season, this victory was extra special for us being that was a county final,” said Sincere Amen-Ra, who shows enormous poise for a sophomore. “We have a great group of guys on this team; we enjoy practice together, and we take our work seriously, including getting in a lot of extra work, including with our shooting, which definitely pays off in games like this one.
“I’ve been in games where I’ve seen an awful lot of made 3’s, but not in as important a game as this one was!”
Someone who is familiar with the importance of ‘hot’ shooting is SHP’s second-year head coach Sterling Gibbs, who is the program’s second all-time leading scorer and is now 2-for-2 in county finals.
“Our guys work their tails off in the gym, including before and after practice, continuing to work on every aspect of the game including of course their shooting, and I’m proud of the effort and performance everyone put in today,” said the SHP head mentor. “St. Benedict’s is a very talented team and we knew that we would have to leave it all on the court today, and we did just that.”
