Bishop George Ahr High School’s Ragen Reddick, right, is fouled on her way to the basket by Piscataway Township High School’s Tunde Adeyemo during the finals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament held on Feb. 27 on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway. Bishop Ahr lost, 50-45, to the Chiefs. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR BISHOP AHR
K evin Harper, Bishop George Ahr
High School girls basketball coach, isn’t fooled by Paul VI High School’s 12-12 record, which the Trojans face in the first round of the NJSIAA Non- Public A South tournament on March 5.
“This [section] continues to be one of the toughest in the entire tournament,” Harper said. “Every team is excellent, and we know we have a tough road ahead of us.”
Harper’s contention was validated by how the teams were seeded. Bishop Ahr, despite a 16-9 record, was ranked ninth, while the Eagles earned the eighth seed. If the Trojans advance, their likely opponent on March 7 would be top-seed Camden Catholic High School (20-4).
Bishop Ahr is attempting to shake off the disappointment of a 50-45 defeat to Piscataway Township High School on Feb. 27 in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) championship game at the Louis Brown Athletic Center (RAC). The Trojans (12th seed) made a spirited run through the bracket, but they lost the opportunity to pull out the victory in the final minutes when they experienced a scoring drought. Bishop Ahr led for most of the game, but Piscataway (second seed and defending champion) took a 44-42 lead with 2:15 remaining, and the Trojans failed to respond except for a 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Despite the defeat, this continues to be a special season for the Trojans, during which Harper contends that “the team came together” as the year progressed, partly due to the leadership of Brianna Foster, the only senior in the rotation.
“I’ve played four years, and this [team] is by far the closest [one] I’ve been on,” Foster said after the loss to Piscataway. “The rest of the girls may be younger, but we’re always constantly together, even after practice and on off-days, and it means so much to me about what we’ve done, no matter if a lot of people thought we wouldn’t get this far [in the GMCs].”
The other area girls team involved in the state tournament was Metuchen High School (sixth seed), which hosted Keyport High School (11th seed) on March 4 in Central Jersey Group I. If the Bulldogs won, they moved on to a meeting the following day with Middlesex High School (third seed).
ST. JOSEPH
The ultimate goal of the St. Joseph High School boys basketball team is to win a Tournament of Champions title, but everybody on the team agreed the Falcons’ game against East Brunswick High School before 5,000 at the RAC was a good test for what lies ahead.
The 59-45 victory, which represented the fifth consecutive year St. Joe’s has won the GMC title, came against the same opponent the Falcons defeated last year in double overtime. St. Joe’s was never seriously threatened, except for a brief period in the second quarter, but it took a focused effort by 2013’s non-public state champions to keep the Bears from making it closer.
“We did what we always like to do, and that’s play a fast-break game,” said 7-foot center Karl Towns, who finished with 13 points.
Towns was the dominant force in the paint as he always is despite picking up his second foul in the second quarter, which forced the University of Kentucky-bound pivot player to sit on the bench for the remainder of the half. As St. Joe’s has proved repeatedly, its success is not contingent on Towns. The Falcons received an outstanding performance from Marques Townes, the only St. Joe’s starter yet to commit to a college. Townes, who was voted the Most Valuable Player and led the Falcons with 22 points, was a defensive force by picking off a number of passes, which jump-started the vaunted fast break that Towns referenced. Townes has yet to commit to play basketball or football, a sport where he starred as a linebacker for the Falcons, in college.
With the regular season completed, which included high-profile games against nationally ranked teams, St. Joe’s sets its sights on the state tournament, which begins with the top-seed Falcons hosting the winner of a first-round game between Gloucester Catholic High School (ninth seed) and Notre Dame High School (eighth seed) on March 7 in the Non-Public A South tournament.
If the Irish win, the clash with the Falcons would be the first encounter in four years between their coach, Bob Turco, and his brother, Dave Turco, who is St. Joe’s mentor. Bob was the Monroe Township High School coach when the teams played in the GMC finals in 2010.
In other boys tournament games involving area teams played on March 4, Metuchen (ninth seed) visited Middlesex (eighth seed) in Central Jersey Group I, and Edison High School (12th seed) was at Plainfield High School (fifth seed) in North Jersey II Group IV. Bishop Ahr (11th seed) travels to Christian Brothers Academy (sixth seed) in Non- Public A South on March 5.
Ice hockey
Another perennial tournament champion representing St. Joe’s is its ice hockey team, and the Falcons punctuated their dominance in the GMC this season with a 9-0 victory over Old Bridge High School in the conference tournament title game on Feb. 22. The win also avenged a 2-1 loss to the Knights in a regular season game on Jan. 8 — the first time St. Joe’s lost a regular season game to a GMC opponent.
The Falcons opened play in the NJSIAA Non-Public Championships with a 4-1 victory over St. Peter’s Preparatory School of Jersey City on Feb. 26. St. Joe’s (11th seed) was looking forward to a meeting with Christian Brothers Academy (third seed) on March 4 at Jersey Shore Arena in Wall Township.
The GMC championship represents the third consecutive year the Falcons have captured the conference title, but head coach Ryan Carter said winning the GMCs never gets old.
“This year’s team has 10 first-year varsity players, so it’s all been about getting them to believe in each other and team-first concepts,” he said. “Once we began to believe in each other, we knew that the GMCs were within our reach. And the same goes for winning the state championship.”
Carter said to be successful in their bracket, the Falcons needed to continue to stick to their game plan and play within their system, which is to put the team in front of individual achievement.
“All season long, we have been teamfirst, and there is no reason to change that now,” he said. “We are taking this step-bystep and game-by-game. The team knows that what we do next is most important.”
EDISON
Two Edison High School wrestlers advanced to the state championships in Atlantic City on March 7-9.
Robert Cleary, the Eagles’ 106-pounder, finished runner-up in Region 5 after he lost the title bout to Gonzalo Limenza of Bound Brook High School, 11-1. Cleary’s teammate, Billy Povalac, qualified to advance at 138 by taking third place on the strength of a 7-4 victory over Somerville High School’s Moumen Akel in a consolation match.
Cleary and Povalac’s opponents were to be selected when the seeding committee met on March 4, which determined the preliminary round matchups that take place on March 7. The matches, which will be held at Boardwalk Hall, continue that evening with the pre-quarterfinals. The following day, the quarterfinals, semifinals and four wrestleback rounds will be held. The consolation matches and championship finals will be staged on March 9.