December 19, 2009
Friars survive opening test
Guard Matt Johnson was one of two sophomores to start for the Friars.
Click Here for photos from Edison Academy at St. Anthony.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
JERSEY CITY – Playing a post-graduate program of 19 and 20 year olds was hardly the ideal way for a St. Anthony roster loaded with players making their varsity debut.
Despite some tense moments late, the Friars survived their first test of the season with a 54-50 victory over Edison Academy last night at the CERC.
“This is not the kind of opening game you want to have in high school, particularly when you have a lot of young kids playing you’d like to ease in with someone whose a little less mature than this team,” head coach Bob Hurley said. “They’d be a test for any team. I’m very happy we managed. It was ugly, but we managed to beat this team.”
“No team is going to give (the game) to us just because were St. Anthony,” guard Elijah Carter added. “Every team’s going to come after us and we’ve got to play with a chip on our shoulder.”
Leading by as many as 19, a fourth quarter run by Edison Academy and Carter having fouled out, Hurley summoned veteran reserves Matt Rista and D’Marcus Owens to help preserve a suddenly perilous lead.
Neither Rista nor Owens filled up the stat sheet on the night, but their previous varsity experience and savvy allowed St. Anthony to weather the storm and protect a three-point lead late.
“It’s huge,” Rista said about having that varsity experience. “It makes all the difference that one year.”
Rista pulled down a rebound after a potential game-tying 3-pointer attempt from Edison misfired and later knocked down a pair of free throws to ice the victory. Owens helped settle down an offense that was in disarray for most of the final quarter.
“We should be able to win a close game at home just doing simple things like Matt making the two-shot foul and D’Marcus being able to bring the ball up the court without turnovers,” Hurley said.
Up until the final quarter, the Friars seemed poised for an easy victory behind the duo of Carter and Derrick Williams.
The St. Bonaventure-bound Carter led all scorers with 18 points. He also added six rebounds. Seven of those points and four rebounds from Carter came in the second quarter where St. Anthony pulled away.
He opened up the period with an alley-oop from teammate Dytrel Bracey. The basket was the start of a 21-0 Friar run where Edison Academy was held scoreless in the second quarter.
“We became impatient and we started settling,” Edison Academy head coach Jerry Austin said. “We started taking jump shots instead of taking it to the rim. When we didn’t hit the shots it gave (St. Anthony) opportunities to score. You can’t give good teams those types of opportunities.”
Edison’s scoring drought ended on Darrin Goodson’s basket with 6:35 left in the third.
Williams finished the run with five straight points to open the second half. One of the few Friars who could match the size and strength of Edison Academy, Williams had 16 points and eight rebounds. As impressive as the Richmond-bound center was, Hurley knows his team needs to get more out of Williams in order to win games.
“We didn’t get Derrick enough shots inside,” Hurley said. “He only had eight shots in the game. We’ve got to him 12-15 shots.”
Edison Academy started to chip away at the lead in the second half. A 16-3 run cut the deficit down to five points early in the fourth quarter. Another Edison Academy charge came late in the game courtesy of Jermaine Warmack. He had nine points and three steals in the final four minutes to finish with a team-best 12 points.
Goodson had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Mike Murray added 11 points in the defeat.
Jerome Frink added 12 points and six rebounds for the Friars in his first career start. Frink was one of two sophomores (Matt Johnson the other) to start for St. Anthony. Fellow sophomore Jimmy Hall also played briefly in the opening half. Hall and Johnson were promoted from JV just days before.
Bracey, a first-year varsity player led the Friars with five assists.
St. Anthony’s next game is scheduled for Sunday (1:30 p.m.) at Kean University against Plainfield in The Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic.
Guard Elijah Carter scored a game-high 18 points for St. Anthony.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edison Academy (9-9) | 18 |
0 |
14 |
18 |
50 |
| St. Anthony Friars (1-0) | 16 |
16 |
12 |
10 |
54 |
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| Edison Academy: Goodson 10 rebounds. St. Anthony: D. Williams 8 rebounds; Frink 6 rebounds; Bracey 5 assists, 4 rebounds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||