March 21, 2012

Jerome Frink (left) and Kyle Anderson (right) celebrate a second-straight undefeated season. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Plainfield vs St. Anthony Boys Basketball Photo Gallery

EAST RUTHERFORD – Leaving the IZOD Center with the Tournament of Champions trophy is something Kyle Anderson and Jerome Frink have been accustomed to. But as they walked off the court together as teammates for the final time with the championship trophy in hand, they did it having accomplished something no other St. Anthony players could stake claim to over the storied history of the program.

Behind the play of their two senior captains, the Friars put the finishing touches on a second-straight undefeated season, holding off Plainfield 66-62.

It is the first time St. Anthony has ever produced consecutive perfect seasons. Anderson and Frink were in the starring roles for this entire ride as both close out their high school careers with 65-straight victories.

"What happened these last two years, even at a school that's won a lot of championships, to do this back-to-back with the quality of the teams in New Jersey and to run the table both years is quite an accomplishment," St. Anthony coach Bob Hurley said.

"It's been a great run," Anderson said. "This year we just wanted to get back to work and finish another terrific season like the year before."

Unlike many of those prior 64 wins, little would come easy for the Friars (32-0) against a fearless and talented Plainfield squad. Despite an ankle injury late in the first quarter to Yale-bound center Justin Sears, the Cardinals (30-4) entered the half tied at 25-all.

It was then, when Frink took over.

The 6-foot-6 big man would take full advantage of Sears' absence, scoring the Friars' first six points of the third. Frink slammed home a Josh Brown miss to snap a 29-all deadlock with 5:44 left in the third and put the Friars on top for good.

"I kind of rushed in the first half," Frink said. "I just had to calm myself down in the second half and let the game come to me. My teammates helped me with that.

"I just had to get a chance to score as many buckets as I could (with Sears out). Then when he comes(back) in, I could just find my teammates."

With St. Anthony on a 9-1 run a hobbled Sears was reinserted into the game, but it did little to slow Frink down. He would score four more points in the third, getting 12 in the period to take a 46-38 lead into the fourth.

Frink added eight more points in the fourth quarter, the last of them coming off a Tariq Carey pass to give the Friars their biggest lead of the game at 59-45 with 3:11 left.

"It's a great feeling," said Frink, calling it the best half of basketball he ever had. "It's my senior year, my last game and I just had to come out and play."

"That's a phenomenal time to have something like that happen," said Hurley of Frink's 20 points in the second half.

Plainfield would not surrender as Jahmal Lane and Sekou Harris had eight and seven points respectively to cut the deficit down to three. But Hallice Cooke's free throw with 3.7 seconds left would put the final touches in St. Anthony's 12th ToC title in the 24-year history of the tournament.

Frink led all scorers with 26 points and added 13 rebounds. Anderson, the UCLA-bound wing, had 14 points, six rebounds, five blocks, four assists and four steals. Carey came off the bench to score a season-high 18 points in relief of Josh Brown, who sat large chunks of the game while in foul trouble. Carey, a transfer from Newark Eastside, hit consecutive 3-pointers late in the second quarter to five the Friars a 25-20 lead.

"Tariq really picked us up today," Hurley said. "He had a really good game off the bench offensively for us."

Cooke and Brown, reserves on last year's team, finished with seven and four points respectively.

Harris led Plainfield with 22 points and seven assists. Lane scored 21 points, 16 coming in the second half. Denzel Christian scored nine points and Diijon Allen-Jordan pulled down 10 rebounds. Sears, who entered the game averaging 14 points and 11 rebounds per, was limited to just nine minutes due to the ankle injury and foul trouble. He finished with two points and two rebounds before fouling out with 7:11 left in the fourth.

"We just accomplished something," Hurley said "You want to know how good a team we are? We beat a great team tonight. We did just about enough, not necessarily that much more, but just about enough to get this win."

Jerome Frink (right) drives to the basket for two of his 20 second-half points. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Plainfield vs St. Anthony Boys Basketball Photo Gallery