Seton Hall Prep junior Anthony Gonzalez, shown handling the ball, enjoyed a strong all-around season, leading Seton Hall Prep to the Essex County Tournament title and a 20-7 final record.. 9Photo Courtesy of PJ Candido/Seton Hall Prep)
BELLEVILLE, NJ — Belleville resident Anthony Gonzalez had an outstanding junior season, as he was a leader on a Seton Hall Prep basketball team that went 20-7 on the season.
The SHP Pirates captured their 11th Super Essex Conference–American Division title, 21st Essex County Tournament title and reached the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public “A” North final game for the first time since 2016.
Gonzalez’s final stats include 324 points (12.5 points per game), 106 rebounds (4.1 rebounds per game), 146 assists (5.6 assists per game) and 52 steals (2.0 steals per game).
For his career, which includes one year at Union City and the last two years at Seton Hall Prep, located in West Orange, Gonzalez has scored 1,048 points.
Some of his highlights include his 1,000th career point. It was accomplished against DePaul in the NJSIAA Non-Public “A” North quarterfinals, when he took a pass from fellow junior Avery George and hit a three-point field goal with 6:33 left in the first quarter.
Another highlight from this past season was leading his team to a 68-63 victory over St. Benedict’s in the ECT title game. Gonzalez scored 17 points and added five assists.
Following the game, Gonzalez said, “We just prepared the right way. Every day in practice, we were going very hard. We knew that this game was not going to be easy. St. Benedict’s was not going to give it to us. We were going to have to earn it and I thought we did it today.”
SHP head coach Sterling Gibbs said, “Anthony is about winning. He wants to win at all costs, whether that’s taking a step back from scoring and having a lot of assists and zero points.”
Following the season, Gibbs talked about Gonzalez. “Anthony was our leader and set the table for us to accomplish great things as a team. His competitiveness, leadership and overall game took us to a different level. We are very lucky to have him at Seton Hall Prep and I am so proud of his development.”
Last week, the Super Essex Conference–American Division coaches met and Gonzalez was selected to the first team for the second consecutive season.
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