Seton Hall Prep head coach Sterling Gibbs converses with his players during the 61-54 home win over Payne Tech on Feb. 12.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep basketball team won three games last week to raise its record to 16-6 on the season.
On Feb. 14, at Tarnoff Gymnasium at West Orange High School, the No. 1 seed Pirates defeated No. 4 seed Shabazz 67-43 in the semifinals of the 79th Essex County Tournament.
The Pirates were led by junior Avery George, who scored a career-high 22 points. Senior and West Orange resident Daniel Beazer scored 12 points with four rebounds; sophomore Infinite Sincere-Amen Ra scored 11 points; senior and Maplewood resident Alex Ante scored 10 points with nine rebounds; and junior Anthony Gonzalez scored six points and added seven rebounds, nine assists and three steals for SHP.
The Pirates will face No. 2 seed St. Benedict’s on Feb. 21 at noon at WOHS’ Tarnoff Gymnasium. This will be the third meeting between the Pirates and the Gray Bees. Seton Hall won the first meeting 65-55 at SHP’s Tracey Gymnasium in West Orange, while the Gray Bees won the rematch at Dalton Gymnasium in Newark 60-55.
Following the game, SHP head coach Sterling Gibbs said about Gonzalez, “Anthony is very smart and he is an unselfish basketball player. He is always at the top of our opponents’ scouting report. When teams are focused on shutting him down, that means certain guys are able to get open and he understands that. That is the biggest part of being a point guard.”
Under Gibbs, the Pirates aim to maintain their historic dominance of this tournament. A win in the final would be the Pirates’ second straight county crown, 17th in the last 31 seasons and 21st all time.
“I think it helps our guys being here before,” Gibbs said. “Just having experienced the crowd, the lore and understanding of how important a game this is. It takes some pressure off of you and lets you treat it more like business as usual. We are a good team and St. Benedict’s is a good team, and we have to go out there and lock in.”
On Feb. 12, the Pirates defeated the visiting Payne Tech Lions 61-54 behind senior and South Orange resident Collin Reese, who scored 13 points, freshman Bryce McCray, who scored 10 points, Sincere-Amen Ra, who scored nine points, and Gonzalez and George, who each scored eight points.
On Feb. 10, the Pirates defeated the visiting Jaguars from East Orange Campus 63-57. Gonzalez finished with 14 points, five rebounds and eight assists, while Ante also scored 14 points with 10 rebounds, Beazer scored 11 points with five rebounds and Sincere-Amen Ra scored 10 points.
On Feb. 17, the Pirates were scheduled to travel to Newark to take on Arts High School.
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