by Alex Schwartz

The NJSIAA state title tilts were this weekend, and I was able to get to five of the six contests, and for the most part, they were great games. On Saturday at the Ritacco Center in Toms River, New Jersey the two Non-Public championship games were held, and then today at the RAC on the campus of Rutgers University, it was the Public schools' turn to go for state crowns. I'll give you the rundown on how things went this weekend. In this article, I'll cover the Non-Public games, with a post the Public games coming soon.

On Saturday at 12:00pm, the Non-Public South A champion Christian Brothers Academy Colts, the three seed in their section, met the Non-Public North A champion Immaculata Spartans, also the three seed in their section, in the Non-Public A state championship game. Immaculata, which had a great postseason run last year, was the defending champion and features a talented trio of seniors in Gamel Mohamed '09, Notre Dame-bound (football) Theo Riddick '09, and Jon Mack '09. For CBA, UMBC-pledge Brian Neller '09 and Roy Mabry '09 are the go-to guys. Unfortunately, I was unable to get out to the Ritacco Center for the game, but I've gotten information from different people about what went down. The Colts, coached by amulnus Geoff Billett, took a comfortable, not huge, lead into the break after pulling away late in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, it was the opposite, as the Spartans pulled away, hitting numerous free throws down the stretch, while CBA missed a bunch from the stripe. The 'Lata guards led their team down the stretch and sent the IHS Spartans to the Tournament of Champions for the second straight year.

The first state title game I was able to get to was at 4:00pm on Saturday, in a matchup of the top seed in the Non-Public South B section, Trenton Catholic, and the number one seed in the Non-Public North B section, St. Patrick's. The Iron Mikes of TCA were coming in riding an 18-game win streak, while the Celtics entered as the favorite to win not only the No-Public B title, but the TOC crown as well. Coaches from Siena, UPenn, Rider, Niagara, George Mason, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Delaware Valley (DIII) were some of those that I saw in attendance, with both WVU Head Coach Bob Huggins and Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey making the trip. In a physical game that featured over 40 fouls from start to finish, the first quarter was very low scoring, with St. Pat's holding a 14-9 advantage through eight minutes of play, behind six points from stud sophomore Michael Gilchrist '11. Kevin Boyle's squad began to pull away in the first four and a half minutes of the second quarter, using a 10-0 run at once point to take a 26-14 lead. At the half, it was 30-18 in favorite of those Celtics, who got nine points out of North Carolina-signee Dexter Strickland '09, seven of which were in the second quarter. The Iron Mikes, who were led by seven points from Khalid Lewis El '11, were able to hold Kyrie Irving '10 scoreless in the first 16 half of play. At the same time, St. Pat's held Frantz Massenat '10 without a point. Irving and Massenat are arguably the top players on their respective squads, and are two of the top juniors in New Jersey. In the third quarter, the Celtics began to really pull away, holding as much as a 23-point lead, 48-25, with 2:27 to play. Irving, who did not score in the first 20+ minutes of the game, dropped seven points in the quarter. At one point, Irving dumped it off down low to Gilchrist, who jammed it home, leading the person sitting next to me to comment, "Well that's the future [of St. Pat's]." Dondre Whitmore '10 did his best to keep his team in it, scoring eight points in the third, after having just two in the first half. A 9-3 from TCA to end the third quarter made it 51-34 with eight minutes to go. A Whitmore deuce to open the fourth made it a 15-point game, as the Iron Mikes slowly started to chip away at the Celtics' lead. With 2:15 left, Fred Falchi's boys had chopped the lead all the way down to 12, 69-57, as Dondre Whitmore caught fire, scoring 10 of TCA's 14 points in one stretch. For the Iron Mikes, it would be too little too last. A 7-0 run from the Celtics made it 76-57 with 1:16 to go, and the teams then cleared their benches. In the end, it was St. Patrick's coming away with a 76-62 victory to advance to the 2009 Tournament of Champions as the Non-Public B state champions. Dexter Strickland was named MVP for the victors, finishing with 20 points, five rebounds, and two assists, while Dondre Whitmore was selected as the MVP for TCA, scoring a game high 22 points.

Box Score (statistics are unofficial)

Team                                 1          2           H          3          4           F    
St. Patrick's                    14        16        30        21        25         76
Trenton Catholic             9          9          18        16        28         62

St. Patrick's
Dexter Strickland- 20 points, one 3P, 7/9 FT (all FT in 2nd half)
Paris Bennett- 16 points, 2/7 FT
Michael Gilchrist- 15 points, 5/6 FT (all FT in 1st half)
Kyrie Irving- 11 points (all in 2nd half), one 3P
Derrick Gordon- 5 points, 2/3 FT
Kevin Boyle, Jr.- 5 points (all in 2nd half), 1/1 FT
Chase Plummer- 2 points
Dean Kowalski- 2 points

Trenton Catholic
Dondre Whitmore- 22 points (20 in 2nd half w/ 12 in 4th quarter), two 3P, 6/6 FT
Khalid Lewis El- 13 points, one 3P, 6/6 FT
Chris Lewis- 7 points (all in 2nd half w/ 5 in 4th quarter), 1/1 FT
Markese Tucker- 6 points, 0/1 FT
Frantz Massenat- 5 points (all in 2nd half), one 3P, 2/4 FT
Reggie Coleman- 4 points (all in 1st quarter), one 3P, 1/2 FT
Brandon Taylor- 3 points (all in 1st quarter), 1/2 FT
Daquan Basnight- 2 points, 0/2 FT