Saturday, March 15, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

St. Anthony's Mike Rosario throwing down a dunk on his future home floor at the RAC during his team's 76-41 rout of Immaculata in the T of C semifinals.

PISCATAWAY – On the first two possessions of Friday night’s Tournament of Champions semifinal, Immaculata blew past the vaunted St. Anthony defense for layups to put the Spartans ahead. It also gave the Spartans' roaring fan base reason to cheer.

With those two baskets, the Immaculata student body, which filled at least the first 20 rows behind a basket at the Rutgers Athletic Center, started chanting, ‘Overrated…overrated’ as their Spartans took a 4-0 lead. Maybe it was tongue-in-cheek, but it was certainly a little bit early to be poking a stick at St. Anthony, not only the No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey, but also ranked No. 1 in the nation by the USA Today.

Mike Rosario, Tyshawn Taylor, and A.J Rogers combined to hit an eye-popping 13 of 14 first-half shots, as top-seeded St. Anthony hit 17 of 24 shots in the first half en route to a 76-41 romp over Immaculata, the No. 4 seed, in front of 4,000 at the RAC.

Theo Riddick and Immaculata went from a No. 8 seed in the state sectional tournament to the being one of the four teams left playing in New Jersey.

“We knew that this game was going to be like a road game,” said St. Anthony’s Jio Fontan. “(Immaculata) came in on a roll with nothing to lose and they have a loud fan base. We had to rise above that and just worry about doing what we do on the court.”

Gamel Mohamed and Tim Sanderson scored early to put the Spartans ahead, 4-0, less than two minutes into the game. That is when the chant started to come from the ‘overrated’ chant came down from Spartan fans. Rosario, who has signed with Rutgers for next fall, got comfortable on his soon-to-be home court quickly. He drilled a three-pointer to get the Friars going in the right direction and they never stopped. Taylor and Rogers added six points apiece in the first quarter as the Friars grabbed a 21-12 lead.

After shooting 69.2% (9 of 13) from the field in the first quarter, St. Anthony remarkably improved on that percentage in the second quarter. The Friars hit 8 of 11 (72.7%) shots in the second quarter, including 3 of 3 from Rosario, as they put the game away by halftime by doubling up the Spartans, 40-20.

“I feel comfortable on this court and I was hitting my shots early,” said Rosario. “My teammates did a great job of drawing the defense and that left me open on the wing.”

St. Anthony's Albert Rogers throwing one down.

The second half was similar to the first with the Friars smothering the Spartans and their leader, Jeff Cullinan. The 6-4 center had been one of the most valuable players for any team in the entire state tournament heading into the T of C semifinals, but the double-double machine was held to just five points and three rebounds

“We know they like run their offense through Cullinan and we knew he was someone we had to focus our attention on,” said St. Anthony head coach Bob Hurley. “I thought we did a very good job on the glass and that kickstarted our offense. I thought we also did a very good job of getting into the lane, stopping, and kicking the ball out for open shots.”

The onslaught continued in the second half with Travon Woodall leading the way. The Pitt-bound senior, who is the team’s sixth-man, did a little bit of everything and set the tone on both ends.

Woodall finished 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and four steals for St. Anthony’s (31-0). Rosario was 9 of 12 from the floor, including 4 of 4 from three-point range, for a game-high 22 points. Taylor and Rogers added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Jeff Cullinan helped lead Immaculata to a bevy of postseason upsets and a 22-9 record.

Immaculata, which was seeded eighth in the Non-Public A North bracket to start the state tournament, saw its upset-laden run and its season come to an end with an overall record of 22-9. Sanderson led the way with nine points and seven rebounds for the Spartans. Gamal Mohamed also had nine points and Theo Riddick chipped in with eight.

The Tournament of Champions seeds held true, as St. Anthony’s will take on second-seeded Science Park of Newark, a 59-49 winner over Rancocas Valley last night, for the crown as New Jersey’s best team.

“We know how big this game is, but we are going to prepare for it like we do every other game,” said St. Anthony’s Tyshawn Taylor, who is headed to Marquette next year. “No matter who we play, we’re always going to play hard for 32 minutes. We’re hungry and we’ve wanted to be in this position all year. Now we’re just one step away from running the table.”

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