March 28, 2001
Wrapping Up the High School Basketball Season
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
High school basketball in New Jersey ended Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader in
the Meadowlands. Only a few all star games remain and the 2000-01 season will find its
permanent place in history.
But first, it is time for our all star buffet, a list of the best (and occasionally, the worst) of
the just completed season. So, here we go.
All Cape-Atlantic Boys: Olu Babalola, St. Augustine Prep; Thomas Baker,
Millville; Antwan Dozier, Pleasantville; Jose Gonzalez, St. Augustine Prep; Scott
Greenman, St. Augustine Prep.
All Cape-Atlantic Girls: Jen Daniels, Holy Spirit; Monica Johnson, Wildwood;
Shaune McLaughlin, Mainland; Kim Ordille, Holy Spirit; Ikea Witt, Sacred Heart.
All Rookie Boys Team (freshmen or sophomores with limited prior experience):
Jon Greene, Wildwood; Jon Mimmo, Holy Spirit; Manuel Perez, Egg Harbor Township;
Micah Rolls, Ocean City; Kamron Warner, Pleasantville.
All Rookie Girls Team: Kara Ayers, Absegami; Shantae Barnes, Absegami;
Melissa Doyle, Middle Township; Jen Fetsick, Wildwood; Andria Haneman, Holy Spirit.
All Transfer Team: Pat Devaney, St. Augustine Prep (from Marist); Kevin Holmes,
Atlantic City (from Holy Spirit); Nana Mensah-Bonsu, St. Augustine Prep (from Hun
School); Ron Reed, Atlantic City (from St. Augustine Prep); Henry White, Holy Spirit (from
Absegami).
CAL Boys Coach of the Year: There are a number who qualify - Paul Rodio,
Butch Warner, Tom Attanasi, George McNally, Jon Evans - but the winner is Tom Feraco.
He taught a Middle Township team with some glaring weaknesses to take advantage of
its strengths and it led to another 20-win season and another trip to the South Jersey
finals.
CAL Girls Coach of the Year: Once again, the CAL was blessed with strong
coaching - Dave Troiano, Steve DiPatri, Greg Goodwin, Karl Geisinger, Tim Legler - but
Larry DiGiovanni gets the nod. Sure, he was blessed with good talent. But he brought
that talent together and guided the Spartans through a minefield of tough challenges,
losing only to two of the best teams in America.
Rookie Coaches of the Year: Both took over programs with great success and
returning talent. And both maintained the success and took that talent to a high level.
The easy winners are Butch Warner of Pleasantville and Tim Legler of Middle Township.
Boys Game of the Year: Once again, the area was blessed with great games -
Pleasantville's overtime loss in the state final, Atlantic City's three road wins in the
Group 4 tournament, St. Augustine's buzzer-beater over St. Patrick's, Ocean City's rally
past Egg Harbor Township, Mainland's win over Atlantic City and Pleasantville's
remarkable comeback win over the Vikings in the Battle by the Bay, among them. But
the edge goes to the two Atlantic City-Holy Spirit games, with the visiting team winning
in overtime each time. It re-enforced the value of keeping rivalries alive.
Girls Game of the Year: There was Holy Spirit's early-season win over
Wildwood; Middle Township's Kathi Wilson winning a pair of games at the buzzer;
EHT's near upset of St. Dominic Academy, one of the state's top ranked teams; Sacred
Heart's win over Gloucester Catholic. There are a bunch of them. But the best had to be
Wildwood's amazing win over Trenton in the Shootout at EHT. The Warriors led by three
but fouled on a desperation three-pointer in the final second. Trenton's Mykeema Ford
made all three shots to tie the game. But Wildwood's Lana Harshaw took the ball out
and passed to Monica Johnson for a 25-footer at the buzzer that won the game.
Best Finish: Sterling girls coach Bill Ulrich finished his career by watching his
girls become the first South Jersey team to win the Tournament of Champions. Ulrich
won nearly 500 games as girls coach at Sterling, more than 200 as Sterling's boys
coach and more than 200 as Asbury Park's boys coach.
Worst Finish: Over three seasons, Red Bank Catholic's senior girls were 78-10,
winning two state championships over the final two seasons, when they were 59-2. They
also won the 2000 Tournament of Champions and spent a lot of time ranked among the
25 best teams in America. Yet, when these girls left the court after losing for the final
time to Sterling in the TOC semifinals, their fans basically ignored them. These kids
deserved a standing ovation.
Hustle Award: Brian Cunniff and Scott Wahl broadcast Middle Township's South
Jersey final with Camden live from Eastern in Voorhees on "98.7 The Coast" starting at
4 p.m. on March 6. When they finished, they jumped in the station van and obeyed all
speed limits while driving to Woodstown to also broadcast the Wildwood girls against
Haddon Township, starting at 7. They missed a few minutes of the girls game but, in the
end, they brought the fans back home live coverage of both championship games.
Hustle Award - Part Two: Was TV40's Zubin Mehenti at EVERY basketball game
this year, or was it my imagination? If John-John isn't careful, The Big Z will pass him.
Newcomer of the Year: The Sports Center at Richard Stockton College. This
facility, called "Big Blue" until a better name is finalized, is a quality arena that will
mean a lot to area hoop fans. The CAL playoff games were played there this year and
you can look for some NJSIAA championship games to be staged there next season.
It was another great basketball season. And, just think, in less than 38 weeks we can
start all over again.
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