WEST ORANGE—Both Seton Hall Prep and St. Benedict’s were too big and too strong for their opponents in the Essex County Tournament semifinals, setting up what could be one of the best and most compelling games played in the state this season.
The top-seeded and defending champion Pirates handled previously unbeaten Shabazz, 67-43, while the second-seeded Gray Bees edged Arts, 56-50, in the semifinals of the 79th ECT Saturday afternoon at West Orange High School.
The parochial powers will face off for the county title next Saturday (Feb. 21, a noon tip at WOHS) in a marquee matchup that will feature two teams overflowing with talent, two terrific young coaches, and a championship-level atmosphere.
Under head coach Sterling Gibbs, SHP aims to maintain its historic dominance of this tournament; a win next weekend would be the Pirates’ second straight county crown, 17th in the last 31 seasons, and 21st all-time.
“I think it helps for our guys having been here before,” Gibbs said. “Just having experienced the crowd, the lore, the understanding of how important a game this is. It takes some of the pressure off you, lets you treat it more like business as usual. We’re a good team, St. Benedict’s is a good team, and we just have to go out there and lock in.”
The Pirates (16-6) are a well-balanced squad that plays unselfish ball – they collected 19 assists in the win over Shabazz, led by star junior point guard Anthony Gonzalez’s 9 – with dangerous sharpshooters like Avery George (career-high 22 points) and Infinite Sincere-Amen Ra, who combined to make 7 of 12 three-pointers Saturday.
Meanwhile, Chris Simpson’s Grey Bees (17-6) are not only aiming for a second ECT title in three years: they know this will be their one shot at a championship trophy in 2026, the team having been removed from the NJSIAA Tournament due to the state’s disqualification rule.
“Today was a big moment for us, to earn the right to be a champion,” Simpson said. “Obviously I have my thoughts about the situation we’re in [with the NJSIAA], but I don’t want to feed too much into the state tournament drama, because it is drama. But for me it’s more about our kids learning about the ups and downs of life that you go through, and being able to persevere.”
The Gray Bees certainly have the height, length, and athleticism to match almost anyone in the state. In Saturday’s win, Benedict’s frontcourt trio of Terrance Jamison, Daniel Hinkov and Arouna Coulilbaly – all 6-foot-5 or taller – terrorized Arts, combining for 34 points and 21 rebounds including a staggering 14 offensive boards. Those three, combined with the terrific guard play of junior Jack Liz Martinez (13 points, 5 rebounds), should offer a major challenge to the Pirates.
The two teams split their regular-season SEC-American Division meetings, each winning on their own home court (a 65-55 Pirate win on Jan. 6, a 60-55 Benedict’s win on Feb. 3).
Big-Man Trio Lifts Benedict’s
The Gray Bees’ ability to dominate the offensive glass was the difference in Saturday’s win over a resilient Arts squad.
After falling behind by seven points just after the start of the second half, St. Benedict’s took control with a 15-0 run – featuring 11 second-chance points, stamped by Coulilbaly’s thunderous putback dunk – to take a 42-34 lead late in the third.
“The offensive rebounding was everything today,” Simpson said. “I think at a certain point our guys felt a sense of the moment, and they were just inspired to get after those rebounds. It was a great effort by our guys.”
Third-seeded Arts (15-7) wouldn’t go away, however, and key buckets from Tyshaun Boyd (13 points, 6 rebounds), Ayyub Wilson and reserve Greg Reyes kept the game within one possession for most of the fourth quarter.
After Boyd banked in a five-foot jumper to pull the Jaguars within three, 48-45, with 2:12 to go, Jamison (15 points, 9 rebounds) missed a layup on the Grey Bees’ next possession. But Coulilbaly pulled in the rebound and fired a pass to wide-open freshman star MJ Postell, who drilled the 3-pointer to extend the lead to 51-45, a critical shot that kept Arts at arms’ length.
Coulilbaly, who had a breakout game in Benedict’s win over East Orange Campus on Thursday, was arguably the player of the game despite a modest stat line of 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.
His imposing 6-foot-8 height and sizable wingspan made it difficult for Arts to get anything easy near the rim, particularly after Simpson made an on-the-fly change from man to zone defense. (“We literally put it in at halftime,” the coach noted.) On multiple occasions in a back-and-forth fourth quarter, Couilbaly’s presence in the paint altered shots and freed up Jamison and Hinkov to clean up on the boards; Jamison had seven of his game-high 9 rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“Just Arouna’s God-given size, he’s huge, and it makes it so tough for guys to attack him,” Simpson said. “I think we just had a lot of confidence knowing that he was back there.”
Perhaps not coincidentally, Arts’ best run of play – an 11-0 run just before halftime that put the Jaguars ahead by five at the break – came after Coulilbaly went to the bench with three fouls. Wilson, Boyd and Mekhi Jean-Pierre all scored in the paint, while Idris Grimsley also converted a pair of free throws after driving into the lane, to push the Jaguars’ lead to 30-25 at half.
Pirates End Shabazz’s Unbeaten Dreams
The second half of Saturday’s doubleheader featured the intrigue of undefeated and fourth-seeded Shabazz going up against the battle-tested Pirates.
Early on, the undersized Bulldogs (22-1) seemed to match up well with their frenetic, aggressive defense. They forced SHP into eight first-quarter turnovers, and trailed by just two points, 9-7, at the end of the period after Anthony Blackmon’s putback beat the buzzer.
Christian Gray’s putback of a Zaim Barnes miss pulled Shabazz into an 11-11 tie with 5:47 remaining before halftime, and it appeared as if the upstart Bulldogs from the SEC’s sixth tier, the Freedom Division, might have another chapter to write in their perfect season.
Instead, the Pirates responded with three minutes of clinical offense that bulldozed the Bulldogs and put the game all but out of reach. Amen Ra hit three-pointers on back-to-back-to-back possessions in a span of 59 seconds, twice assisted by Gonzalez, and George followed with a triple of his own 25 seconds later. Alex Ante (10 points, 9 rebounds) finished a backdoor layup on the next trip to extend the Pirates’ lead to 25-11.
Shabazz’s offense, unable to penetrate the lane against the bigger, lengthier Pirate defenders, settled for tough jumpers, and Beazer and Gonzalez collected most of the misses to turn them into open transition looks.
“We ask our guys to do a lot in our offense as far as making reads and knowing where to be, but we also just like to let them be basketball players,” Gibbs said. “I think we’ve got a good mix of the two, where guys feel comfortable playing within our structure, but they also have that freedom to make plays when the opportunity is there.”
The Pirates’ offense hummed behind Gonzalez, the outstanding point guard who was heavily involved despite making just one of seven field goal attempts on the night. His work manipulating the Shabazz defenders helped to open up numerous high-quality shots.
“I just do what I have to do to win,” Gonzalez said. “Scoring six points with a win, I’ll take that any day over scoring 20 points in a loss. My teammates were great tonight, obviously Infinite went off from 3, but I’m just trying to make the right plays and put guys in the right spots.”
The Pirates extended their lead to 53-29 at the end of the third quarter as they found plenty of success getting to the rim, with George chipping in 11 points (including 6-for-6 from the line) and Ante adding eight more.
Shabazz, which will enter the NJSIAA North 2, Group 1 tournament as the section’s No. 1 seed – just ahead of Arts – was paced by Barnes’ 14 points.
#1 Seton Hall 9 18 26 14 - 67
#4 Shabazz 7 6 16 14 - 43
Seton Hall: Avery George 2-4-6-22, Daniel Beazer 6-0-0-12, Infinite Sincere-Amen Ra 1-3-0-11, Alex Ante 4-0-2-10, Anthony Gonzalez 0-1-3-6, Bryce McCray 1-0-2-4, Tyler Lewis 1-0-0-2.
Shabazz: Zaim Barnes 4-2-2-16, Elijah Colon 4-0-2-10, Anthony Blackmon 3-1-0-9, Christian Grey 3-0-2-8.
Team FG shooting: Seton Hall 23-42, Shabazz 17-45
Team 3P shooting: Seton Hall 8-18, Shabazz 4-21
Team FT shooting: Seton Hall 13-14, Shabazz 5-9
Team turnovers: Seton Hall 15, Shabazz 13
Team rebounds (offensive): Seton Hall 30 (8), Shabazz 23 (11)
#2 St. Benedict’s 20 5 17 14 - 56
#3 Arts 18 12 7 13 - 50
St. Benedict’s: Terrance Jamison 4-1-5-16, Jack Liz Martinez 5-1-0-13, Daniel Hinkov 1-2-4-12, MJ Postell 1-2-0-8, Arouna Coulibaly 3-0-0-6, Malik Sonko 0-0-1-1.
Arts: Tyshaun Boyd 4-0-5-13, Ayyub Wilson 3-1-1-10, Greg Reyes 0-2-3-9, Idris Grimsley 2-0-4-8, Kareem Anthony 1-1-0-5, Mekhi Jean-Pierre 2-0-0-4, Jayshauni Lewis 0-0-1-1.
Team FG shooting: St. Benedict’s 20-53, Arts 16-41
Team 3P shooting: St. Benedict’s 6-18, Arts 4-13
Team FT shooting: St. Benedict’s 10-16, Arts 14-19
Team turnovers: St. Benedict’s 12, Arts 13
Team rebounds (offensive): St. Benedict’s 39 (23), Arts 30 (14)
79th Essex County Tournament
Quarterfinals, Saturday, Feb. 7:
(1) Seton Hall Prep 76, (8) Payne Tech 39
(2) St. Benedict’s 62, (7) Newark Tech 28
(3) Arts 59, (6) Newark Collegiate 56
(4) Shabazz 79, (5) East Orange Campus 66
Semifinals, Saturday, Feb. 14:
(1) Seton Hall Prep 67, (4) Shabazz 43
(2) St. Benedict’s 56, (3) Arts 50
Championship game, Saturday, Feb. 21:
(1) Seton Hall Prep vs. (2) St. Benedict’s, 12 p.m. at West Orange HS
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The 78 ECT Boys Finals:
2025: Seton Hall Prep 65 Payne Tech 61
2024: St. Benedict’s 57 Immaculate 34
2023: Seton Hall Prep 46 Arts 32
2022: Seton Hall Prep 60 Central 55
2021: no tourney due to covid-19
2020: Immaculate 63 Seton Hall Prep 51
2019: East Side 69 Immaculate 66
2018: East Side 58 Immaculate 54
2017: East Side 43 West Side 38
2016: Seton Hall Prep 50 East Side 44
2015: Seton Hall Prep 70 East Orange Campus 62
2014: East Side 60 Seton Hall Prep 42
2013: Seton Hall Prep 58 East Side 47
2012: Seton Hall Prep 67 University 47
2011: Seton Hall Prep 61 Irvington 49
2010: University 67 Seton Hall Prep 57
2009: University 59 East Side 48
2008: Science Park 54 Seton Hall Prep 43
2007: Seton Hall Prep 56 Bloomfield Tech 49
2006: Bloomfield Tech 79 Columbia 43
2005: Seton Hall Prep 56 Bloomfield Tech 31
2004: Seton Hall Prep 84 Bloomfield Tech 59
2003: East Side 53 Seton Hall Prep 47
2002: East Side 61 Seton Hall Prep 50
2001: Shabazz 49 Seton Hall Prep 44
2000: Seton Hall Prep 61 West Side 39
1999: Seton Hall Prep 91 Barringer 46
1998: Seton Hall Prep 56 Clifford Scott 36
1997: Seton Hall Prep 57 Shabazz 53
1996: Seton Hall Prep 56 Montclair 49
1995: Irvington 62 Montclair 58
1994: Irvington 70 Clifford Scott 69
1993: Irvington 66 Clifford Scott 62
1992: Irvington 67 Essex Catholic 53
1991: Seton Hall Prep 75 Clifford Scott 55
1990: Shabazz 59 Clifford Scott 57
1989: Clifford Scott 72 Shabazz 62
1988: Shabazz 61 Orange 56
1987: East Orange 73 Orange 60
1986: East Orange 59 Bloomfield 47
1985: Montclair 50 Seton Hall Prep 48
1984: Clifford Scott 67 Montclair 65
1983: Montclair 66 Seton Hall Prep 64 (2OT)
1982: Montclair 75 Shabazz 46
1981: East Orange 64 Shabazz 50
1980: Weequahic 62 Our Lady of the Valley 48
1979: *Our Lady of the Valley 78 Orange 76
1978: Our Lady of the Valley 61 Shabazz 56
1977: East Orange 76 Bloomfield 72
1976: East Orange 89 Bloomfield 67
1975: East Orange 90 Essex Catholic 85
1974: East Orange 76 Orange 72
1973: Central: 55 East Orange 54
1972: Weequahic 86 East Orange 78
1971: South Side 60 Bloomfield 50
1970: East Orange 54 South Side 53
1969: South Side 53 Vailsburg 38
1968: Orange 65 Central 64
1967: Weequahic 79 Central 55
1966: Weequahic 54 East Orange 36
1965: South Side 68 East Orange 58
1964: South Side 53 Central 41
1963: Central 64 St. Benedict’s 38
1962: Clifford Scott 56 Seton Hall Prep 47
1961: South Side 67 Immaculate 48
1960: Bloomfield 46 Montclair 45
1959: Orange 37 Irvington 35
1958: Bloomfield 57 West Orange 33
1957: Bloomfield 57 St. Benedict’s 55
1956: Seton Hall Prep 51 East Side 48
1955: West Side 33 Orange 31
1954: Montclair 61 South Side 52
1953: Orange 41 Montclair 33
1952: Seton Hall Prep 67 West Orange 44
1951: Seton Hall Prep 41 Belleville 37
1950: Belleville 38 Central 32
1949: Bloomfield 48 Seton Hall Prep 43
1948: Belleville 28 Immaculate 23
1947: Orange 46 Belleville 27
*Valley had to vacate 1979 title
**ECT historical information provided by Jeff Goldberg
