Gonzalez, who has become one of the county’s top playmakers this season with his unselfish style of point guard play, still manages to get his points in the flow of the game, but is most enjoying setting up teammates for their baskets along the way.

“I embrace the opportunity to give the ball to a teammate and watch him score,” said the quick and effective 6-2 junior. “If I can keep getting assists and everyone is working together to help us win that’s No. 1 for me.

“Sure I like to see us all hitting 3-pointers when they’re falling in like they were today, but that’s more a product of all the work we do every day in practice and whenever else we can just stay and get our shots in.”

Sincere-Amen Ra and George each hit a pair of 3’s and Gonzalez had one tri-fecta as the Pirates demonstrated their perimeter proficiency early on in Saturday’s contest with their five made 3’s in a fast-moving first quarter.

Following an evenly matched second quarter and a narrow 34-31 SHP lead as Sincere-Amen Ra connected on a ‘3’ just before the halftime buzzer sounded, the Pirates took full control of the game with a 19-8 edge in the third quarter building a 53-39 lead as Gonzalez, George and Sincere-Amen Ra each sank a 3-pointer and Ante and Beazer continued to do their part with interior defense, rebounding and also combining for seven points as all five starters scored in the quarter.

St. Benedicts closed the gap in the fourth quarter but only put a dent in the Pirates lead – which was 68-54 with 25 seconds remaining – as Postell scored seven points in the final 22 seconds.

NOTES- In addition to the impressive run of producing 17 ECT titles in the past 30 years, the Pirates have also had 7 second place finishes during that same period of time...The entire SHP basketball program had a terrific weekend at all levels in ECT finals, also including the Pirates JV team coached by Greg Walsh and Ashton Miller defeating St. Benedict’s 71-67 in that championship game played Friday night at Bloomfield where the SHP freshmen, directed by coaches Dennis Quinn and Mike Keszkowski, defeated Caldwell, 63-24, Saturday morning in that level’s county title tilt…St. Benedict’s sixth-man, 6-6 junior Malik Sonko, did a nice job inside for the Gray Bees with 9 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter…SHP's Gonzalez finished Saturday's action just three points shy of the 1,000 point career plateau...Among the former standout Essex County players taking in the action in Tarnoff Gymnasium Saturday were former Orange High and Seton Hall University star Greg Tynes, who also coached at a number of schools, including Clifford Scott and West Orange, and former Montclair and St. Bonaventure standout Kyle Anglin, whose son Dallas is now playing at Iona College…A welcome face watching the game was SHP’s highly-respected Msgr. Michael E. Kelly, president of SHP, who was enjoying the excitement of taking in another ECT final with his Pirates…Kudos to West Orange Athletic Director Stephan Zichella and all the people working alongside him as the Mountaineers did a superb job hosting both the ECT Final 4 and championship games for the boys and girls teams competing on the last two Saturdays…ECT boys hoops co-directors Dan Romano of Caldwell and Larry Baggitt of SHP also once again did fine jobs overseeing the 79th ECT...Both men are athletic directors at their respective schools.       

79th Essex County Tournament final, Saturday, Feb. 21, at West Orange
(2) St. Benedict’s (18-8)            15       16       8       24    -63
(1) Seton Hall Pep (18-6)          18        16      19     15    -68

St. Benedict’s: Daniel Hinkov 1-2–1-9, Terrance Jamison 2-0-0-4, Arouna Coulibaly 0-0-0-0, Jack Lin Martinez 6-1-0-15, MJ Postell 5-3-5-24, Malik Sonko 4-0-1-9 Totals: 19-6-7-63

Seton Hall Prep Anthony Gonzalez 3-3-3-18, Avery George 0-3-5-14, Infinite Sincere-Amen Ra 2-5-3-22, Alex Ante 2-0-3-7, Daniel Beazer 1-0-3-5, Kaden Aiken 0-0-2-2, Bryce McCray 0-0-0-0, Colin Reese 0-0-0-0, Joshua Moorman 0-0-0-0, Tyler Lewis 0-0-0-0, Jonathan Racanelli 0-0-0-0. Totals: 8-11-19-68     

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The 79 ECT Boys Finals:
2026: Seton Hall Prep 68 St. Benedict’s 63
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