Alex Ante looked forward to Seton Hall Prep’s holiday trip to Salisbury, Md.,for the 42nd Governor’s Challenge; however, he didn’t yet realize just how much he would enjoy the three days traveling with his fellow Pirate hoopsters.
“I had a blast and I never experienced that type of road trip in basketball while enjoying bonding more with my teammates and just soaking in the entire experience while competing in a tournament setting,” said SHP’s solid 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior forward. “The whole trip was energizing and just fun to be a part of.”
The fun included winning their Governor’s Challenge championship, including a first-round game vs. Maret (Washington, D.C.) on Dec. 28 where Ante scored a career-high 26 points in a 57-39 Pirates victory.
He added 10 points in a 64-46 championship win over St. George’s Tech (Del.) on Dec. 30th.
Ante’s strong play has continued back in New Jersey, including 21 points in a 63-52 win over Paramus Catholic on Jan. 2, 17 points and 10 rebounds in a 63-54 victory vs. Payne Tech on Jan. 7, 13 points and 13 rebounds in last Thursday’s (Jan. 9) 71-55 triumph over East Orange Campus, and then 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals in a hard-fought 69-60 overtime loss to Roselle Catholic in this past Saturday’s (Jan. 11) 21st Scholarship for Inner City Children’s Hoopfest at RC.
For his efforts, the consistent frontcourt standout is the Parisi Fairfield/Sideline Chatter Athlete of the Week.
Ante is averaging 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals for the Pirates (9-2 overall, 2-0 in the Super Essex Conference-American Division), who are taking positive strides behind the guidance of first-year head coach Sterling Gibbs, the former SHP star and ex-collegiate standout.
“Coach Gibbs has helped me improve my game this season,” said Ante. “There is more of the offense running through the ‘bigs’ and that keeps us all more involved.
‘He knows the game really well and tries to involved everyone, plus a lot of different guys get to play, which is great for the starters because we can be much fresher out there on the court in the fourth quarter when the game can be on the line.
“Plus, being a former outstanding guard, he has our backcourt playing great basketball, and I can’t say enough about how the play of guards like Dylan Guzzardo, Primo Delgado and Anthony Gonzalez, who have been just tremendous in helping us to get off to such a good start this season.”
Ante’s ascension in basketball has been a big plus for the overall play of the 2024-2025 Pirates and like fellow 6-5 junior power forward Michael Klimas, who is a standout goalkeeper for SHP’s outstanding soccer team, the latest Parisi Fairfield/SC AOW is a multi-sport standout as well as he has already made a verbal commitment to continue in his role as an attackman in Division I college lacrosse at Stony Brook Univesity.
“They had reached out to me and asked me to visit, which I was glad to do, and I just bonded right away with their coaches,” said the Maplewood resident. “(Head) Coach (Anthony) Gilardi knows the game really well, I have great trust in him, and I feel that they will involve my game, which is a more freestyle, and not so much based on set plays.
“Right now, I’m totally focused on my last two years of high school, including this basketball season and next spring in lacrosse with Coach (John) Svec who I think will be great to play for.”
Svec, hired this past August, comes to SHP with 22 years at four different NCAA schools, including most recently as an assistant at Brown University.
“He is a very knowledgeable lacrosse coach,” added Ante. “The one thing you always know at The Prep is that you’re going to have a terrific coach to lead the way.”
For now, as the basketball season continues to evolve and SHP has a number of very big conference games before the Wednesday, Jan. 22, Essex County Tournament seeding meeting, it’s a continuing process of staying fully involved in the busy day-to-day process.
“We knew going into this season that we had a tough schedule,” said Ante. “It remains a matter of how we respond to the challenges ahead and that we continue to work hard in practice and keep improving as a unit.
“What I know right now is I’m enjoying this season and I love the competition which is definitely going to continue to build as we move along.”
NOTES- Ante’s favorite classes at SHP are Math and History and says he plans to pursue a business curriculum in college…His dad Spencer is a former soccer player at Marlboro High School and his mom Erin played her scholastic soccer back in California where she grew up….Stony Brook lacrosse finished 4-10 last spring following three straight winning seasons, including going 9-7 in 2023 when it reached the Coastal Athletic Association championship game vs. Delaware.
Parisi Speed School has been empowering athletes for over 30 years, since 1992. As the industry leader in youth performance training in the country, they have successfully trained over 1,000,000 athletes to include schools, teams, youth organizations and individual athletes from 7 years of age to the Pros in MLB, NFL, MLS, NBA and WNBA.
Parents and coaches are invited to visit their website for additional information at www.parisifairfield.com or contact their Director, John Cirilo at 973 227-0199.
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