NEWARK — Fuquan Edwin

“They were looking for somebody, actually, and they came to my house,” Edwin told SNY.tv exclusively after he scored a career-high 28 points to go with nine rebounds as No. 24 Seton Hall crushed DePaul, 94-73, Tuesday night. “They were in full armor. They told everybody to get on the floor.”

Edwin was in the house with his mother, Anisa Thomas, his aunt and his uncle and Edwin said the police mistook the TV remote his uncle was holding for a gun.

“And they said, ‘Put it down, put it down,’” Edwin recalled. “He put it down. It was very scary.”

The Alabama projects — created in the 1950s as the Alexander Hamilton Public Housing Project — was so rife with crime, drugs and vandalism, it was nicknamed “The Pound.”

“It was tough, it was really tough, every night hearing gunshots and you’re worrying about the cops,” Edwin said. “I had a brother [Ryhen Thomas] that was gang-related, so it was tough, it was pretty tough.”

So tough that in 2007, the federal government gave approval to demolish the projects.

“It got knocked down my freshman year in high school, so I had to move,” Edwin said.

Edwin’s family moved out but he has moved on.

The 6-foot-6 sophomore has now topped his career-high in back-to-back games, following up a 24-point performance in Saturday’s win at Providence with this performance in which he tied his career-high in the first half and then eclipsed it late in the game with a 3-pointer and a subsequent foul shot.

He entered the game leading the nation in steals at 3.2 per game and has 53 for the season. He is on pace for 98, which would break the single-season record of 90 set in 2006-7 by Paul Gause.

“Fuquan deserves a lot of credit for the fact that he’s doing it on the defensive end,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said. “He’s putting up great numbers. I mean, these are fantastic numbers the last two games. But he’s even better on defense…He’s getting known to be a defensive guy and the offense is just kind of coming naturally because he’s playing so hard defensively.”

Jordan Theodore, who has known Edwin since they were young and was his teammate at Paterson Catholic, says Edwin’s style of play reflects his upbringing.

The Alabama projects were so tough, Theodore said, that even he didn’t dare enter them.

“I’ve heard a lot of stuff,” said Theodore, who grew up in nearby Englewood. “I really didn’t go in there like that, but he grew up there. When he was young it was really tough.”

Edwin first began playing basketball because Ryhen Thomas, his oldest brother, played.

“He was always playing basketball,” Edwin recalled. “I just wanted to be like him.”

Yet Thomas did not stay focused on hoops and became distracted by street life, spending a few stints in prison, Edwin said.

“He stopped playing basketball, he got into the streets a little bit,” Edwin said. “He fell off high school, and I just looked at him. I mean, he was doing it, I didn’t want to do it. I just wanted to make my mom proud and I just stuck with basketball.”

Edwin said his brother has since “learned his lesson.”

“He’s actually got a 3-year-old kid,” he said. “He’s just taking care of him and working.’

Edwin blew up as a freshman at Paterson Catholic, averaging a double-double and putting on a show with his ability to rebound.

“He scores like we breath,” New York recruiting analyst Tom Konchalski said of Edwin.

Coached by Damon Wright, those PC teams were loaded with future Division 1 players, including Theodore, current Rutgers point guard Myles Mack and Edwin. They won three straight Passaic County championships, demolishing local competition and winning the prestigious City of Palms event in Florida in 2009.

During the 2009-10 season, PC went 28-1, losing only to St. Anthony in the New Jersey state tournament.

Current Rutgers freshman Eli Carter was the star for St. Anthony with 28 points and 14 rebounds, while Edwin scored a team-best 22 points for PC. UCLA-bound point guard Kyle Anderson, then a sophomore at PC and now the star at St. Anthony, scored 10.

Through his high school years, Edwin said basketball kept him focused on a goal and able to avoid the streets.

“Everybody kept me focused,” he said. “Even people that wasn’t related to me would come to the gym and help me shoot. Basketball-wise, it was pretty good.”

Edwin committed to then-Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez in June 2009, choosing the Pirates over Providence.

Along with Theodore and senior forward Herb Pope, the trio are the lone holdovers from the Gonzalez Era but are also the team’s best players.

Edwin is a soft-spoken, quiet person, yet his style of play is both aggressive and tactical. He said he studies film with Seton Hall associate head coach Shaheen Holloway in order to learn opposing players’ tendencies.

“He’s just a tough hard-nosed guy, man,” Theodore said. “He brings a lot to the table. He’s going to continue to fight.

“He’s not going to come out and just give a ‘BS’ effort. He’s soing to give his all if he comes on the court. That’s why we love the guy.

“I told him to come to Seton Hall because I wanted to play with him and I know he wants to play with me because we did big things in high school and why not continue in the college ranks?”

Like Pope and Theodore, Edwin hopes to play professionally one day in order to take care of his family.

“Yes, definitely,” he said. “That’s what I’m striving to do right now. That’s what I’m striving for.”

Reflecting back on his young life, Edwin knows that basketball — and his education — have helped him avoid the pitfalls that sidetracked  so many around him, including his brother.

And if not for basketball and the structured life it brought him, the same might’ve happened to him.

“I would probably be on the streets,” he said, “but luckily I stay focused on basketball.”

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NEWARK

“We had Victor Cruz in the locker room,” Willard said after the Pirates snapped an 11-game losing streak against UConn by downing the No. 8 Huskies, 75-63, at The Prudential Center.

“Everybody says, ‘You gotta be happy about this one,’ I just met Victor Cruz. I’m more happy about that than anything. Got my Giants back in the playoffs, I’m all excited.”

Since helping the Giants win the NFC East title Sunday by making six catches for 178 yards in a 31-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Cruz has been making the rounds.

He received a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden Monday night during the Knicks’ loss to the Toronto Raptors.

And again wearing a Yankees cap, he was courtside Tuesday to root on a Seton Hall team that has two fellow Paterson Catholic alums in Jordan Theodore, who had 19 points and 11 assists, and Fuquan Edwin, who tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Cruz played football and basketball at PC, which closed in June 2010 due to financial shortfalls, and he also played basketball for the Playaz Basketball Club.

“Coming into Paterson Catholic, I met Vic at an early age,” said Theodore, who was three years younger than Cruz at PC. ”So I’ve known him forever.

“It was really cool. The guys had fun and took some pictures, but for me and Fu, we’ve known him forever.”

Even though PC has been closed for almost two years, its alums continue to represent.

Cruz is the most dynamic offensive weapon on the Giants.

Edwin and Theodore are leading a Seton Hall team that is now 13-2 and should be ranked in the Top 25 next week.

And Rutgers freshman point guard Myles Mack and St. Anthony senior point guard Kyle Anderson — two former PC standouts — are both excelling.

Mack helped Rutgers engineer an 85-83 double-overtime upset of No. 10 Floirda last week at the RAC.

The 6-foot-9, UCLA-bound Anderson is 40-0 in a St. Anthony uniform, having won a mythical national championship last season.

Prior to that, he and Mack went 28-1 during the 2009-10 season at PC.

“Everybody’s doing their job right now,” Edwin said of the PC guys. “Yeah, it’s crazy right now.”

Asked if his team was getting national attention with the upset of UConn, Willard cracked, “So yes, I think we are getting more national attention. We had Victor Cruz in the locker room.”

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The team’s two best returning players, point guards Myles Mack and Kyle Anderson, landed at St. Anthony under Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley.

Two other young Paterson Catholic standouts, Reggie Cameron and Kavon Stewart, took their talents to St. Anthony’s crosstown rival, Hudson Catholic.

Now the former teammates will face off Friday in the North Non-Public B bracket if both teams win their preliminary games Wednesday. Hudson Catholic, the No. 7 seed, faces Montclair Immaculate, while No. 2 St. Anthony meets Morris Catholic.

Click here to read the full story at SBNation.com.

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**St. Anthony-St. Pat’s? Not so fast.

(Photo courtesy HudsonCountyVarsity.com)

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Darryl “Mookie” Watkins

The 6-foot-11, 265-pound former Syracuse University and Paterson (N.J.) Catholic standout hopes his dream will finally materialize this year.

Watkins, 25, was invited to the New Orleans Hornets training camp later this month and hopes to make the roster.

“Yes,” he said in a phone interview from Houston where he now lives. “It’s so exciting. You get a chance to go to a camp and have the team invite you there.”

Watkins said he also received interest from the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, “but my agent [Reggie Brown] just went with this decision based on the roster and the chances of making the team.”

“He’s got a great opportunity and they really like him a lot,” said agent Mark Bartelstein, who works with Brown.

Watkins has previously been in preseason camp with the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings but has never lasted on an NBA roster.

Last year after the Cavaliers cut him he was supposed to play in the NBA D-League but developed a staph infection on his foot.

“I had a staph infection in the bottom of my foot the whole season,” he said.

During the 2008-0 season, Watkins played for Tianjin in the Chinese Basketball League

“It was crazy, man,” Watkins said. “Different customs and stuff like that. I had to find a way to survive based on getting accustomed. I flew in my family sometimes. I also had a an American teammate [Theron Smith] so that kind of helped.”

Watkins hopes he doesn’t have to play overseas anymore and that the Hornets will find a spot for him.

“I’m still hungry for it,” he said. “That’s the dream that I’m still trying to get. My dream right now is the only thing I’m really caring about.”

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Then all of a sudden he was neither.

He lost his teaching job and his coaching job when Paterson Catholic closed its doors in June after a long history of financial problems.

“It was tough in the sense that I’m a Paterson Catholic guy,” said the 6-foot-5 Webb, a former Paterson Catholic star who scored more than 1,000 points at Rutgers and played professionally in Hungary and New Zealand. “I’m a Patersonian. I grew up there.

“There’s a lot of history and tradition there I’m definitely gonna miss. That was tough. But things happen for a reason in life. You tend to adjust. You have to adapt to every situation. That’s just life in general.”

The good news for Webb is that on Tuesday he will start working at The Hoop Group, the Neptune, N.J.-based organization that bills itself as the “largest basketball instruction organization in the world.”

“Being a former camper as well as playing in many of our high school and AAU tournaments, Marquis is very familiar with how our programs can help benefit players,” said Hoop Group president Rob Kennedy. “He has great passion for the game and for helping young people, which what our company is all about.”

But the story does not end there.

After deciding he wanted to focus his career, Webb became interested in obtaining a college coaching job this summer. He probably could have found a starting spot on Mike Rice’s staff at Rutgers.

“I definitely want to be a college coach and eventually become a head college coach in the future,” Webb said.

But because of a new NCAA rule, Webb can’t get a job on a college staff unless he’s hired as a full-time assistant coach.

The new rule prevents colleges from recruiting any players from a high school or AAU program for two years after hiring someone from that program for a non-coaching position.

To Jimmy Salmon, the director of the Playaz Baskeball Club and a longtime friend of Webb, this makes no sense whatsoever.

“I don’t understand the rule,” Salmon said. “I would like to know how would the guy get his start? Why would a school want to hire someone without any experience?”

“Those are the positions that this effects,” Salmon said. “Those are the positions that guys normally hire people for and they gravitate up when the first, second or third assistant gets  a job. Normally they move those guys up.

“What the NCAA should probably want is for people to start off in those positions as opposed to hiring someone and immediately putting them on the road.”

St. John’s, for example, recently hired former Rice High School coach Moe Hicks as its Director of Basketball Operations.

Now the Johnnies can’t recruit anyone from Rice or the New York Gauchos, for which Hicks also coached, for two years.

That means no Kadeem Jack (who recently verballed to Rutgers) and no Jermaine Sanders (pictured), one of the top prospects in New York City.

As for Webb, he last coached with the Playaz in 2009 and was on the Paterson Catholic staff in 2010.

Because every college wants players from Paterson Catholic and the Playaz, Webb couldn’t land a coaching job at his alma mater or anywhere else.

“It’s  the the NCAA rule so you have to obey the rules,” Webb said. “The NCAA put the rules in for a reason. You have to obey them.”

Former Seton Hall Prep and Seton Hall University standout Marcus Toney-El, another Playaz alum who is close with Webb, was recently hired as an assistant coach under Greg Vetrone at Fairleigh Dickinson.

“Marcus Toney-El was able to get a job because they were able to put him out on the road,” Salmon said.

But Webb couldn’t land a starter position as an administrative assistant, graduate assistant, video guy or director of basketball ops because of this new NCAA rule.

While Webb couldn’t land a college job this summer, landing at The Hoop Group should be a bonus going forward. The organization has a long history of placing alums with college jobs.

“The Hoop Group has many, many resources and it’s a valuable year for Marquis,” Salmon said. “He wants to be in basketball and he’s going to learn different facets of working for a basketball corporation. So this also will qualify him to be a DOBO or an administrative assistant.”

Virtually everyone who has ever met Marquis Webb has good things to say about him and there seems to be little doubt he is on the right track to reach his goal of one day coaching in college.

“He’s a high-character guy,” Salmon said. “I’ve never a met person that doesn’t like him. He’s a solid citizen and is a great example for the programs that he’s an alumnus of.”

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Anderson is the No. 1 point guard in the Class of 2012 and his father broke down the visits.

“All three visits went well for different reasons,” said Kyle Anderson Sr. via text. “La Salle’s visit went well because besides Coach [John] Giannini and the entire staff being hospitable on the tour of the campus and facilities, we met with the academic advisor [Christine Cahill] and she explained how she will help make Kyle a better student. She also spoke highly of [former Paterson CAtholic stars] Kimmani Barrett and the Williams twins. We could see the sincere concern in her face. It also helped that she had a Playaz football jersey hanging that Jerrell Williams gave her.

“Jay Wright of Villanova gave Suzanne, Kyle’s mother,  and me a tour of the campus and it is beautiful. All the students spoke and high-fived Coach Wright, which showed how well he is liked on campus.  During the tour, Kyle stayed in the gym and watched the team play against Villanova and Philly players. Malik Allen, Randy Foye, Shane Clark, Dante Cunningham and Wayne Ellington were all in the gym playing.

“Seton Hall’s staff met us at the Prudential Center  in Newark and gave us a tour and explained to us what renovations were being made. They have some great things in the works. On campus Coach [Shaheen] Holloway gave a tour of the campus and we didn’t realize how nice it is. We watched Coach [Kevin] Willard work out and I love the way he pays attention to details and makes corrections.”

FREE THROWS

Quinn Cook has added Villanova back on his list. “Yeah, they are,” he said by text. Cook, who partially tore his ACL and due for surgery, is also considering Rutgers, St. John’s, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Arizona and Georgetown…Rutgers latest commit, 5-10 senior point guard Myles Mack, is scheduled to be here tonight for the Norfolk State-Rutgers football game…Cincinnati will have in-home visits with Elijah Carter (Sept. 9) and Shaq Thomas (Sept. 10), per Alex Kline…Rhode Island transfer Steve Mejia has transferred to Hofstra, per sources. The 5-9, 175-pound Mejia led the A-10 last year in assist-to-turnover ratio…The same week that Ater Majok withdrew from UConn to reportedly pursue a pro career in Australia, his brother, 6-8 Majok Majok, will reportedly not play for Fairfield due to paperwork issues. The news was reported by Steve Amedio…Seton Hall offered 2013 guard Reggie Cameron of Hudson Catholic, per Alex Kline of The Recruit Scoop…Seton Hall has an in-home visit with 6-8 PF Jacob Lawson of Oak Ridge NC next Friday.

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The 6-foot-5, 220-pound point guard from Paterson (N.J.) Catholic signed scholarship papers on Tuesday with Iona, where he will join a tremendous 2010 recruiting class.

“I signed today,” James, who goes to campus Aug. 23, said by phone. “It just felt like it was the perfect fit for me, the best situation at the moment.”

James becomes the second Paterson Catholic player to commit this week, and potentially the last ever from the storied program to go Division I. 6-9 forward Derrick Randall verbally committed to Rutgers Sunday. The program closed its doors in June.

James averaged 5.7 points, 4.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals on a team loaded with Division 1 talent.

Paterson Catholic coach Damon Wright said James, who can play the point-forward and point-guard spots, brings a high basketball IQ.

“He brings a competitive and winning spirit and is an overall student of the game,” Wright said. “The coaches are going to love his relentless attitude toward the game and he is a hell of a student in the classroom.”

James was an important cog on a Paterson Catholic team that was 28-0 and ranked No. 3 nationally this past season before falling to Bob Hurley’s St. Anthony team in the North Non-Public B finals at Rutgers.

James initially committed to Fordham in January, but changed his plans after the coaching change that brought in Tom Pecora.

Now, both he and former Fordham commit Sean Armand have followed former Fordham interim coach Jared Grasso to Iona. Grasso is an assistant under first-year coach Tim Cluess.

James is friendly with Armand and also knows many current Iona players, like Mike McFadden, Jermel Jenkins, Scott Machado and Rashon Dwight, all of whom played high school ball in the Garden State.

“I know those guys are going to be great teammates for myself,” he said.

Iona’s roster now includes players from Jersey powerhouses St. Patrick, St. Benedict’s, Paterson Catholic and Don Bosco.

“Jared was [also] a big factor,” James added. “He’s been recruiting me since my sophomore year when I got one of my first offers. He was a big factor in my decision.”

James initially intended to spend a prep year before attending college in 2011, but changed his mind.

“In the beginning of the summer, I felt I wanted to go to prep school,” he said. “As time went on, I felt college was the best fit for me.

“I probably made the decision about two weeks ago, but I just didn’t commit. I had it in my mind that I wanted to go to college.”

James will join arguably the best incoming recruiting class in the MAAC.

The Gaels already landed 6-6 former Seton Hall forward Mike Glover to go with Armand, 6-8 shooter Aleksander Kesic and 6-4 wing Randy DeZouvre.

James, meanwhile, may go down as a great trivia question: Who was the last Division 1 player to come out Paterson Catholic — the tradition-rich program that produced Tim Thomas, Kevin Freeman, Marquis Webb, Darryl Watkins, Jordan Theodore and Fuquan Edwin?

PC closed in June due to financial reasons.

“I feel special to be one of the last ones to come from Paterson Catholic,” James said, “especially D-1.”

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Maurice Harkless

The 6-foot-8 Queens, N.Y. native wrote on Twitter he’s considering the following schools after spending next year at South Kent (Conn.): St. John’s, Maryland, Florida, N.C. State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Arizona and Memphis.

I asked Harkless if that means UConn is definitely out and he said, “Yes.”

Harkless recently decommitted from UConn.Harkless was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Hoop Group Elite Camp in Reading, Pa., in early July.

He led the New York Panthers to the semifinals of the Fab 48 event in Las Vegas and was named to the All-Tournament team.

And he finished up his tremendous tour by helping the Panthers win the Desert Duel event in Arizona, beating out Tony Wroten, Quinn Cook,Wayne Blackshear and Naadir Tharpe for MVP honors.

“I can’t see why he isn’t a Top 20 kid nationally after this summer,” said Nate Blue, Harkless’ mentor.

JAMES TO IONA

Paterson Catholic senior point guard Jayon James is headed to Iona instead of prep school next season, as first reported earlier Monday on my Twitter.

The 6-5 James initially committed to Fordham, then parted ways with the school after the coaching change brought in Tom Pecora. He considered going the prep route, but becomes the second former Fordham commit (Sean Armand) to follow assistant coach Jared Grasso to Iona.

The Gaels have a loaded class with former Seton Hall forward Mike Glover, Armand, James, Alexsander Kesic and Randy Dezouvre.

James may also turn out to be the answer to the trivia question: Who was the last Paterson Catholic basketball player to go D-1?

DAVIS VISITS KENTUCKY, DEPAUL

6-10 Anthony Davis of Chicago Perspectives unofficially visited Kentucky Sunday and DePaul Monday.

“Both visits were great,” Anthony Davis Sr. said by text. “Still waiting to visit Ohio State and Syracuse.”  As first reported here, Davis ruled out North Carolina and is considering Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State. The visits were first reported by Scout.com.

FREE THROWS

Shay Wildeboor of JayhawkSlant.com confirmed my earlier report that Baylor, Kansas and St. John’s lead for JaKarr Sampson but that Louisville is also in the mix…Oregon offered Jabari Brown of the Oakland Soldiers, per Alex Kline. Brown told me plans to cut his list “a few weeks after” the Nike Global Games start next week...Seton Hall offered 6-6 sophomore Jason Boswell of St. Patrick. Rutgers offered Hudson Catholic sophomore wing Reggie Cameron, both per Kline...Khalid Lewis, 2011 guard from Trenton Catholic, will visit Manhattan College and was offered by them, per Team NJABC.

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The 6-foot-8 1/2, 220-pound Randall committed to Mike Rice and his staff on Sunday and will join the Scarlet Knights in 2011.

“Yes, I was just thinking about it and I like the campus,” he said Sunday by phone. “I like the coach and the facilities. I like everything around Rutgers and it’s in the Big East and it’s close to home and to my family [in Brooklyn]. If they want to see me play, it’s not a hassle.”

Read the full story at SNY.

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Tyrone Johnson’s decision to leave Plainfield for Montrose Christian was just the latest in a flurry of high-profile point guards opting to either move from one New Jersey school to another or, in Johnson’s case, leave the state altogether.

Consider that:

**In May, St. Benedict’s point guard Myck Kabongo announced he was leaving for Findlay Prep, the two-time National High School Invitational champ.

**After it was announced that Paterson Catholic would close its doors, highly touted floor generals Kyle Anderson (a rising junior)and Myles Mack (rising senior) both opted to play for Hall of Famer Bob Hurley at St. Anthony.

**Their rising sophomore teammates, point guard Kavon Stewart and wing Reggie Cameron, both chose to play for Nick Mariniello at Hudson Catholic.

**Vaughn Gray, a wing from Don Bosco, later said he would transfer to St.  Benedict’s to play a national schedule.

**Jevon Thomas, a rising sophomore considered arguably the most talented guard in New York City, then said he would also come to St. Ben’s to fill in for Kabongo.

**Da’Shawn Suber, Thomas’ Gauchos’ teammate and fellow sophomore, will also play in the Garden State, moving to St. Patrick from Rice.

**And now Johnson, a Top 50 player in the Class of 2011, is leaving the state altogether before heading off to Villanova.

“Point guards are leaders to the team,” the 5-foot-10 Suber said. “If you have a good point guard, you really don’t need a lot of good players around you. If you’re point guard’s good, you can make your team good.”

With the exception of the Paterson Catholic situation, most of these moves were made so players could compete in a higher-profile environment on a national stage against elite competition, while also being able to focus on their academics.

“I wanted to try something new and get in a better environment and it was a family decision that we made,” Suber, who has interest from  West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Arizona and South Carolina, said last week at the Peach Jam.

Paul Suber, Da’Shawn’s father, said the decision was motivated in part by former Rice coach Moe Hicks’ move to St. John’s to become Director of Basketball Operations.

“Now with Moe taking the job, I said that I wanted him to get taught by a real good guard coach,” Paul said. “And me and [St. Patrick coach] Kevin [Boyle] worked at Five Star for years. I knew Kevin always had success with the New York City guards. You’re talking about Shaheen Holloway from Queens, Corey Fisher from the Bronx.”

He added: “Kevin Boyle’s an animal. He loves coaching. He loves getting the kids better…And I knew the educational part was going to be great. Hands on. Seventeen, 18 people in a class, that’s what you want.”

Suber, a Mount Vernon, N.Y. native, will replace incoming Duke freshman Kyrie Irving, a McDonald’s All-American who is projected as the No. 2 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

But he’s not daunted.

“We got a lot of big tournaments this year,” Suber said. “We got the No. 1 player in the country [Michael Gilchrist]. They’re expecting me to do big things and lead the team to a national championship.”

Suber said Irving has already shown him a few pointers.

“He comes to workouts and shows me things that he did in high school and he showed me things that will lead the team to a national championship,” Suber said.

Thomas, meantime, is taking over for the Texas-bound Kabongo, who opted to leave St. Ben’s after former coach Dan Hurley took the Wagner College job.

“I’m not trying to go in there and try to follow his footsteps,” the 5-10 Thomas said of Kabongo. “But I’m trying to keep the same thing going. I’m trying to go there and keep the winning going, keep the legacy going, do that with a new coach and a new program. So I’m basically the first generation of the new coach.”

St. Patrick and St. Benedict’s traditionally play one another annually and the Gauchos teammates have already begun talking some smack.

“We’re gonna beat St. Benedict’s,” Suber said.

“We’re gonna beat them [St. Patrick],” Thomas said. “We’re gonna be the No. 1 team in the country.”

St. Anthony and St. Benedict’s never squared off while Dan Hurley was at the Newark school because Chris Hurley, Bob’s wife and Dan’s mother, wasn’t down with it.

But now that Roshown McLeod has succeeded Dan Hurley, the two schools could face off for charity in the coming years, meaning Thomas and Gray could square off against Anderson and Mack.

“We’re looking to schedule the game,” Thomas said. “We might set the game up for our senior year.”

The Paterson Catholic situation is somewhat different.

St.  Anthony and Hudson Catholic will benefit from the closing of the school that produced NBA forward Tim Thomas.

“Because of Paterson Catholic closing we had the opportunity to have two of the better players in the state come to play for us and they fit in very, very well,” Mariniello said.

Mariniello did extremely well at Bloomfield Tech with multiple point guards in the backcourt and hopes to continue that trend at his current stop with Stewart and fellow sophomore Travis Flagg.

Hudson Catholic also features Rakwan Kelly, who scored more than 400 points off the wing last year. He and the 6-6 Cameron will now provide multiple scoring options off the wing.

“We’re going to be a guard-oriented team,” Mariniello said.

That about sums things up in the Garden State.

(Photo courtesy Kelly Kline/Nike)

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