Joins Teammate Adams as 2nd STA Standout to Sign
St. Thomas Aquinas’ senior forward, Derrick Grant, shown here (center front row) skying for a two handed jam against J.P. Stevens on December 22, 2018, signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Southern New Hampshire University next fall on Thursday, November 14th.
NORTH EDISON, NJ—It was a big day on Thursday at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, formerly known as Bishop Ahr. Not only did boys basketball standout, Quadry Adams sign his letter of intent to play for Wake Forest next year, but also forward Derrick Grant signed his NLI to play at NCAA D2 Southern New Hampshire.
Grant, who played his first two years at Piscataway before transferring into St. Thomas Aquinas last season, has been known more for his athletic ability with the way he gets off the ground to sky for rebounds, dunks, and blocks, but has begun to show more versatility with a perimeter game that was on display in a 71-67 loss to Roselle Catholic at the Top 20 High School Pre-Season Invitational this past Saturday.
As a junior at Aquinas, Grant was a key contributor to the Trojans 21-7 campaign, which included a GMC Blue Division title, second straight GMCT Elite Eight appearance, and the school’s first state playoff win in 38 years. Last year was the first time since the 1991-92 season that STA won 20 games or more. Grant played in 27 of 28 games for the Trojans and made 101 field goals, two threes, and 72 free throws for a total of 290 points, or an average of 10.7 points per game.
Grant also collected 272 rebounds, 37 blocks, 26 assists, and 20 steals as per nj.com. With an overage of 10.1 rebounds per contest, Grant averaged a double-double per game for the season while also averaging 1.4 blocks per game. Grant scored in all of his 27 games played for St. Thomas Aquinas last season, and scored in double figures in 18 of those contests. He also compiled a double-double in 10 contests a year ago.
His highest scoring game of the season was against Marlboro on January 12, 2019 with 19 points on 6 field goals and 7 foul shots. Grant’s season high in rebounds was twice against South River with 16 on January 16th in South River, and again versus the Rams on February 15th in the Round of 16 of the 2019 Boys GMCT. His season high in rebounds was five against Toms River North on January 26, 2019. Perhaps his best all around performance was against his former team, Piscataway in the GMCT Elite Eight.
In the 2019 GMCT Boys Quarterfinals versus the Chiefs, Grant collected a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds while blocking two shots versus the Chiefs. Unfortunately, the fourth seeded Trojans lost to the fifth seeded Chiefs (62-55), which eventually reached the GMCT Championship Game for the first time since 2011. The year before, Grant contributed to a Piscataway squad that reached the GMCT Quarterfinals and the North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 semifinals.
As a sophomore at P-Way in 2017-18, Grant played in only 6 games for the Chiefs. He helped contribute to a JV Chiefs team that defeated Bishop Ahr in the 2018 East Brunswick/GMC JV Championship. He is headed to a Southern New Hampshire team that is off to a good start so far this season with a 3-0 record including a 94-70 win at Mercy College on November 9th, an 87–83 win over Molloy on November 10th, and an 84-54 win over the College of Staten Island on November 17th.
A member of the Northeast 10 conference, Southern New Hampshire was 12-14 overall in 2018-19 including an 8-13 mark in conference play. Two years ago, the Penmen went 15-12 including an 11-10 record in Northeast 10 play. Three years ago, in 2016-17, Southern New Hampshire was a finalist in the Northeast 10 Conference Tournament losing to St. Anselm in the Championship Game (73-68), and lost to Southern Connecticut in the NCAA D2 East Regional Quarterfinals (109-98) to finish the season at 21-9.
In 2015-16, the Penmen finished 23-11 and won the Northeast-10 Championship by defeating top seeded Bentley, 90-87. After downing Holy Family and former J.P. Stevens standout, Marvin Crawford (27 points) in the NCAA East Regional First Round (88-80), Southern New Hampshire fell to Northeast 10 rival, Stonehill (75-74) in the NCAA East Regional Semifinals. The Skyhawks, which the Penmen split their two regular season meetings that year, reached the NCAA D2 Elite Eight, and featured former Monroe and St. Joseph’s standout, Danny Brix, who coached at St. Joe’s and now is on the Colonial boys basketball staff led by head coach, Jose Rodriguez.
Congratulations Derrick, and the best of luck this coming season playing for the Trojans, and in the future with the Penmen of Southern New Hampshire University.