St. Thomas Aquinas junior guard, Samir Thomas fires up a three point attempt in the first half of the Trojans semifinal contest against 4th seeded Roselle Catholic in the 2023 NJSIAA Non-Public B North State Tournament on Monday night in North Edison. Aquinas lost to the Lions, 92-70 to finish its season at 25-4.
GMCT Boys Champs Fall to Powerhouse Roselle Catholic in Non-Public B North Semis, 90-72
NORTH EDISON, NJ – In a highly touted match-up, top seeded and recently crowned GMCT Boys Basketball champs, St. Thomas Aquinas hosted fourth seeded Roselle Catholic, the top ranked team in New Jersey according to NJ.com in the 2023 NJSIAA Non-Public B North sectional semifinals on Monday night. The Trojans were looking to get off to the same fast start it had when they soundly defeated St. Joseph’s in the GMCT Semifinals.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Instead, Roselle Catholic was the team that got off to the fast start by scoring the first 10 points of the game, and leading 26-15 after one quarter behind the play of senior guard, Simeon Wilcher. Aquinas would eventually trail by 22 in the second half, and never got closer than 12 the rest of the way as Roselle Catholic advanced to the sectional final, 90-72.
Wilcher dazzled the crowd with his shooting, passing, and athletic dunks en route to a game high 27 points. The UNC commit, who was one of four different Roselle Catholic players scoring in double figures, also collected 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the win. Mackenzie Mgbako, a Duke commit, who made his return on Monday night after being out four weeks with an ankle injury per NJ.com, added 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a blocked shot.
Akil Watson, who committed to Arizona State back in September, also chipped in with 13 points while also picking up two rebounds and two assists. Junior forward, Rich Brisco also contributed with 10 points, 2 rebounds, an assist, steal, and blocked shot. Senior guard, Christian Pierre-Louis led the Lions with 9 rebounds while also scoring 8 points and handing out 4 assists. Tarik Watson (7 points, 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal) and Sebastian Robinson (7 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists) each had 7 while Jalen Grant rounded out the RC scoring with 5 points, a rebound, and an assist.
Leading the way in defeat for St. Thomas Aquinas was junior guard, Michael “Deuce” Jones, who scored a team high 21 points while also collecting 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and a block. Junior guard, Jaden Kelly was a bright spot from the perimeter with four threes to finish with 16 points along with 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. East Stroudsburg commit, Terrell Pitts added 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists while another ESU commit, Jalen Pichardo collected a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Rounding out the Aquinas scoring were senior Kamal Lee (4 points, 6 assists, 3 steals, and a rebound), junior Samir Thomas (3 points), and freshman Jebron Harris (3 points, a rebound, and an assist). Sherief Guinyard, Chris Santner, and Jayden Defense also saw action in the game for the Trojans. Both teams combined for 16 threes in the contest with Roselle Catholic outscoring STA by a margin of 27-21 from long distance. The Lions also outscored the Trojans from within the arc by a margin of 48-44, and 15-7 from the foul line.
Last year’s NJSIAA Tournament of Champions winner, also made 75 percent of its free throw attempts versus only 47 percent for Aquinas. Roselle Catholic also enjoyed a 36-20 advantage on the boards while handing out more assists (20-17) and picking up more steals (2-1). The Trojans held their own on the glass with 6 blocked shots versus 5 for the Lions. Roselle Catholic scored at least 21 points in every quarter, and outscored Aquinas in three of the four periods.
The Lions, who just won the Union County Tournament title, increased its advantage to 47-30 late in the second before Jones scored on a floater in the closing seconds of the half for a 47-32 RC lead at the intermission. Aquinas actually got within 9 at 36-27 after a Pichardo score, but the Lions scored 11 of the next 14 to go up by 17.
Roselle Catholic began the second half much like it had ended the first by scoring the first 7 points of the third to take a 22 point lead before Aquinas’ Pichardo scored on a putback with 6:01 remaining in the frame for a 54-34 RC lead.
The Lions maintained that 20 point lead at 60-40 before the Trojans rallied with a 10-2 run to get within striking distance at 62-50 late in the third. Aquinas was unable to get closer as RC scored 6 of the next 8 before Pitts hustled for a loose ball, and then banked in a shot to beat the buzzer and close the gap to 68-54. The Trojans battled to the end, but couldn’t get closer. Wilcher scored another bucket at the 5:32 mark of the fourth for a 73-57 Lions’ advantage.
Roselle Catholic increased the lead to 18 at 79-61 as it scored 8 of the next 12 points over a span of just 1:20 including a dunk by Tarik Watson. Pitts got another bucket to close the gap to 79-63 before the Lions finished off the game with a 11-9 run. Mgbako helped wrap up the win with a three from the top of the key. With the victory, Roselle Catholic improved to 20-5 overall on the season and will now face 6th seeded Immaculate Conception of Montclair in the Championship Game on Wednesday, March 1st at Franklin High School starting at 5:00 PM.
Immaculate Conception punched its ticket to the final by virtue of knocking off 2nd seeded Gill St. Bernard’s, 80-57 in the other sectional semifinal at GSB’s Athletic Center in Gladstone on Monday night. This game will be a rematch of a contest between the two schools earlier this year in the SFIC Festival on January 7th at Kean University’s Harwood Arena. In that contest, Mackenzie Mgbako recorded a game high double-double of 34 points and 12 rebounds along with 3 steals, 3 blocks, and an assist in a 90-70 Lions’ victory.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas finishes another terrific season at 25-4 overall including its second straight sectional semifinal appearance, third straight GMCT boys crown, fourth straight division title including first ever in GMC Red, and an unblemished 14-0 record in conference play. In addition, the Trojans had two players score their 1,000th career point this season in Jones who reached the milestone in the second win over St. Joseph’s on January 24th, and Pitts in tonight’s contest. Jones finished 4th on STA’s all time scoring list with 1,202 points.
Head coach Bob Turco also achieved a personal milestone when he won his 100th career game at Aquinas last month. In five seasons, Turco has compiled a record of 105-23 at STA, and now has a career coaching record of 359-112. With Aquinas’ victory over South Brunswick, Turco moved up to 3rd place in winning percentage (3-1, .750) in GMCT Finals with former Piscataway head coach Paul Schoeb.
Turco is also tied for third with Schoeb, Ken Pace (Colonia and J.F. Kennedy), and John Somogyi (St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s) with 3 GMCT titles won. Turco has served as head coach at three different schools including two in the GMC: Monroe, Notre Dame, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Turco has also served as an assistant coach at Carteret, Colonia, Point Pleasant Beach, and South Brunswick.