Boys Basketball: Gill St. Bernard's overtakes Rutgers Prep to win SCT title

MONTGOMERY - The celebration began with 20 seconds left on the clock, as the Gill St. Bernard's boys basketball team began to realize what it had just accomplished.

The team jumped up and down, not hiding their excitement and they waved away at the opposing student section that had been in their ear all game. The moment was one of pure jubilation for one of the best teams in the state. As they have done several times over the last decade, Gill St. Bernard’s celebrated a Somerset County Tournament championship.

And they never get tired of it.

An 84-63 win over second-seeded Rutgers Prep (22-3, 10-0 Skyland Conference Raritan Division) needs no double-takes or overthinking. The game that everyone wanted to see happened in a championship format and the top-seeded Knights owned the night.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Kelly, Slattery lead New Providence in UCT final

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Rutgers Prep surges to beat Gill St. Bernard's in SCT final

Its core group of stars, led by senior Denver Anglin (19 points) and junior Mackenzie Mgbako (29 points, 13 rebounds), were unstoppable. Its speed and defensive resolve were better. Outside of the first two-and-half minutes of the game. everything Gill St. Bernard’s (18-6, 10-0 Delaware Division) did on Friday afternoon at Montgomery High School was better.

"We wanted to come out and show that we’re better than everyone in the country," Anglin said. "I think that we’re one of the best teams in the country when we play our best basketball. When we don’t play our best basketball then we’re not even one of the best teams in the state. We just have to keep coming out like how we did today and we can get the job done for the rest of the season."

They’re not undefeated, and haven’t been perfect. Those six losses, albeit all to some of the best teams in the country in Chicago schools Whitney Young and Simeon Career, Isidore Newman (LA), Greensboro Day School (NC), Westtown (PA), La Lumiere (IN), and Camden, all stand out. What they are is a team with history and tradition that tests itself year after year because it can, and have built up that sort of reputation. And it takes those losses and builds from them for championship games and championship moments late in the season.

And so Gill St. Bernard’s is once again a Somerset County Tournament champion. And the Knights made it look easy on Friday by being able to get through the not-so-easy moments earlier in the year, according to head coach Mergin Sina.

"We played a monster schedule," Sina said. "And we’re young, besides Denver, and we took some hits. Not that they ever questioned their ability to win, but we went through kind of a rough patch early on, and I did that purposely. Obviously I was hoping to win those games, but sometimes you got to go through some battles. The important thing I explained to them is that it’s all about the uptick at the end. If we can really get going now this is where we become a dangerous team. They did a great job of defending the ball and making big shots."

A game that was expected to be a tight struggle was just that throughout the first half. The Argonauts led 6-0 early before Mgbako scored eight of the next 14 points to put the Knights up 14-6. Then Rutgers Prep opened the second quarter on a 5-2 run but Anglin scored eight points and hit a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer to give the Knights a 33-25 lead.

The lead was a solid one, but the Knights weren’t comfortable. They had played in big games plenty of times before and knew that if they let Rutgers Prep stick around then the game could come down to the wire.

And while it wasn’t easy, they certainly made it look that way in the third quarter. The Knights exploded offensively and clamped down defensively, poking balls loose, blocking shots, drawing fouls, forcing travels, throwaways, and whatever type of turnover imaginable. Whatever they wanted in the third quarter, they got. After 16 minutes of back-and-forth streaks, the Knights made their presence known.

"The second half, specifically the third quarter was when we really set the tone," Anglin said. "That second quarter was a bit too close for my liking. We really wanted to make a statement in the second half and that’s what really separated us from them for the rest of the game."

Freshman Peter Mauro opened the third quarter with a 3, then sophomore Naasir Cunningham finished off a layup after an end-to-end pass from Anglin. A five-point swing by the Argonauts would then be neutralized by junior Geancarlo Pejuero (17 points), who scored seven straight points. All of a sudden the Knights led by 16, 46-30.

Mgbako would then hit another 3 a few possessions later and with five seconds left on the clock, hit a step-back 3-pointer over senior Ryan Zan. The Knights had officially pulled away with a 23-12 third quarter advantage that got the lead to 56-37 going into the final quarter.

Zan (24 points, eight rebounds) was the Argonauts’ best player on Friday but simply couldn’t hold down the duo of Mgbako and Pejuero inside all by himself as the game went on in the second half.

"Making shots always helps on the defensive end," Sina said. "We made some really high level shots and scored at all three levels. Denver scored at three levels. Geancarlo, he's the guy no one talks about much, but he's the guy that when he gets going, it changes a lot of things. Naasir made some big shots too and he’s only a sophomore, everyone realized. That kid's got so much pressure on him but he's gonna be really,really, really good and he’s had some great games for us."

From there it was all a matter of not blowing in the final eight minutes of what they had built throughout the game. And after Cunningham (10 points) threw down a dunk in transition and Mgbako manhandled his way into two offensive rebounds and a floater through a foul, all the Knight had to do was let the clock run, not foul, and hit their free throws. And they did just that, hitting on 14 of their 15 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

"I mean, there's been some ups and some downs this year," Anglin said. "But I just really love this group. We're a really special group, we’re unique. I think this is the most talented group we’ve had in history, and we just wanted to have a great season. We lost to some really high-ranked teams, so we just want to finish this season out strong."

Anglin arrived at Gill St. Bernard’s for the 2018-19 season and learned under the tutelage of Paul Mulcahy, then a senior but now a starting guard at Rutgers University. The Knights won the county championship that year, but the next year was a new team and Anglin was thrust into a more important role. Mgbako was just a freshman in 2019-20. They had a great year, but came up short in the county semis against Watchung Hills.

Then there was 2020-21, a COVID-impacted season in which the Knights played just 11 games and had their season end against Watchung Hills again in the Skyland Conference Tournament Blue Division semifinals. Being the only player on this year’s roster to win a county championship, it was something that he wanted to help lead his school back to. He wanted to experience that feeling again of being on top.

"I knew 100 percent, the whole season that we were going to win this championship," Anglin said. "We did what we had to do throughout the season, and specifically in this game. We just locked in defensively and converted on the offensive end like we know how to do."

A Georgetown-commit, Denver will be leaving this team at the end of the season in good hands between Mgbako, who is the third-ranked prospect in the 2023 class in the country, and Cunningham, who is the top prospect in the 2024 class, both by 247 Sports.

"It's a process that takes a little time," Sina said. "I'm hoping not too much time, but they understand that this works in stages. They're great kids and it’s a different type of team I've had. In the past I've had undersized players that are warriors. If this group could find the warrior part in every game like they did today, then it could be really something special to watch."

And in the end, Anglin had one more thing to add.

"We’re winning the Tournament of Champions this year."For unlimited access to local high school sports, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Boys Basketball: Gill St. Bernard's wins Somerset County Tournament