#4 St Peters: Kings of Hudson County

The burning question on the minds of Garden State basketball fans going into the 2024 Hudson County final was “Could the rematch be as good as the first round?”--Well, #4 Saint Peter’s Prep and #6 Hudson Catholic delivered on the hype and produced another instant classic that fans will be talking about for years to come.

Hudson Catholic won the opening tip and 6'3" Penn Commit Alex Massung got the scoring started with a lyup. Sophomore guard Richie Rosa answered with a triple at 6:30 to get St Peter’s on the board and the teams were off and running. Rosa hit a second triple on SPP next possession to extend their lead to 6-2. Massung paced the Hawks in the early going with their first six points before First Team All State candidate and Auburn commit Tahaad Pettiford got on the board to tie the game at 8 midway through the first. The teams traded buckets, with Hudson getting help from 6’5” junior guard Keith McKnight and the ever reliable Nico Pena hitting two freethrows to set St Peter’s ahead 14-12 after one.

St Peter’s started the second on a run at led 25-16 midway through the second. McKnight broke the run for the Marauders by hitting a pair on the line at the 4:00 mark of the second, but Hudson took a run of its own to bring themselves to within 28-26 at the half after a Pettiford layup.

The tight defensive battle continued through the third, with St Peter’s holding a 36-34 lead with 2:50 to go after a Pettiford free throw and timeout by Hudson to settle the game down. Saad Mitchell beat the clock for Hudson to cut the SPP lead back to a possession at 40-38 after 3.

Massung opene the fourth with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 40. After a Pena layup, Pettiford scored on an acrobatic shot to bring the lead to 45-44 with 5:45 to go. Pena kept cooking in the fourth, extending the lead to 50-46 on a putback with 4:00 to go. After SPP pushed it to 54-46 with 3:00 to go, Hudson appeared on the ropes. Massung hit a pair of freethrows to keep the Hawks within punching distanceand late in the fourth, Pettiford took over, scoring the last 5 poitns of regulation for the Hawks and sending the game to overtime tied at 59.

Rosa&Pena opened the scoring in OT for the Marauders to give them a two score lead but HC worked back behind McKnight and Pettiford to trail 65-63 with 1:37 to go. After Omari Moore tied the game, St Peter’s got two baskets to restore a 69-65 lead with 41.7 left in the extra session. Pettiford missed a triple and St Peters dribbled out the clock on a 73-67 win and Hudson County Title.

Hudson was led by their seniors, with the Auburn bound Pettiford leading all scorers with 24 and UPenn commit Massung scoring 20. Austin Spencer led the Marauders with 19 while Peyton Miller and Rosa tossed in 16 apiece. Pena had 12 to put four SPP guards in double digits.

While Saint Peter's may have won on the floor twice this year, everyone is winners in this series. The Hawks have a lot to be proud of. They were gritty, they were electric. The 20 kids on the varsity rosters, their coaches, Alex Mirabel and Nick Maraniello, along with their staffs, fans and student sections gave the Hudson County basketball community a series of games that will live forever in lore.

Editor's Personal Note:

The last two surviving Catholic schools in the county playing boys hoops are living up to the legacies of Bob Hurley's Saint Anthony's; Tom Lalicato's Saint Mary's; Saint Aloysius; Marist; St Joe's of the Palisades; Saint Cecilia's of Kearny and others...and we are all benefitting from it as fans, reporters and the basketball community.

The old Parochial rivalries, a lost piece of history that the younger generation(Those under ~30) doesn't comprehend and never got to experience as churches and schools were shuttered by the various diocese across the state. The list is too long to name them all, but those across that age line--You will remember the battles of St Pats, St Anthony's, St Mary's of Elizabeth, Our Lady Of The Valley, Essex Catholic, Paterson Catholic, Mater Dei, St Marys South Amboy\McCarrick and the rest--Over 30 of them, gone to the history books.....Doing so with a smile and a nod to the legends who prowled those sidelines and the names that played those games.

For those of us over 30, Saturday's final was a trip down memory lane in many ways and an opportunity to add another chapter to "bigtime Catholic school basketball" in New Jersey.

On behalf of the entire New Jersey basketball community...

Especially the Old Time Catholic School Crew...

St. Peter's and Hudson Catholic...

Instant. Classics.

Thank You.