St. Anthony's boys come from behind to grab first state CHSAA title in 20 years

The large, modern scoreboards high up at each end of century-old Rose Hill Gymnasium didn’t reveal much to like for St. Anthony’s throughout the first half.

After being down by as many as 13, the Friars were in a nine-point halftime hole Saturday at Fordham. They were rushing on offense, turning the ball over too much and misfiring almost 77% of the time in this state CHSAA Class A final against St. John’s Prep.

“It was a dead locker room at halftime,” senior forward Connor Mannix said.

Sal Lagano then woke the dead.

“They saw an angry coach at halftime,” Lagano said, “but they responded.”

Junior guard Kevin Moore delivered six of his 13 points plus a big steal and a huge assist in the final 3 1/2 minutes. And so the title “state champion” has a very nice ring to it for St. Anthony’s.

The Friars emerged with a 57-47 win over the city champs — this basketball program’s first state title in 20 years.

“It’s honestly great,” Moore said. “I’ve been working with these guys for the last three years and I wouldn’t want to play with anyone else. I’m glad we got to go out on that note.”

Moore added six assists and five steals to the cause for the 25-3 Friars. Senior forward James Taylor Jr. scored all 10 of his points in the second half. And Mannix contributed 10 points and eight rebounds in a game that was there for either side to grab at that 3 1/2-minute mark, tied at 41.

“We’ve been in close games all year, so we know how to handle them,” Mannix said.

They handled it Dec. 18 against St. John’s Prep when they rallied in the fourth for a 56-52 home victory.

“As I said to our guys in the locker room after the game there, ‘This will be a rematch (in) the state finals,’ and here we were; it was,” said coach John Kiggins, whose Red Storm (24-4) still have another game, the Mayor’s Cup matchup against the eventual PSAL champ on March 23.

This time, the 6-1 Moore stepped forward when it was tied.

First, he grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for the lead. Then he stole the ball and ultimately jammed it through the hoop. Then he spotted Ouse Ninche and fed him for a layup to make it a 6-0 burst, triggering a 16-6 closing run.

“I even said it on the bench, ‘Someone’s got to make a play,’ ” Lagano said. “And usually it’s Kevin.”

Daquan Bryant, who had a 15-point, eight-rebound, six-steal day, drove to cut it to 47-43. But Taylor made two free throws and Moore hit two more. The Friars’ lead was eight with 58.5 seconds left.

“Credit to them,” Kiggins said. “They’re really good.”

It wasn’t showing when they were down 23-10 in the second quarter and 28-19 at the break.

“It was the worst half of basketball we ever played, so we knew we couldn’t do much worse once we went back on the court,” Taylor said. “We just had to do us and it would just go up.”

Not only had St. Anthony’s shot only 6-for-26 in that first half, but it committed seven turnovers that led to nine points.

“I challenged them with things we talk about every game,” Lagano said. “It’s not like we started splitting the atom. We just got after them more about being better than this.”

They turned out to be the best.