Fourth Time's A Charm As Ranney Takes Down No. 1 Roselle Catholic

Photos courtesy of: Ken Cook photography

LINCROFT – In one of the most highly anticipated regular season match-ups this season in New Jersey and in the history of Shore Conference basketball, Ranney knocked off Roselle Catholic 61-49 Wednesday night at the I’m Possible Shore Challenge at Brookdale Community College in front of a sold out S.R.O. crowd.

Roselle Catholic entered the game ranked No. 1 in the state and 15th in the country according to USA Today while Ranney came in ranked third in the state and 16th nationally.

Ranney, led by McDonalds All-American selections Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis, had never beaten Roselle Catholic and the dynamic duo was 0-3 against the Lions in their careers, including two losses a year ago with the second one coming in a heartbreaking, 63-61, defeat in the Non-Public B final.

Wednesday marked Roselle Catholics first loss to a New Jersey opponent since March 8, 2017 when the Lions fell to the Patrick school, 71-62, in the South Jersey Non-Public B final.

“After we lost to them last year, we had the feeling we couldn’t let that happen again,” Villanova commit Antoine said. “We used that game last year to play even harder today. The past is the past. You have to move on from that and learn from those kinds of games. After last year’s game, I really went back and tried to pick up on things that I could’ve done better.”

Antoine scored a game-high 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting along with six steals while Lewis, meanwhile, added eight points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and a steal in a terrific all-around game where he drew the assignment of guarding Roselle Catholics 6-foot-6 senior and fellow McDonalds All-American, Kahlil Whitney.

The 6-foot-5 Antione held the Kentucky commit to 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting with Wildcats coach John Calipari looking on from his courtside seat.

“I feel like I’m a lot stronger then I look,” said Lewis, who is committed to the University of Florida. “He’s (Whitney) is strong and he’s a good player but I have confidence in myself against anybody, no matter how big, strong, fast, whatever. Defense is more about your mentality. If you commit to playing good defense you can be good at it and with my athleticism and my desire, I feel like I can handle any assignment coach (Tahj Holden) gives me.”

Antione and Ahmadu Sarnor helped Ranney build a 32-28 halftime lead, combining for 27 of the team’s 32 points in the first half. Antoine recorded 17 of his 25 points in the first half while Sarnor added 10 of his 12 points before intermission and finished with four rebounds, three assists, a blocked shot and a steal.

Wednesday, Sarnor was playing in only his third game of the season after sitting out the first 16 games because he played in as many games as an eighth-grader in Pennsylvania. Sarnor was a second-team All-Shore selection a year ago when he averaged nine points, five rebounds, five assists and 2.35 steals per game as one of the most versatile players on the team.

Sarnor and Antoine then helped Ranney take control of the game in the middle of the third quarter spearheading an 8-0 run that turned a 35-32 lead into a 43-32 advantage with 4:21 left in the third quarter. Antoine scored the first six points and Sarnor closed it out with a floater in the lane.

Roselle Catholic got as close as eight, 50-42, with 6:45 left in the game but the Panthers answered with an 11-2 run to put the game away.

Ranney had trouble with the Lions 6-foot-11 forward Cliff Omoyuri in the first half when he scored a team-high 13 points along with eight of his 10 boards and two of his three blocks. Omoyuri was dominating in the paint and for the Lions to win this game someone needed to slow Omoyuri down.

At halftime, Holden took 6-foot-9 forward Phillip Wheeler aside and emphasized that he needed him to step up defensively against the Lions big man and Wheeler responded in a big way holding Omoyuri to two second half points and two rebounds, while putting on a show of his own at both ends.

“Coach pulled me aside and told me I really needed to box out or we’re going to lose this game because Cliff already had 13 points in the first half,” Wheeler said. “But I told coach, ‘I got this.’”

Wheeler finished with a double-double, 10 points – eight in the second half and eight of his 12 rebounds in the second half – off the bench. Six of his eight second-points came on highlight-reel dunks, including a putback slam-dunk to extend the lead to 61-44 with 3:40 left in the game.

“Whether I come off the bench or start, I just love the feeling of getting on the court and doing what I do,” said Wheeler. “I really wanted to prove myself tonight and I had to show out. It’s the biggest game I’ve had so far. I just felt like I needed to play my game to show everybody what I got.”

Wheeler – a transfer from Rumson-Fair Haven – has only been back in the lineup for two weeks after sitting out 30 days honoring the NJSIAA transfer rule. So, Ranney – with Sarnor recently back in the lineup - is really just getting its full squad together on the fly in the last few of games.

“We’re still a work in progress,” said Holden. “Ahmadu has only been eligible for three game now. We are still working out the kinks on things like rotations, but I think we played hard, we defended and rebounded for the most part. I wasn’t happy with some of the second chances we gave up in the first half but we rectified that in the second half.”

Senior guard Alex Klastsky, who will be joining Lewis at Florida as a preferred walk-on, chipped in with two second half three-pointers to finish with six points, while UNLV-bound Josh Pierre Louis ended up recording 13 points, three steals and two boards for the Lions.

Antoine’s 25 points moves him past former Lacy star and current Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Chris Fleming for second place on the all-time Shore Conference career scoring list. Antoine is 50 points away from breaking the all-time record of 2,302 points, held by Croydon Hall’s Norm Caldwell who graduated in 1973.

Follow @getmready