St. Joseph moved up to No. 2 in the Register Top 10 poll this week and will stay there if it wins the Northeast Catholic Classic tomorrow night against Bishop Eustase Prep (NJ).
Against Bishop Hendricken (RI) Tuesday night, the Cadets were never in real danger of losing to the reigning seven-time state champions of Rhode Island, but also could not put the team away despite gaining several leads in double digits.
The Cadets won in front of a crowd that included several college coaches, including Quinnipiac head man Tom Moore, Fairfield head man Ed Cooley and Dartmouth assistant Ricky Moore, the same Ricky Moore who was the point guard on UConn's first national championship team in 1999. Presumably, they were there to see 6-6 junior wing man Timajh Parker from St. Joes, but there was plenty of talent on both sides that may have been getting looks.
With center Oscar Assie and point guard James Jennings joining Parker, St. Joes is the favorite in the FCIAC. While it remains to be seen if this team is as good as Bridgeport Central was a year ago, St. Joseph will be very tough to beat this season. But the Cadets will need to have that killer instinct in putting teams away rather than letting teams hang around.