Trenton Catholic players, coaches and cheerleaders celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Michael Jones (2) dunks the ball against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic players, coaches and cheerleaders celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High's Antwan Bridgett (3) shoots the ball against Trenton Catholic during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High's Sam Gadie, left, and Trenton Catholic's Devyn Wright-Myles, right, wrestle for the ball during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton's Calvin Moore, right, drives to the basket as Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris, left, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Camryn Stewart-Bethea, left, tries to go up with the ball as Trenton High's Chris Wilson, right, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High's Same Gadie, center, tries to shoot the ball as Trenton Catholic's Devyn Wright-Myles, left, and Terrence Keese, right, defend during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High's Wayne Williams (11) puts up a shot against Trenton Catholic during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris (1) lays the ball in the basket against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Terrence Keese (5) shoots the ball against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Michael Jones, left, dunks the ball after the final horn as teammates celebrate following a victory over Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris, right, drives to the basket as Trenton High's Davontay Hutson, left, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High's Calvin Moore (2) shoots the ball against Trenton Catholic during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Camryn Stewart-Bethea (3) shoots a free throw against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris, back, shoots over Trenton High's Chris Wilson, front, during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Terrence Keese, left, shoots the ball as Trenton High's Chris Wilson, right, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton High coach Darryl Young gestures to his team against Trenton Catholic during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Devyn Wright-Myles, left, looks to go up with the ball as Trenton High's Davontay Hutson, right, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris (1) goes to lay the ball up against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Jameel Morris (1) goes up with the ball against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Michael Jones, center, shoots over the defense of Trenton High's Wymere Correia, left, and Brazil Fields, right, during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Michael Jones, right, drives to the basket as Trenton High's Davontay Hutson, left, during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
Trenton Catholic's Michael Jones, left, shoots over the defense of Trenton High's Antwan Bridgett, right, during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
TRENTON — Make it a fine nine for the Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy boys basketball program.
In what had the potential to be a competitive Mercer County Tournament championship game between two archrivals, the Iron Mikes cemented their status as a state title contender by crushing Trenton Central, 72-57, Thursday night to capture the school’s record ninth county title.
Jameel Morris dropped 26 points to eclipse 1,000 for his career, while tournament MVP Michael Jones added 20 points for top-seeded Trenton Catholic (19-4) under the bright lights of the CURE Insurance Arena.
“It was really important to me because I know this is my senior year and this is probably the last time that I’m ever gonna be in this gym, so I just really wanted to put on a show for the crowd,” Morris said. “I love this stage, I’m not gonna lie. I definitely love the atmosphere, I love the fans, I love everything about this gym. It was definitely a great first experience here.”
Morris played his first two seasons at Burlington City and missed out last year because the MCT was canceled during the pandemic. But he could not have scripted a better way to reach his scoring milestone.
With 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the 6-foot-2 guard dribbled to his left and pulled up for a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc for his 1,000th point. That gave Trenton Catholic its largest lead of the night at 62-31 as the whole team rushed onto the court to celebrate with Morris.
“They were really telling me, ‘Yo, you got four more points,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, four more already? Sheesh, I’m about to hit that right now,’” Morris joked afterward.
Trenton Catholic’s Jameel Morris (1) lays the ball in the basket against Trenton High during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
In a stark contrast from the teams’ first matchup, when Trenton Catholic had to survive 18 lead changes to win at Trenton on Feb. 3, the Iron Mikes led for the entire game and were essentially in control for the final two and a half quarters.
Sixth-seeded Trenton (16-9) hoped to cap its impressive tournament run with the school’s first title since 2008, but it ran into early foul trouble and significantly lost the turnover battle.
After leading 19-17 with six minutes left in the second quarter, Trenton Catholic went on a 9-2 run over the next two minutes. The Iron Mikes led by 10 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 23-2 run thanks to an abundance of steals.
“We knew we had them when we could tell they weren’t able to run with us,” Morris said. “We were just visualizing them, making sure that they don’t get their open 3s. Once we saw that they were tired, we just wanted to run, run, run.”
This marked Trenton Catholic’s third straight title and fourth in the last five tournaments with three different coaches: Fred Falchi, Eric Elliott and now Mark Bass.
“Coming off the bench he said, ‘They don’t score no more,’ so we had to try get a stop,” Jones recalled of Bass’ instructions in the third quarter. “They started to get it going, but once he yelled at us, we just fixed it up and we won.”
Trenton’s Calvin Moore, right, drives to the basket as Trenton Catholic’s Jameel Morris, left, defends during the Mercer County Tournament boys basketball final at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton on Thursday night. (Rich Hundley III/ For The Trentonian)
To avoid turning the ball over to a Trenton team that also thrives on them, Jones said the Iron Mikes focused on playing their own pace and taking their time on each possession.
Jones set the tone in the third quarter by intercepting a pass at the top of the key and driving all the way on a fastbreak for a layup plus a foul shot. Two minutes later, he drilled a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 18. The rout was on.
“They definitely got rattled because we were up by at least 30,” Jones said, “so they were thinking the game was over and we were just still thinking ‘if they don’t score,’ and play it like it’s the first quarter.”
Point guard Antwan Bridgett had a monstrous effort for Trenton with 29 points including 16 in the fourth quarter. Calvin Moore finished with a trio of 3-pointers and 14 points, but the Tornadoes had little production outside of those two.
Trenton will have to regroup for the state tournament as it gets set to host a first-round game Monday against Manalapan as the No. 7 seed in Central Jersey Group IV.
Meanwhile, Trenton Catholic is riding a 10-game winning streak into the Non-Public B South Tournament.
As the top seed in the bracket, the Iron Mikes will host either Gloucester Catholic or Wildwood Catholic next Friday in the quarterfinals. They have a legitimate chance to win their first sectional title since the 2010 state championship team.
“I feel like we should really blow by any team that we play until we get to where we need to get to,” Morris said.
TRENTON (57)
Hutson 2-2-7, Moore 4-3-14, Bridgett 9-6-29, Williams 1-0-2, Wilson 2-0-5. Totals — 19-9-57.
