South Brunswick’s Kalani Antoine – here in the 2023 GMC Tournament Final against St. Thomas Aquinas – leads South Brunswick into the Central Jersey Group 4 title game Tuesday night. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Joe Hoehman’s tenure at South Brunswick has been marked by success, but one more win would put his Vikings program in uncharted waters.
One more win – Tuesday night in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game – would give South Brunswick (20-6) its second title in the last three postseasons, after the Vikings won in 2020, and just their fifth overall.
It’s the space between the others, though, that would make this one extra special.
The last one came in 2007, with players like the Soaries twins – Malcolm and Martin – Devon Young, and a junior named Mohamed Sanu. Before that? You have to go all the way back to 1974 and 1968.
Click here, by the way, for a great read on that 2007 tournament run by our encyclopedic colleague Greg Machos over at GMCHoops.com.
This year’s version of the Vikings has done things a little more quietly than the 2007 team, which was considered a favorite to go far in the county and state tournaments in the preseason. This team was a seven-seed in the GMC Tournament, and made it to the finals, losing by just seven to top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas.
In the state tournament, they are the No. 6 seed in Central Jersey Group 4, yet they are playing in the title game Friday night when they visit top-seed Trenton (28-1) for a 5:30 tip-off.
The Tornadoes’ lone loss this season came at the hands of Camden Eastside, which also is one of four teams to beat St. Thomas Aquinas this season.
While the 2022-23 Vikings have been a team effort, one of the key parts has been Kalani Antoine, though he’ll humbly tell you there are more important reasons. Antoine has been having a monster state tournament; in three games he is averaging 25 points per, including a mammoth 31 point output on the road in the quarterfinals against rival North Brunswick, which had beaten them by five back in late December.
Click below to hear Kalani Antoine talk about the Vikings’ season and the Central Jersey Group 4 title game against Trenton.
The Vikings will have their work cut out for them against Trenton, currently in the top ten of the statewide rankings. Senior guard Davontay Hutson leads the way with 15.7 points per game, and 9.8 boards. Fellow senior and point guard Antwan Bridget is next, scoring 11.9 points per game, while dishing out an average 6.5 assissts per contest. He’s also taken a team-leading 107 steals.
South Brunswick head coach Joe Hoehman talks about the matchup: