HBO Documentary About St. Patrick Hoops (N.J.) To Air Tuesday

The HBO documentary “Prayer for a Perfect Season” opens with footage from perhaps the most anticipated game in New Jersey high school basketball history.

St. Patrick lost that mythical national championship game, 62-45, to rival St. Anthony on March 9, before a capacity crowd of more than 8, 000 at Rutgers’ Louis Brown Athletic Center. But “Prayer for a Perfect Season, which will debut at 9 p.m. Tuesday, is about losses worse than anything St. Patrick players and coaches suffered on a basketball court.

The 90-minute film documents the death of former St. Patrick star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s uncle, Darrin Kidd, during the University of Kentucky freshman’s senior year. It also covers the departure of longtime St. Patrick coach Kevin Boyle, who left the program he built into a perennial national power after the St. Anthony loss for a lucrative coaching opportunity at Montverde (Fla.) Academy.

St. Patrick didn’t just lose a basketball coach. It lost someone whose program helped keep open the tiny parochial school in the impoverished Port section of Elizabeth.

With an enrollment of barely 200, St. Patrick faces financial hardships similar to those that closed Paterson Catholic in June 2010, which the documentary addresses. The same goes for St. Anthony in Jersey City, which wouldn’t have remained open if not for the fund-raising efforts of legendary basketball coach Bob Hurley, Boyle’s rival, “I’m painfully aware of what’s happened to Catholic education, Hurley said during the documentary. I think my least concern right now as a coach here is my preparation for games. I think my biggest concern is my preparation for fund-raising.

In the Catholic church, we are settling lawsuits throughout the diocese, all over the United States, with the religious and the sexual abuse cases, which has really taken away any reserve of money that would’ve normally been used to keep schools open.”

Hurley’s team beat Boyle’s squad seven months ago and finished its season unbeaten largely because Paterson Catholic’s top two players — Paterson’s Myles Mack, a freshman guard for Rutgers, and Fairview‘s Kyle Anderson, a St. Anthony senior who’s committed to UCLA — transferred to St. Anthony.

“With Kevin leaving, St. Patrick principal Joe Picaro said, it’s like the closing of quite an era.”

They can only hope the closing of the school isn’t far behind.

HBO Documentary About St. Patrick Hoops (N.J.) To Air Tuesday

NorthJersey.com

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/132209043.html

The HBO documentary “Prayer for a Perfect Season” opens with footage from perhaps the most anticipated game in New Jersey high school basketball history.

St. Patrick lost that mythical national championship game, 62-45, to rival St. Anthony on March 9, before a capacity crowd of more than 8, 000 at Rutgers’ Louis Brown Athletic Center. But “Prayer for a Perfect Season, which will debut at 9 p.m. Tuesday, is about losses worse than anything St. Patrick players and coaches suffered on a basketball court.

The 90-minute film documents the death of former St. Patrick star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s uncle, Darrin Kidd, during the University of Kentucky freshman’s senior year. It also covers the departure of longtime St. Patrick coach Kevin Boyle, who left the program he built into a perennial national power after the St. Anthony loss for a lucrative coaching opportunity at Montverde (Fla.) Academy.

St. Patrick didn’t just lose a basketball coach. It lost someone whose program helped keep open the tiny parochial school in the impoverished Port section of Elizabeth.

With an enrollment of barely 200, St. Patrick faces financial hardships similar to those that closed Paterson Catholic in June 2010, which the documentary addresses. The same goes for St. Anthony in Jersey City, which wouldn’t have remained open if not for the fund-raising efforts of legendary basketball coach Bob Hurley, Boyle’s rival, I’m painfully aware of what’s happened to Catholic education, Hurley said during the documentary. I think my least concern right now as a coach here is my preparation for games. I think my biggest concern is my preparation for fund-raising.

“In the Catholic church, we are settling lawsuits throughout the diocese, all over the United States, with the religious and the sexual abuse cases, which has really taken away any reserve of money that would’ve normally been used to keep schools open.”

Hurley’s team beat Boyle’s squad seven months ago and finished its season unbeaten largely because Paterson Catholic’s top two players — Paterson’s Myles Mack, a freshman guard for Rutgers, and Fairview ‘s Kyle Anderson, a St. Anthony senior who’s committed to UCLA — transferred to St. Anthony.

“With Kevin leaving, St. Patrick principal Joe Picaro said, it’s like the closing of quite an era.”

They can only hope the closing of the school isn’t far behind.