HNT Boys Basketball Player of the Year: St. Joseph’s Battle
Tyus Battle was born to play basketball.
The St. Joseph of Metuchen senior comes from a family of basketball players, who have been helping to mold him since he started playing the game at the age of 6. This season, the years of spending time in the gym came to fruition as he received a number of accolades and helped the Falcons have a strong season.
The Syracuse-bound Battle led St. Joseph (22-6) with 19.1 points per game and scored a total of 535 points as the Falcons went undefeated in the Greater Middlesex Conference and won the GMC Red Division title at 12-0. They also won the GMC Tournament title for the sixth time in seven years and ninth overall, and advanced to the NJSIAA South Non-Public A final, where they fell to St. Augustine in overtime.
For his efforts, Battle is the Home News Tribune Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
“I think it was a solid year, I think all of us we thought we were good enough to definitely make it to the Tournament of Champions, and make an impact on the T of C, but things happen. St. Augustine played a really good game, but I think we had a pretty good season,” Battle said.
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Battle, who scored his 1,000th career point during the second game of the season, came to St. Joseph for his senior year after playing three years at Gill St. Bernard’s. The addition of Battle, a 6-foot-6 guard, helped bolster the Falcons’ rotation. Although Battle said he loved playing at Gill, it was important for him to be closer to his family, and the idea of playing with his little brother Khalif, who was a freshman this year, was a big deciding factor.
Despite being the new kid on the team, Battle fit in immediately as the Falcons went 11-1 to start the season.
“I pick up these things pretty fast, I feel like especially playing with different AAU teams and USA basketball where you have to meet people on the fly and just play with them, I had a really good vibe with my teammates,” Battle said. “Every time I play I just try and impact the game anyway possible on the floor, if that’s scoring, defensively, getting people involved, I just try to impact it anyway possible.”
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Battle, who also was named the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year and was nominated for the McDonald’s All American Game, hopes that he and the other seniors left a mark on the team this season, and the players that came so close to going all the way this year will remember that feeling and keep the winning tradition going.
“I think just as a senior and a person with experience, I just tried to pass it on,” Battle said. “Hopefully we did a good job of trying to continue the St. Joe’s tradition. There’s a lot of good teams before us, so hopefully we just left a good tradition and good things to come.”
Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com
GMC/HNT FINAL TOP 10
1. Linden (25-6)
2. St. Joseph (22-6)
3. South Brunswick (22-5)
4. East Brunswick (18-9)
5. Woodbridge (20-6)
6. Colonia (16-9)
7. Sayreville (18-10)
8. Old Bridge (18-9)
9. Rahway (21-4)
10. Spotswood (22-6)