Athletics, academics make Trenton Catholic a top draw

Dominique Reid's story fits the mold that Trenton Catholic Academy is trying to fill.

His road to TCA is simple and telling - an ideal success story for a high school with an enrollment of a little more than 200.

Conspiracy theories abound, but Reid's decision to transfer to TCA offers its own insight into how top South Jersey basketball players are ending up at the small Catholic school in Hamilton:

Unhappy with his freshman year at Neumann-Goretti in Philadelphia, during a season in which the team won a state title, Reid wanted a change.

The 6-foot-6, supremely talented Sicklerville native said he simply wanted to be back in his home state. He said he wanted to get a Catholic education and, as at Neumann-Goretti, to play for a winner.

"I looked in the newspaper and saw the success they were having, saw that they won a state championship," Reid said. "That got my attention. I thought it really balanced out."

Reid reached out to the school. The school responded.

"They called and they were interested, and I was fully interested in the school," Reid said. "I just felt welcomed, like it was a big family."

Now, with his 30-day, state-mandated waiting period about to end, Reid joins a growing list of top South Jersey talents playing in both the boys' and girls' programs at Trenton Catholic.

The boys' team features area players, including 6-8 Tabernacle native Brandon Taylor, a junior forward getting looks from schools such as West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame.

On the girls' side, there is Willingboro native Briyona Canty.

The Rutgers-bound senior guard is a member of the U.S. national youth team. ESPN rates him No. 6 among high school players in the country.

The terms "stealing players" and "recruiting" - a practice prohibited by the NJSIAA - are common accusations aimed at TCA by communities losing players to the school.

But Trenton Catholic athletic director Mark Eckel sees a small but significant discrepancy in those claims, which is illustrated in Reid's story: "I tell people all the time, we attract. We don't recruit - we attract."

The attraction, of course, starts with success.

The boys upset national powerhouse St. Anthony last season on their way to a Tournament of Champions title. The 2010 girls' team won its fifth consecutive Burlington County League title and its third Non-Public B state championship in the last four years.

Eckel, a longtime columnist for the Trenton Times, was quick to note the benefits of the headlines the school gets when it wins.

But more than that, Eckel, boys' coach Fred Falchi, and girls' coach Khaliq Lewis-El all point to recent graduates as illustrating perhaps the school's biggest draw.

TCA players consistently earn Division I basketball scholarships, not just at top basketball schools but also at top academic schools.

The boys' list includes 2010 graduate Frantz Massenat, who plays at Drexel. The girls' team has 10 former players now in Division I basketball, including 2010 graduate Sierra Mendenhall, a freshman at Northwestern.

"Frantz is going to school for nothing," Falchi said. "He had to pay $20 for a student ID, and if he holds up his end of the bargain, he's going to a $50,000-per-year school for free.

"And really, that's the goal."

Byron Taylor, Brandon's father, said it was the balance between education and basketball that prompted him to seriously consider TCA.

"TCA offered the best of both," Byron Taylor said, adding that Seneca, the public school Brandon would have attended, "offered the education, but they didn't offer the basketball part."

Though education is his priority, Byron Taylor admittedly was swept up the first time he saw his son step onto the court at Seton Hall University against St. Patrick High School.

And those looking for reasons South Jersey natives are drawn to TCA don't have to look further than the schedule the teams play.

The talent that Trenton Catholic attracts from South Jersey could walk on to most area public school teams, start as freshmen, and average 25 to 30 points a night.

But averaging 30 points is not the goal for these players, and neither is outscoring opponents by 30-point margins.

When considering why they chose TCA, several players thought first about their opponents.

They envision playing in arenas at Rutgers and Seton Hall. They envision staring down national powerhouses such as St. Anthony and St. Patrick.

"I love the challenge," said Brandon Taylor, a D-I prospect who was on the junior varsity his freshman year. "I don't like to play against teams that, before you get on the court, you know you're going to win the game."

Lewis-El describes the girls' schedule as something of a second AAU season for his players.

"What happens at TCA," he said, "is that you'll get college coaches coming to our games, and you'll get those extra looks. It's like extending the AAU season.

"We play in about six showcases with Division I coaches watching."

Lewis-El, whose team is off to a 9-1 start, considers having Canty, the top player in South Jersey, a draw in itself.

"That has a lot to do with kids coming to this program," he said. "They see a player like Briyona, and the level that she's on, and just her style of play. People see how unselfish she is, how she'd rather drop 25 assists than 25 points.

"And when your best player buys into a program like that, everybody else is going to buy in, too."

Like many of her teammates, Canty decided to attend TCA because it offered the best mix of education and basketball.

Rumors of recruiting and scholarships might linger. Says Eckel: "Nobody goes to this school for free. We give financial aid. Ninety percent of the school does get some kind of financial aid."

As for why South Jersey athletes increasingly are attracted to TCA, Canty said, "People see us winning championships and working hard, and they just want to be a part of it."