03/03 - 12:00 AM Boys Basketball Final St. Anthony 66 Montclair Immaculate 52 Complete Box Score »

JERSEY CITY — Every team in New Jersey knows when it takes the court during the NJSIAA state tournament, its season is one loss away from being over.

The situation facing St. Anthony is more harrowing than that. With the Jersey City school's financial distress throwing its future in question, every Friars game from here on out could be the storied program's last.

After announcing in September that St. Anthony could be closing after this school year if millions of dollars weren't raised to build an endowment, coach Bob Hurley told NJ Advance Media in January that he anticipated the school would remain open for another year after raising about $1 million since the fall.

Next year is still not certain, though. Brian Dailey, the producer and director of a Showtime documentary centered around the program, suggests that this could be the last season for the school.

Hurley has been adamant from the season's onset about keeping his players away from the financial issues. Other than occasionally explaining a fundraising meeting that could affect the team's plans, he keeps the focus on the court.

"The kids, they have enough on their plates day in, day out. Academic things, the stress of being an adolescent male, and then the demands here," Hurley said. "And then the fact that we won it all last year and these are all kids just trying to figure out what to do. Tradition sometimes here, the air can get very thick. It can get very tense. So that's what they're learning to deal with."

Even if Hurley isn't bringing it up to his players, the team is well aware of the situation. Senior R.J. Cole — one of the few holdovers from last season's Tournament of Champions-winning squad — says the team is using the uncertain future as motivation for the present.

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"I told the guys, we have to play every game now and every practice like it's our last. Because we don't know what's going to happen next year. So everybody has to go out with a chip on their shoulder, we want to get one for each other," Cole said. "It feels weird. But that's what keeps us going. We push each other every day in practice and tell each other, 'Hey, we might not be here next year.'"

Several fundraising events are planned for St. Anthony, including one coinciding with Showtime's documentary on the program. A celebrity basketball game could be coming in April, and a benefit dinner has been set up in May. White Eagle Hall, where St. Anthony once held practices, has been renovated into an event center with restaurants in the basement, and a fundraiser could be held there as well.

Hurley added that enrollment will have to go up for next year if the school is to stay open.

"I think we raise the necessary money and we just hope that the archdiocese is happy with that," Hurley said. "We just met last week, they gave us more guidelines, we know specifically what we need to do and we'll working towards that," Hurley said. "We have to raise somewhere around $500,000 to be in the black for next year. We also need to erase some of our debt with the archdiocese because we owe them money over these years. So we need to erase part of that debt. They'll give us a number about what we need to erase there."

St. Anthony has won 28 state titles. The Tournament of Champions has been played 28 times, and St. Anthony has won 13 of those. That includes last season when the Friars went 32-0, the fifth Bob Hurley team to go undefeated. But the majority of last year's team has graduated, and defending the title will be no easy task.

"It would be great, keep the tradition going," Cole said of a potential T of C repeat. "Keep the last time that we ever had together and the last St. Anthony moment as a state championship."

There were moments on Friday where it looked like St. Anthony's title defense, and in turn possibly the program's existence, might be ending in its first state tournament game. The top seed in the North Jersey, Non-Public B bracket earned the Friars a bye into the quarterfinals, where they faced eighth-seeded Montclair Immaculate, which entered the game with 13 losses but a stable of elite talented young players.

After a dogfight for three quarters, St. Anthony, No. 6 in the NJ.com Top 20, pulled away in the second half with Cole leading the way.

The Friars will be heavy favorites in their next game, where they will face Christ the King or Morristown-Beard in the sectional semifinals. A showdown with Jersey City rival Hudson Catholic, ranked No. 10 in the NJ.com Top 20, could be next in the final at the Rutgers Athletic Center. St. Anthony has dominated the series, but this Hawks team could be the most talented its ever faced.

Every game is a question mark going forward for St. Anthony — just like the school's future. Hurley says the team is taking the same mentality into every game that he brings into every meeting and fundraiser for the school.

"It's like the state tournament, or Jimmy Valvano, survive and advance," Hurley said. "We're just going to keep working and see if this is all good enough."

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. Find NJ.com on Facebook.