When he’s done coaching the St. Peter’s Prep varsity basketball team, Alex Mirabel devotes a lot of his time to coaching the Dominican Republic’s national 17-and-under team.
“It’s a real honor for me,” Mirabel said about coaching the national team of his native land.
Make no mistake, Mirabel is proud to be an American, but when the opportunity arose to help coach the Dominican U17 Nationals, he had to take it. Mirabel has been involved with Dominican basketball for some time, but he was promoted to a spot on the coaching staff last year.
This year, Mirabel has helped to take the Dominican national team to new heights.
Last weekend in the Dominican Republic, the U17s defeated rival Puerto Rico, 81-80, to win the Central Baskets Cup. It marked the first time in ages that the Dominican Republic won a basketball championship of any kind and marked the first time that the DR beat Puerto Rico.
“It was very exciting,” Mirabel said. “There were about 4,000 people in the gym. We have a good rivalry with Puerto Rico, so level of intensity was high. We had a mindset that every play mattered. That’s what makes you a better coach.”
Leading the way for the Dominican Republic team is Alonzo Frink, the Jersey City resident who plays basketball at Roselle Catholic.
Alonzo Frink is the younger brother of Jerome, the former St. Anthony star who blossomed into the Northeast Conference Player of the Year last year at LIU-Brooklyn. The younger Frink appeared to be a mirror image of his older brother, averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game in the tournament to earn Most Valuable Player honors.
After the tourney in the DR, Mirabel returned home – but brought most of his victorious team with him to Jersey City.
Last Monday night, before a packed audience at Hamilton Park in downtown Jersey City, the Dominican Republic U17 team took on an All-Star team from the Jersey City Recreation High School Summer League that has graced Hamilton Park for ages.
“I felt it could be a great experience for everyone,” Mirabel said.
The Marauders’ head coach remembered that a team from Canada was supposed to come to Jersey City last year to face an All-Star team from the league, but that game was scrapped at the last minute.
“I told [league organizer] Pat Devaney that we could bring our team to Hamilton Park to play,” Mirabel said. “We could get the guys here and have a really good game.”
That’s what happened. The Dominican team faced the Hamilton Park All-Stars in what became an epic battle, with the Dominican team prevailing, 105-95.
Mirabel described some of the players on the DR squad.
“We have a 6-foot-10 kid Joel Soriano, who reminds me of Ronald Roberts [the former Prep standout who had a brief stint in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers],” Mirabel said. “We have a 6-foot-4 point guard named Luis Reynoso and a 6-foot-2 guard Luis Curiel.”
Curiel led the DR team with 27 points. He was an All-State Group III selection out of Barringer in Newark. Mirabel said that all three of the aforementioned kids will be playing major college basketball somewhere some day.
It was also a tough night somewhat for Mirabel, who had to coach against his standout player, Brandon Thiele, who was on the All-Star squad. Thiele, who received a scholarship offer from the United States Military Academy in West Point last week, scored six points in the game.
“Being from Jersey City, people know who I am,” Mirabel said. “I’m proud to be from Jersey City, but I’m also proud to be from the Dominican Republic. I wanted to help give the people of Jersey City a night to be proud of. I think it was a great night.”
The response was very favorable from the organizers’ standpoint.
“We’re going to try to do it again next year,” Mirabel said. “It’s really possible.”
For the local All-Star team, Tyrek Battle-Holley of Dickinson led the way with 26 points.
“It was good to get the chance to compete against the Dominican All-Stars,” said Battle-Holley, who is still looking to get a scholarship offer for college. “I just knew I had to come out and play hard. I also wanted to have fun, because it was an All-Star game.”
Battle-Holley said that he was glad to get the shot to play in the game.
“It means that my hard work is starting to pay off and people are noticing me more,” Battle-Holley said. “There were a lot of people at the game, so that was exciting.”
Battle-Holley said that he was able to lead a comeback in the game coming off the bench, but the effort fell just a little short.
“When I first came in, we were down 15,” Battle-Holley said. “I just tried to get everyone involved. I was running, jumping, playing defense, getting steals. I just played hard and that gave me confidence. It was a great experience for me.”
Battle-Holley recovered from a sprained wrist earlier this summer in time to make the All-Star team. He led the Dickinson team into the playoffs and was scheduled to face the winner of Marist and Ferris in the playoffs.
“We started off slow, but we got a collective effort to recover from the bad start,” Battle-Holley said.
Another local who had a fine time was Lincoln’s Donte Darby, who was all over the court making steals and playing defense.
“When I heard I made the All-Star team, I was shocked,” Darby said. “I said, ‘Really? Me?’ I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy I made the team. I was happy and excited. I was going crazy.”
Darby said that he scored 32 points in a regular season summer league game the night he was told he was selected for the All-Stars.
Darby was impressed by the Dominicans.
“They had some very nice players on their team,” Darby said. “I liked playing against them. It gives me way more confidence going into our season. I think we can play with anybody.”
One of Darby’s Lincoln teammates, D.J. Henderson, was a last minute addition to the All-Stars when two other players couldn’t play. Henderson filled in nicely, scoring 13 points.
“Me and D.J. have worked our butts off,” Darby said. “We play ball together all the time. He’s my right hand man. We have the connection and we’re going with it.”
The surprising Lions drew the No. 2 seed in the Hamilton Park Summer League playoffs.
“It’s a good feeling that we’re in the playoffs,” Darby said. “It’s actually crazy. It’s not supposed to happen. It’s not supposed to happen to me.”
But it did happen – and Lincoln has to be looked at as a sure-fire contender in Hudson County for 2017-2018.
All in all, it was a great night for Jersey City basketball. The hotbed took a hit when perennial powerhouse St. Anthony closed earlier this summer, but nights like the one last Monday proved that basketball can survive locally without the aura of the fabulous Friars.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com. This week, Jim looks at the real kings of baseball in New York.
