North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week having fun wracking up points

Anthony Pizzuti

Sport: Basketball

School: Lyndhurst

Class: Junior. Age: 16

Accomplishment: Pizzuti broke the single game school scoring when he poured in 53 points against Kearny. He added 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals in the game and averaged 30 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks for the three games he played last week

 

   Baseball may be his favorite sport, but Lyndhurst’s Anthony Pizzuti doesn’t hesitate when asked which sport is the most fun.

“Basketball is definitely the most fun,” the high-scoring Golden Bear said. “I’ve been playing since I was in second grade and it’s a game you can play by yourself, with one other person or with a whole team. All you need is a ball and a hoop.”

A week ago, Pizzuti was on such a heat streak that it seemed like there was no one else on the court. He scored 53 points against Kearny, breaking the old school record without hitting a single 3-pointer.

oing into the game, he wasn’t sure how much he’d actually be able to play.

“I had hurt my back a few games earlier and I wasn’t very confident going into the game,” said Pizzuti, who is averaging more than 22 points in his first full year of varsity play. “But I made my first few shots and my teammates started feeding me.”

By halftime, he had 30 points, one short of his career high. The passes kept finding him.

“My favorite part of the game is slashing to the basket and I was able to keep doing it,” he said. “My teammates kept getting me the ball in the right places.”

Pizzuti, a 6-3, 195-pound forward, who pitches and plays almost everywhere else on the baseball diamond, is following in the footsteps of his father, Rich, who played in the infield at St. Peter’s Prep and Jersey City State (now New Jersey City University) in the 1990s.

“It’s still my favorite sport, especially when I’m pitching, because I like the challenge of being in control of the game.”

He also enjoys fishing.

“We used to have a house at the shore and I started fishing off the dock when I was six. I think it calms me down,” said Pizzuti, who describes himself as normally pretty hyper. “I’m good at it, and I think I like the anticipation you get waiting for the fish to bite and then the challenge of reeling it in.”

And like every good fisherman, he has a good story about a fish that got away.

“When I was about 11, we were using a casting sphere with minnows and I saw a fin in the bay where we were,” he said. “I grabbed a bay rod and I hooked what we think was a five- or six-foot sand shark. We started reeling it in and got it to where we could see it and almost catch it.”

But the line just snapped and the shark got away.

Lyndhurst’s basketball opponents know the feeling of trying to catch Pizzuti when he has the ball near the basket. But most of the time, he’s the one that gets away for two more points.