Hopewell Valley Boys BasketballAfter its first three games of the season, the Hopewell Valley Central High School
boys basketball team was winless.
By: Matt Nalbone
The Bulldogs played tough and came close, but still never registered their first win.
So when they traveled to Bound Brook for their annual holiday tournament, no one gave them much of a chance to win.
However, the Bulldogs proved everyone wrong, as they won two-straight games and became the champions of the Crusaders Christmas Classic.
Their first game was against the host team, Bound Brook, and in a hard-fought battle that came right down to the wire, Hopewell won, 58-56.
Matt Katz led the way with 21 points, including 14 in the third quarter, and Casey Christensen came up huge with 18 points of his own.
The game was back and forth for most of the night, with Hopewell holding a 27-24 advantage at half-time. The Bulldogs then extended their lead to 13, but the host team came fighting back and eventually tied the score at 56-56 with less then a minute left.
With 20 seconds remaining, a Bound Brook player was fouled, but missed his foul shot, giving Hopewell a chance to take the lead.
Senior guard Justin Morrison was then fouled and after he made two free throws, Hopewell was ahead 58-56. Bound Brook decided to go for the win at the buzzer, trying a 3-pointer, but the ball rattled out and Hopewell was victorious.
"They gave us fits all night," head coach Tony Mormile said. "We beat then twice last year, but playing the host team on their court in the night game of a tournament, makes it a tough game."
The play of Christensen was one of the highlights for the team, according to the coach.
"He is one of those guys you just put out there and don’t worry about," Mormile said. "He is primarily a perimeter guy but has gone inside with no complaints."
The opponent for the finals Friday night would be South Plainfield, who defeated Somerville, 52-38, the previous night. The defending champs of the tournament came into the game with a 3-1 record so far this year.
Hopewell started the game slow and found themselves down, 13-1 after seven minutes. While the game looked like it could get ugly, the Bulldogs collected themselves and scored the last four points of the first quarter.
Hopewell then went on an impressive 22-10 run and found itself up, 27-23, at halftime.
Katz had another stellar quarter getting 15 of his 25 points during the run.
"We know when he’s hot," Mormile said. "We just get him the ball and help him out anyway we can."
With the team up four near the end of the third quarter, one of the key plays of the game occurred. Sophomore Brett Reese threw a perfect pass the length of the court to Christensen, who took one dribble and hit a 3-pointer as the quarter ended to put Hopewell up by seven points.
The Bulldogs would extend that lead to 10 with three-and-a-half minutes left, but then some crazy events took place.
South Plainfield made two-straight four-point plays where a player made a 3-pointer, was fouled and then made a free throw.
Hopewell (2-3) then made four out of six free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the victory and win the tournament.
Katz was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scoring 46 points in the two games.
"The other teams kept coming back on us but we held it together," a proud Mormile said. "That was largely due to our three seniors Morrison, Katz and Christensen."
Mike DiNatle literally came up big in this came with his defense, according to the coach.
"They had a six-foot-seven center and a six-foot-four guy inside and Mike had his best game against them," Mormile said. "He didn’t back down, kept them off the boards, and did a good job defensively."
Hopewell came up big at the free throw line in the tournament, getting to the line 17 times in the first game and 21 in the finals.
"We shoot 85-90 percent in practice," said Mormile. "We need to get to the line more in games. We call them bonus points."
After a short break for the new year, it’s back to work for the newly rejuvenated team as they take on Montgomery and Lawrence this week.