Boys Basketball: On Senior Night, Hopatcong Stays Hot

Hopatcong senior Matt Tobin stood on the right wing with a Montville defender a step away from his chest. Tobin held his dribble like a yo-yo as he decided how he’d put his next points on the scoreboard and in Hopatcong's record books.

Tobin took a quick step right and his defender followed. In an instant, he pulled the ball back through his legs and, as his defender tried to avoid falling, raised up for a 16-foot jumper—swish.

Another strong performance from Tobin propelled Hopatcong to a 63-49 win over Montville on Monday night at . The win moved the Chiefs to 16-7 on the season.

“They expect it from him,” Hopatcong head coach Jim Tobin said of Matt’s performance. “And so do we. We expect him to go out there on one leg and get 25 points per game like he does.”

That’s exactly what he did. The senior matched his season average with 25 points.

Hopatcong held a 11-10 lead after the first quarter thanks to five points by senior Jake Smith. Smith got the start for the Chiefs on Hopatcong’s senior night. His three-pointer in the final minutes gave the Chiefs the edge at the end of the first.

Tobin opened the second quarter with a picture-perfect three-pointer, giving Hopatcong a four-point lead. By the end of the quarter, on the strength of Vinny Marinoni and Hunter Guard three-pointers, Hopatcong held a 30-22 lead at the half.

Montville battled back in the third quarter and found success against Hopatcong’s zone defense. For much of the quarter, the Mustangs used great ball movement–changing sides of the floor and getting the ball into the high post–for a 16-point quarter.

The Mustangs pulled to within six points with a Jon Lacy lay-up with a minute left when Tobin answered yet again. Tobin caught an inbound pass, went to his left, and threw up a fadeaway 18-footer over two Mustangs which hit nothing but net.

The two clubs played out much of the fourth at the same pace. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, big man Matt Guilder bucketed 10 points in the second half after being relegated to the bench for most of the first half after picking up three fouls in the first four minutes.

“After last game, I’m happy,” Jim Tobin said. “But tonight we did enough on the defensive end to win. Our rebounding was a little rough, and offensively we were hitting our shots.”

Last game, Hopatcong forfeited a 17-point lead in the third quarter, was outscored 30-12 by Oratory Prep in the fourth quarter en route to a loss.

The Chiefs will start state tournament play next Monday when they host Pompton Lakes. If the fifth-seeded Chiefs win, and all other top seeds win their games, they’d travel to Elmwood Park on Wednesday in the second round.

Hopatcong: Matt Tobin 25, Joe LoBue 2, Hunter Guard 12, Nick Krowl 5, Jon Parker 9, Jake Smith 5, Vinny Marinoni 5.

Montville: Matt Guilder 10, Pete Tollis 12, Ellis Carter 11, MikeDellostrillo 5, Jordan Gajdos 4, Jon Lacy 2, Mike Trifori 5,