Season Overview:
The Montclair High School Varsity Boys Basketball team finished their 2023-2024 season with a 15-11 overall record, a 7-6 record in conference play, and a 3rd place finish in the Colonial Division. Additionally, they won two games in the Essex County Tournament (ECT) and one in the State Tournament before being eliminated by some of the best teams in the state. Following their 66-57 victory over MKA and their 60-49 victory over Orange in the preliminary rounds, they suffered a first-round 62-35 loss to eventual Essex County Tournament Champions, 22-7 St. Benedict’s Prep.
Game-by-game Overview:
Montclair stumbled out of the gate, opening conference play at 1-3, but gained some early wins against non-conference opponents. They notched a lopsided victory against University in the Brick City Showcase by a score of 76-49. They then beat Passaic Tech in the Jingle Bell Jubilee (JBJ) 52-37 before suffering a 49-45 loss to East Orange.
A lot of their early season struggles can be attributed to senior star guard Ben Price’s meniscus injury that sidelined him for multiple games and hampered him for the majority of the season. Despite his injury, he performed well in the majority of Montclair’s games and was a main contributor to the team after transferring from crosstown rival Montclair Immaculate.
Montclair began to pick it up following their 1-3 start to conference play as they won 2 straight vs Glen Ridge (GR) and West Essex (WE) by scores of 53-33 and 63-37 respectively. Montclair’s leading scorer, junior Jahi Whitney, led them to these victories as he scored 19 points in each game, and performed well defensively as he tallied 2 blocks vs GR and 3 steals vs WE. Despite Whitney’s 21 points in the following game vs Columbia (12-13), Montclair suffered a disappointing 70-65 loss. Montclair then went on a run as they tallied 3 straight wins, one of which came against Orange, to whom Montclair lost earlier in the season by a score of 59-57. The first of these 3 wins came against Newark Central (9-17), whom Montclair absolutely dominated offensively as they tallied 81 points, 23 of which came from Whitney. The second win was the aforementioned Orange game that finished 59-54, with Ben Price putting up 21 points and Whitney putting up 17. The 3rd game of this 3-game win streak was against crosstown rival Montclair Kimberley Academy in Prelim 2 of the ECT, and Montclair came away with a 66-57 victory behind Price’s 21-point performance and Jahi’s 19-point game.
Montclair suffered a 64-54 defeat to Millburn (22-7) in a game in which Montclair’s star duo, Price and Whitney, scored 19 and 17 points respectively. Their next game was Prelim 3 of the Essex County Tournament (ECT) against Orange, marking their third matchup with Orange this season. After losing to Orange earlier in the season, Montclair got the best of them in the initial rematch and again in this game with one of their most dominant performances of the season. Montclair played terrific on both sides of the ball with a final score of 60-49 in their favor, and this was only the fourth game in which Montclair had 3 players with double-digit points. Jahi, Ben, and sophomore center Tom Diomedi were the players in double-digits in all 3 of those games, and in this particular game, Jahi tallied 18 points, Ben had 14, and Tom had 13. With this win, Montclair qualified for the ECT, where they went on to face the aforementioned star-studded St. Benedict’s Prep team. Montclair suffered a 62-35 loss, putting an end to their run in counties. Montclair bounced back in the next game against Verona with a 57-45 victory, before suffering a 59-52 loss to 23-7 Newark Collegiate (NC). This was a valiant performance for Montclair given that NC finished the season with a 13-0 record in conference play, the title for the Colonial Division, and a trip to the NJSIAA Group 2, Section 2 championship game that they lost 59-56 to Arts.
Montclair then built on this performance with a dominant 3-game win streak that started with a 69-67 victory over Paramus Catholic, continued with a 78-58 win at home vs Belleville, and concluded with an astounding 86-45 W at West Essex. Montclair seemingly didn’t carry this momentum into their next game vs 10-15 University, which they lost 56-48 at home after beating the same University squad 76-49 in their own building. Montclair had a tall task in their next game as they faced a 23-8 Montclair Immaculate (MI) team that made it all the way to the Non-Public State Championship. Montclair, and particularly former MI player Ben Price, put up a valiant effort, but they lost 73-63 despite Price’s 19 points. Montclair followed up this game with 2 statement wins including a bounceback 77-49 W vs Verona to conclude their regular season.
They then secured a 66-57 victory over 15-11 Fair Lawn in a win-or-go-home game in the first round of the NJSIAA Tournament. With Diomedi out with a knee injury, someone needed to step up and get active on the boards, and senior Noah Hutchinson did just that as he grabbed 8 of them. Additionally, he stepped up and tallied a career-high 20 points, which is a big increase from his previous career-high of 13. With this win, Montclair moved onto the Quarterfinals of the Section 1, Group 4 Tournament to face a 21-9 Ridgewood squad. After a horrid start for Montclair in the first quarter, they bounced back to outscore Ridgewood by 1 point in the second quarter, giving the team some life, especially given that Montclair was a second-half team all year long. Despite seemingly taking some momentum into halftime, Ridgewood dominated in the second half, outsourcing the Mounties 33-24 and proving why they were one of the best teams in Bergen County. Montclair was a team that always hung their hat on their defense, so when they give up 20+ points to 2 different Ridgewood players on efficient scoring, they’re going to have trouble winning that game. Additionally, Price struggled somewhat in this game as he tallied 5 points on 20 field goal attempts. However, this is not to discredit Ridgewood, who was simply the better team on that day, and was the better team in just about every game they played this season. This is exemplified by them beating a 23-6 East Orange squad to take home to Section 1, Group 4 NJSIAA Tournament Championship Title.
Conclusion:
Montclair had a somewhat inconsistent season, filled with incredible highs, and disappointing stretches, particularly towards the beginning of the season. They greatly improved after their chemistry developed and they got seniors Ben Price and Shawn Kirkley back from injury, so their 15-11 record doesn’t accurately represent the team they were in the second half of the season, and the potential they had as a team.
Outlook for next season:
Although Montclair is losing multiple key contributing seniors in Ben Price, Noah Hutchinson, Shawn Kirkley, and Tavis Graham, next year’s team is expected to build upon what was established this year, and likely surpass it. Their strong junior class will have another year of experience under their belt, but the biggest difference will be the addition of a formidable sophomore class. Most of the sophomore class played on the JV team this season, with some guys being swing players, but they’ve certainly shown their talent over the past two years as they’ve tallied a 43-1 record over their freshman and sophomore campaigns. Additionally, this sophomore class won the ECT Freshman Championship and the ECT JV Championship. The biggest addition to the team next year will be rising junior La’mear Singletary, who averaged close to 30 points in his freshman campaign and put up 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game this year. He is the standout player in this talent-ridden class, and he led Montclair’s JV team all season, including in the ECT JV Chip Game. In that game, he tallied 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, and got the game-winning bucket with mere seconds left on the clock.