Montville Loses in Final Seconds of MCT [PHOTOS]

boys basketball put in a great effort but it was Delbarton’s execution in the final seconds that made the difference on Friday. Green Wave guard Brian Hardin hit a 3-point shot with 23 seconds left and Bill Carroll made a steal and hit two free throws to secure the win in a 45-40 upset in the preliminary round of the Morris County Tournament.

Hardin finished with 17 points for Delbarton, the 19th seed, which will play defending champion Mendham in the tournament’s opening round. Jon Lacy scored 11 points and Nate Buckler chipped in with nine points for 14th-seeded Montville.

Scoring

Montville (8-7)  - 11-12-10-7- 40

Delbarton (4-11) – 8-8-19-10 - 45

IN SHORT
It was a close game throughout. Montville built a 23-16 lead at the half and had an opportunity to take control of the contest in front of an excited home crowd that had watched the Montville girls beat Mount Olive in the first game of the Morris County Tournament double header. However, Delbarton rallied to tie the game at 40-40 on a layup by Delbarton’s Ryan Cullen with 1:23 left. Turnovers down the stretch and a lack of rebounding in the second half brought the Green Wave back in the game and Hardin, Delbarton’s best perimeter player, came off a double screen and hit an open 3-point shot to advance his team.

MUSTANG OF THE GAME
Nate Buckler —There really was no standout but Buckler has been making bigger and bigger contributions to the Mustangs over the course of the season. He scored a bucket in each quarter and played steady defense.

OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES
Tom Przetak  Scored seven points before suffering a nasty gash over his right eye in the third quarter. He did return to play in the final period. Jon Lacy led the team with 11 points and grabbed his share of rebounds. Marc Przetek had six points on a pair of threes.

THEY SAID IT
"We were extremely proud of the effort. The team wanted to win and we played hard. It just came down to executing. The last three or four times we turned it over or we didn’t get the look we wanted to out of our sets.

Right now we have eight wins. If we would have won this game we would have been okay (for upcoming state tournament seedings). We have a rough week ahead. We want to steal a win against Mount Olive or Jefferson on the road next week. We want to go in with nine wins and a chance to host a home game. We want to make states and make a little bit of a run."–Montville Head coach Bill Medina