By BOB DECKER
DENVILLE - This was still early in the game and Dan Kasper of Morris Hills dives for a loose ball and lands on the floor a half-second before Mike Boylan of Morris Knolls gets there.
Problem is, Boylan gets more of Kasper than the ball and then gets an earful from the ref as the players untangle. Seems the official thought they were going a little too far and didn’t want the situation to get out of hand.
"He's my best friend," Boylan explains to the ref as
Kasper nods in agreement and adds, "We're just havin' fun."
Mike Boylan and Conor Nolan of Morris Knolls and Dan Kasper, Matt Hayes and Cory Mundt of Morris Hills have been best friends and havin' fun for years now, a friendship that has grown and flourished through their involvement with basketball.
Boylan and Hayes were neighbors in Wharton until Boylan moved to Rockaway Township when they were in the fourth grade. Kasper is also from Wharton and has been friends with Boylan and Hayes since they were in second grade.
Nolan and Boylan met at a CYO basketball clinic at St. Clement in Rockaway Township when they were 5 years old. Mundt and Nolan have been teammates on travel and recreation teams in Rockaway Township since they were in the second grade. Nolan, Mundt and Boylan played on CYO and travel basketball teams from the fifth through eighth grades.
Hayes and Kasper learned their early hoops at McKinnon School in Wharton and on the town’s playgrounds in clinics, leagues, camps and pickup games. Nolan, Boylan and Mundt went to Copeland Middle Schoo in Rockaway Township; Hayes and Kasper went to McKinnon.
Nolan, Boylan, Hayes and Mundt played some AAU ball together, too.
They are all seniors now and they met for the first time as varsity high school opponents when Morris Hills visited Morris Knolls on Thursday, Jan. 28.
"We had been talking up this game ever since the schedule came out," Boylan says.
"“I’ve had this date circled on my calendar since the day we found out about it," ” Hayes says.
"“We’ve all been thinking and talking about this game ever since we found out about it," Mundt says.
As the date for the game drew closer, the five sat down and made a pact, knowing full well that the winners would be elated beyond means while the losers would be devastated.
"We made an agreement that nobody would talk about the game for a week," Boylan says. "No bustin’ chops at all ... for one week."
"We figured to let the wounds heal before the winners started to rip into the losers," Hayes says.
When the week is up, the three Morris Hills players will be doing the bustin’ and rippin’ as the result of Hills beating Knolls, 34-31, on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 28.
Before the game started, there were high-fives and hugs ... but once the game started all five agree that "... it was all business."
Hayes had seven points and Kasper four. Mundt did not score, but his focus for the game was on Knolls’ high scorer Tyler Daniel, who came into the game averaging close to 13 points a game and was held to eight by Mundt.
Boylan scored a game-high 10 points and Nolan finished with eight for Knolls.
Hayes guarded both Boylan and Nolan when Hills manned up ... Mundt found himself matched up against Boylan a few times ... Knolls played zone.
And trash talk? Mundt explains the extent of the on-court “talking.”
"“Boylan was talking ... he usually talks a lot; Nolan, not so much," Mundt says. “Hayes did a little talking and Dan ... not really.
“I was just answering everybody with 'OK, OK, OK' or 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.' It was all in fun ... we all do it, but we're pretty cool about it, too."
They’ll all admit to a couple of "jersey tugs" or "little pushes" and maybe when trying to get position on each other but to a man, they say the an inadvertent elbow or two game was clean - hard fought and intense, but clean.
After the game, the five did what they usually do when they get together and hang out on weekends or on nights after games or practices - they eat.
Appleby's was the choice after Morris Hills 34, Morris Knolls 31 ... just across Rte. 46 from Hills and down Franklin Road and up Rte. 46 West for about a mile for Knolls.
"We talked a little about the game, but mostly about other stuff," Kasper says. "We didn’t bust, either ... we’ll wait the week and then we’ll bring it on."
Burgers and fries were the main fare with diet Cokes all around except for Kasper, who says he's "... a water man."
"Sometimes, it all depends on how much money we have ... or don’t have," Hayes says. "Sometimes we go to a movie first ... but we always eat."
"And it’s usually junk food, too," Nolan adds.
M&S is another dining choice; other nights, it's The Outback where the order usually contains plenty of kids’ chicken fingers, regular fries, cheese fries and onion rings. They have learned to ignore their servers' questioning looks for using the kids' menu.
They get together three-four times a week, and “...always on weekends,” and then there are computer games and war games they play against each other from their homes.
"Hayes and Nolan are pretty good at the NHL-10 and computer war games," Mundt says. "Me? I'm terrible.”
Although both teams won their Morris County Basketball Tournament preliminary games on Saturday, Jan. 30, it looks as if Morris Hills 34, Morris Knolls 31 will be the first and last time they face each other for real on a varsity basketball court.
The teams are in separate brackets in the county tourney and would both have to reach the championship round to get a rematch. The other scenario would have Hills win the Group 2 championship and Knolls win the Group 4 title and meet in the All-Group championships.
"“This is probably the last time we get to play against each other," Hayes says. "We've played more together than against each other ... but it was still fun to beat them. We went at each other hard and still had fun."
“We really wanted to get the best of them because we figured it was going to be a one-shot deal," Boylan says. "It was an exciting game and it was a fun game ... it just didn't turnout the way we wanted ... this loss hurts more than any other."
They’ll get together in open gyms, pickup games and on outdoor courts when the weather turns. They’ll find themselves on the same team at times and they’ll be on opposing teams on other times. They will play hard and they will argue. And the play will get a little chippy at times as it often does in playground ball.
"No fights," Nolan says. "But we do have some interesting arguments."
The winners will gloat and feel good about winning and the losers will wish that they could have won so they feel good and gloat.
Nolan and Boylan will find this out when the week ban on busting chops ends.
But, as Hayes says: “We’re still going to be buddies at the end of the night.”
Or, as Boylan puts it: “It seems as if we’ve known each other forever ... and we’ll be friends forever, too.”
Best friends..
