By Andy Loigu

Veterans from last year’s sectional champions, Michael Daconti, Shawn Morgan and Sean Magnotta, led the way as Hackettstown’s boys basketball team climbed back to .500 (2-2) with a 65-59 overtime win at High Point on February 6.

Daconti scored nine of his team-leading 21 points in the overtime, when only the strong survive. Morgan and Magnotta contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively, to the win.

A big game looms on Feb, 20, at Warren Hills, for local bragging rights. It looks like the only crowd on hand will be the parents of players, but that’s better than an entirely empty seating area, we suppose. Keep in touch with news reports for updates on how New Jersey handles the operation of high school sports. It can change at any time, depending on how the flattening of the curve goes.

Over the years, Warren Hills versus Hackettstown basketball games have featured dueling student sections which have entertained the packed houses as much as the game taking place on the court.

As a letter winner from a team that got a lot of attention over five decades ago, I can speak for many generations of players who will tell you that no matter how much you want to win and be a good teammate, practices in an empty gym become drudgery. High school kids, even those with good motives, still are only human.

It always took the spectacle and electricity of game night, with a big, LOUD house (whether hostile or supportive did not make much difference) to fire us up, get us going and make us dig deep and give it all we had.

I sympathize with the players during this year of the pandemic, who go out there and play in practice-like conditions and perform as well as they do.

They do have the “scrutiny of the media” to motivate them, but the burning desire to perform great things really has to come from within.

Hopefully, by the time the season winds down at championship tournament time, there will be more crowd excitement and a nice parade, with screeching fire trucks, to help the winners celebrate.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.