Cecil Stinson knows that the going isn’t always going to go his Montclair Mounties’ way in the fourth quarter during the rigors of a highly-competitive Super Essex Conference season; however, he does believe that the effort will almost certainly be there in the final eight minutes as it was in his team’s season-opening 62-53 win over Paterson Eastside on Saturday, Dec. 13th, in the Tyrone Collins Tip-Off Classic at Paterson Kennedy.
The Mounties, who graduated nine seniors, including two of its top four scorers from last winter’s 16-11 squad which finished a fine 8-2 and just one game behind Caldwell in the SEC’s highly-competitive Colonial Division, put forth a superb fourth quarter effort in the 2025-2026 season opener, outscoring the Ghosts, 22-5 to pull away in the end in JFK’s spacious setting which was once served as the home court for the late, great Kennedy coach Tyrone Collins.
“We structure our practices to be prepared for what happened vs. Eastside, which means being ready to give a strong effort in the fourth quarter, ” said Stinson, a 2006 Montclair graduate who is in his fourth season at the helm of his high school alma mater’s hoops squad.
"We preach to our guys that we’re not necessarily conditioning ourselves for just the first, second and third quarters, but instead for the full 32 minutes.
“We ran line drills in practice on Friday, while continuing to train for the fourth quarter and to be ready for the bigger court. We want to play fast-paced and we did that in the first half (when Eastside led 31-22), but we rushed it too much instead of looking to get good shots in the halfcourt game where we took a few too many quick shots or long 3’s that weren’t the best looks.
“We made some nice adjustments in the second half, played with great energy and finished strong which was great to see!
“This is a group that has played a lot together, including during the summer and fall, they don’t care who scores the most points, and the chemistry is definitely there, which makes it a fun team to coach!”
Leading the way this season for the Mounties are returning senior guards Mason Determann and La’Mear Singletary, who combined for 32 points in the season-opening win vs. Eastside.
The 6-foot-4 Determann, a high-academic Ivy League or NESCAC prospect, has blossomed into one of the better point guards in the SEC with his ability score from anywhere on the court and also orchestrate a play for a teammate to finish.
He had a thunderous dunk on a follow-up of a missed shot during the Mounties’ fourth-quarter run against the Ghosts in capping off a performance in which he had 18 points, hauled down 6 rebounds, handed out 6 assists and had 5 steals.
The 5-11 Singletary, who did roll his ankle in the fourth quarter against Eastside, finished the game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.
Kody Nesbitt, a much-improved 6-4 junior forward, contributed 10 points with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
“We can go inside-out through Cody who can go in the post and pass the ball really well,” said Stinson. “Mason is really good with or without the ball, is really a natural point guard and really taking to that role after sharing those duties with a couple of other guys last season.
“La’Mear is a terrific athlete who rebounds very well for someone who is 5-11, and we’re hoping that his ankle heals quickly, that’s for sure.”
Another veteran senior showing progress since last season is 6-4 forward Mez Okaro, who had somewhat of an up-and-down junior year, but is now much better in terms of his overall play, including rebounding with more gusto and finishing around the rim.
He had 4 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists vs. Eastside.
There are also key additions from last season’s JV squad who have made the step up to varsity, including talented 5-11 sophomore guard Josiah Brown, who was just recently cleared to play after being away from the court for a month due to a back injury. He was a projected starter who has a strong offensive game and will definitely boost the strength of the rotation as he gets his conditioning up to the level it needs to be at in The New Year.
Cameron Whittingham, a 5-10 junior guard and football player with great energy who is also a fine defender on the hardwood, and 6-4 junior lefty Asher Seawell, a superb southpaw pitcher on the Mounties baseball team, are also seeing action off the bench for the Montclair hoopsters.
Another football player, the Mounties’ multi-talented junior quarterback-wide receiver Samad Jiles, is another pleasant addition to the basketball team after it was not known if he would be coming out or not for the winter sport as he continues to do off-season work in his No. 1 sport; however, he is out, and his presence on the hardwood was certainly appreciated in the season opener vs. Eastside as he sank a pair of timely 3-pointers and finished with 8 points.
“Samad was really an unexpected addition and is another of those great energy guys for us,” said Stinson. “We have a really nice mix of pure basketball players and multi-sport kids with their own unique abilities to help our team and our coaching staff is having a real good time working with these kids as we look to have a strong season in our division which we know will be a tough schedule to face each and every game.”
NOTES- Following Tuesday afternoon’s (Dec. 16) division home clash vs. Irvington, the Mounties host West Essex 1 p.m. Saturday in an SEC crossover contest before Christmas. Montclair will play in the JFK ‘Quad of Quads’ with four different mini tournaments in Jimmy Salmon’s Jingle Bells Jubilee, beginning with a first-round game vs. Paterson Kennedy, 9 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 27. A second-round consolation or championship contest will be vs. either Ramapo or Teaneck…Available Montclair players participated in both the Bloomfield College and Paterson fall leagues after being part of the Bloomfield High School and Bloomfield College summer leagues. ….Stinson coached for seven seasons at Christ The King in Newark, which was later renamed Cristo Rey before the school closed in 2021 during the covid pandemic…The 37-year-old Stinson was a 1,000-point career scorer under coach Major Jennings during his Mounties career. He attended two junior colleges, Blinn in Texas and Southeastern in Iowa before finishing by playing for Post University, an NCAA Division II hoops program in Connecticut…Stinson has a veteran coaching staff including former fellow Mountie teammate Derrick Dorch, who has been an assistant and right-hand man for the past 11 seasons, including the seven years at Christ The King and Cristo Rey. Ted Channer is in his fourth season with Stinson at Montclair, while Justin Bruso is in his third season on the staff. MHS was 15-40 in the three seasons before Stinson arrived for the 2022-2023 season…Stinson is married to Simone Hodges, who was a starter on the Mountie girls basketball team’s Group 4 state finalist squad in 2005. The couple have two daughters, Angel, 14, and Amani, 8..Former Mounties standout Jahi Whitney, who was Montclair's leading scorer as a sophomore and junior before an injury wiped out a good portion of his senior season last winter, is a freshman reserve for Bloomfield College. The 6-3 guard is averaging 4.2 ppg and 2.3 rpg coming off the bench for veteran coach Gerald Holmes' solid D2 program which had a 6-3 record entering recent action and gave D1 Wagner College a run for its money before being edged 95-93, in overtime in Dec. 11 game in Staten Island, N.Y.
SUPER ESSEX CONFERENCE ALIGNMENT FOR 2025-2026:
(Note: SEC moved from 5 to 6 divisions last season adding the National)
AMERICAN DIVISION: St. Benedict’s, Arts, East Orange Campus, Seton Hall Prep, Payne Tech, Newark Tech
LIBERTY DIVISION: Central, East Side, West Side, Caldwell, Columbia, Newark Collegiate
COLONIAL DIVISION: Irvington, Orange, Bloomfield, Millburn, Montclair, Livingston
INDEPENDENCE DIVISION: West Orange, West Essex, Belleville, University, Science Park, North Star Academy, Glen Ridge
FREEDOM DIVISION: West Caldwell Tech, Verona, Shabazz, MKA, Newark Academy, Cedar Grove
NATIONAL DIVISION: Nutley, Weequahic, Barringer, Eagle Academy, Newark Lab, Technology, Golda Och, Bard
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