The Fort Lee boys basketball team hoped to carry the momentum of a win over Mahwah into the new year, but the Bridgemen were tripped up against Montclair on Sunday 53-36.

With the win, the Montclair Bulldogs finished fifth in the Jack Reilly Tournament, leaving the Bridgemen looking at what went wrong.

"Thursday we had so much more energy," said sophomore guard Nick Gentile. "Today we were all dead."

With a noon start time, Fort Lee head coach John Ziemba emphasized that the team with the quicker start would have the edge in this contest, and it was Montclair who did just that.

"We came out, made two mistakes early and were down 4-0 eight seconds into the game," Ziemba said. "To me, that set the tone."

Just a few minutes into the contest, the Bulldogs secured the lead by scoring the first nine points of the ballgame. Montclair also used their pressing defense to hold Fort Lee without a field goal until the final minute of the first quarter.

"That is what really killed us," said senior forward George Padin. "We couldn't transition anything into offense and unfortunately we kept turning over the ball."

Both Montclair and Fort Lee matched each other point-for-point in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs held on to an eight point advantage at the half.  

Out of the break, sophomore center Anthony Rafes made a layup to cut the lead  to six as Fort Lee eyed another comeback like the one they had on Thursday against Mahwah.

But the Montclair offense answered, immediately going on a 13-3 run after the  shot by Rafes.

"We can't go shoot a ball and make nine points," said Gentile after the game. "We need to eventually just cut it down but we didn't execute."

Now 1-5 on the season, the young Fort Lee Bridgemen are finding themselves down in a lot of ballgames and looking to catch up.

"It seems like we've been behind in every game all year," Ziemba said. "I don't want them to start accepting losing. That's hard to do."

Where there are things to get down about, Ziemba and his players still look to the positives.

"I'm still very optimistic," Ziemba said. "I think we have a real bright future. The guys are very talented."

Nick Gentile and Montclair's senior guard Chinua Young tied with a game-high 12 points. The Bulldogs also had a 10-point performance from Kabi West, another senior guard.

Looking forward, the Fort Lee Bridgemen are preparing for a full slate of games this week, including more rivalry-type matchups like last week's game against Cliffside Park.

"Now we get back into our league schedule and a series of games where we will be much more competitive," Ziemba predicted. "We're going to rattle off some wins in January."

The Bridgemen host rivals Ridgefield Park at 7 p.m. Tuesday and then have another contest on Thursday at Dumont.

"It's a big week," Gentile said. "We have to take the rivalry, take it to our own case and use it." 

In other action at Fort Lee High School Sunday, Orange defeated Wayne HIlls 50-46 and Old Tappan beat St. Mary's (Rutherford) 52-39 to become the 2010 Jack Reilly Boys Basketball Tournament champions!.