Bordentown Regional High School boys basketball opponents will get a double dose of Martin brothers again this year.
Max “Moose” Martin and Chase Martin figure prominently in the Scotties’ plans. Both are slated to start, and are thrilled to get one more season together for Bordentown.
“It means a lot to me,” said Moose, who is a senior guard. “I wouldn’t want to play with anybody else next to me for my last year of playing high school ball. He’s young. I’m extremely proud of him for everything that he’s been helping us with. He’s a piece with us. And I’m just super grateful to be able to play with him one more time before it’s probably time to split up for college.”
Moose is the only returning starter for the Scotties, who went 13-13 last year and 8-2 in the Burlington County Scholastic League Patriot Division while reaching the county tournament quarterfinals and the Central Jersey Group 2 second round.
“It’s different for me because our team is young,” Moose said. “I’m used to playing with older starters. I have to build another type of chemistry with the younger guys.”
His brother is a good starting point. Chase was a steady contributor as a freshman and his role will be elevated this year. He’s the most polished post player that the Scotties have though he’s only a sophomore, and the steady forward is ready to carry a bigger load this winter.
“The main thing is now that I’m a starter, I have to work harder and even play more because last year I didn’t get all that playing time,” Chase said. “I got playing time but this year I’ll definitely get the playing time I want and it’s going to be a lot more so I know I have to push myself even harder to stay in my spot.”
Chase had four double-digit scoring games in January last season. He ranked fifth in team scoring for the season and third in rebounding. He was second in blocks. He’s been working to add to his repertoire.
“Outside the key, I would definitely say like more of the left wing, but mainly now I’m really trying to work more on like my paint game and my post moves and everything,” he said.
Moose, too, will be taking on a larger role as the lone player with returning starting experience. He had good all-around numbers last season with the fourth-best scoring average, second-best rebounds and third-most assists. He’ll be asked to do more on and off the court to lead the team.
“My confidence is out of the roof this year,” he said. “Last year, I had some amazing players on my team — shout out to them. I had some scorers so I was kinda like a role guy, just looking to really ditch the ball, cut to the basket, make the right play. But this year I’m looking to really attack the basket aggressively and I’ve shown that to my coach. So I’m proud of myself for that.”
This year’s Bordentown team roster has seniors Aidrian Buensalida, Rahmel Caffee, Anthony Dzuibak, Connor Collora and Blake Talbert along with Moose Martin, junior Henry Tober and AJ Williams, and sophomores Ryan Fryc, Jose Santiago, Idris Spriggs and Chase Martin.
“One of the things that we’re always going to do is we’re going to going to push the ball,” said Scotties coach Steve Perry. “That’s kind of what we do and we’ll continue to do that. Now this team, they’re young, but they’re athletic, and we have some not big size. Our biggest guy is about 6’4,” but we have three starters that are all right around 6’3” so we have some size and we can make it difficult on some teams. We have guys that can play both in the post and out on the perimeter, and that’s going to help us for sure.”
The Martin brothers took their lead from older brother, Jack Martin, who graduated from BRHS in 2023 and is now a freshman guard on the Centenary University men’s team. The three boys grew up playing together at home.
“It used to get serious in the backyard,” Moose recalled. “It was all love in the end. But every single day the three of us just battling because we’re a competitive trio, me and my brothers. We were out there every single day battling, but it was all fun and games, but it got serious sometimes. It’s all love at the end of the day. From that to playing with him in high school, it’s really mesmerizing.”
Baseball was Moose’s main sport as a youngster, but now he’s all in on basketball. It’s not the only significant change. Now the youngest Martin brother is the tallest of the three and Chase looks back appreciatively on his brothers’ role in his development.
“When we were younger, my oldest brother Jack, he’s in college, and Moose, they never took it easy on me,” he said. “They would always fight in everything with me and I think it’s pushed me and made me grow to work harder and everything. Definitely my brothers impact a lot of this and made me what I am now.”
Chase is helping to shore up a Bordentown team that has expectations that it will improve steadily through the season as players adjust to their roles. He is one of the new starters that will be finding how he can help the Scotties the most.
“I feel like this year is going to be a really good year for me because of how much I’ve been improving and everything,” Chase said. “And I’m always working out with Moose. I look up to Moose because he’s my older brother and I feel like he’s really pushing me in everything. In practice, we work together. It’s really fun.”
The two are each other’s biggest supporters now as teammates for the second straight year. Moose tries to be a motivator for his brother and leader for the team.
“He knows that I’m always gonna be there for him,” Moose said. “He knows he is one of our main scorers right next right next to me. Looking at our team, he’s probably the biggest guy on our team. He’s a starter and he’s the biggest dude our team, so he knows he has the green light too, so I just let him know, if you got it, you don’t have to pass the ball every single time. If you feel like you can score on him, go score him. If you mess up, just get back on defense. I’m just. I think I’m extremely good leader, so I’m never going to let my teammates hand their heads down.”
Moose’s passing and his shooting are pieces that Chase has tried to emulate. Chase considers Moose the best shooter of the three Martin brothers, and he likes what Moose can do on the court.
“Almost everything,” Chase said. “He could shoot the ball really well. He sees the floor really well, he can pass, he can throw, he can do really everything in the game.”
They’ve always been supportive of each other even while driving each other to improve. They’ve watched each other’s games evolve through the years.
“We played rec basketball growing up,” Moose said. “But high school is more serious. We never really played serious ball. We played a little AAU, but this is probably the highest team we’ve played together on.”
The Scotties get right into the heart of their BCSL schedule when January hits. They have Burlington Township, which was the one conference team to knock them off last year, to open the month.
“There’s really good teams all over the place, and so no league game is going to be easy especially with our youth,” Perry said. “It’s going to be a battle every night and then also our crossover games, we’re playing up to the division above us. There no cupcakes at all on our schedule.”
That’s plenty of motivation and plenty of opportunity for a team that is sorting out how it will all fit to compete with the challenges.
“I feel like everyone on our team has their own role,” Moose said. “I’m a guard, Chase’s a big. He knows he controls the inside. Everybody has their own job to do. And I feel like just keep working and you’re going to figure out the missing piece that you need and just bring it to the team and everything will come together.”
This is Moose and Chase’s final season together — for now. Both aspire to play college basketball, and Jack Martin’s positive experience at Centenary make it a possibility they could head there as well.
“By the time I’m a freshman in college, my oldest brother, Jack, he’s gonna be a senior and Moose could be there,” Chase said. “So there is a chance that we all could play together.”
Moose and Chase Martin are key for Bordentown basketball this season.,
