Montville senior Chris Ferrare grew up playing with his older brothers in the backyard. That made him tough enough to reach 1,000 career points.
Chris Ferrare's 1,000th career point was born on a 30x30 slab of asphalt in the leveled-out backyard of his Montville home. That's where the point guard spent hours brawling with his older brothers, Anthony and Pat, for family dominance.
Chris didn't win much. He didn't even get the fouls he called on his siblings. But that's also what made him tough, and honed his long-range jumper – a combination of both Anthony and Pat Ferrare's best skills.
Chris reached the milestone on the first of two third-quarter free throws, as the Mustangs' fan section jumped up and down – some wearing T-shirts with a photo of Chris and his coach-dad Ken Ferrare. The family had to wait until after Montville defeated Morris Knolls, 50-40, on Jan. 15 for the real celebration.
"It's a culmination of all my hard work over the years," said Chris Ferrare, who finished with 18 points. "It's almost like a certification, a great milestone to reach. It's rewarding to know all those hours I spent getting shots up and in the weight room and on the court in the offseason wasn't for nothing. There was a greater goal."
A 6-foot-1 senior, Ferrare is Montville's second 1,000-point scorer in as many seasons. Senior point guard Juliana O'Dowd reached the milestone almost exactly a year ago. But he's the first Mustangs boy to be added to the banner since Jacob Kaplan in 2015.
Anthony Ferrare's senior season was impacted by COVID. Pat Ferrare, who just finished his junior soccer season at Hamilton College, lost much of his senior basketball season to a broken hand.
Ken Ferrare, their father and the founding coach of the Drills, Skills and Thrills Basketball AAU program, got Chris started in Montville's recreational kindergarten clinics. When the elder Ferrare was coaching at Morris Knolls, often all three boys would tag along to camps.
Ken Ferrare started noticing something special about his youngest son when Chris was in middle school. But even the veteran coach tried not to think about the milestone. Neither did Montville coach Bill Medina, who wrote the number of points Chris needed at the start of the season – 207 – on a piece of paper, told Chris' parents, and put it away in his locker.
Both were too superstitious to make a big deal about 1,000 points until it happened.
"What I'm proud about is how hard he worked to get it. He put a lot of hours into this," said Ken Ferrare, who coached Tom Schaefer (Voorhees, 1999-2002) and Nico Kotoulas (Morris Knolls, 2009-12) to 1,000 points.
"Basketball, to him, is a labor of love. ... It's great to see all the hard work paying off for the team to have success. It's a lot of fun."
Always a consistent shooter, Chris Ferrare was one of six Montville freshmen who earned spots on junior varsity during summer workouts. On varsity as a sophomore, he had 306 points and 119 rebounds. Ferrare was a junior captain, and is in a leadership role again this winter.
Medina noted how Ferrare has become more creative this winter, able to score off the drive. Ferrare has also become a more vocal leader, which he described as acting like "a floor general, a coach on the floor getting guys organized."
Ferrare also referenced the mental aspect of basketball, particularly being able to deal with adversity. Brushing off trash talk and physical play has come naturally, thanks to backyard pickup games. Chris combines Anthony's step-back 3-pointer with Pat's slashing to the basket.
Keeping the Mustangs focused has been key to their strong season. Montville is currently unbeaten in the rugged NJAC-American.
"Basketball's a game of runs, and some teams can crumble and fall, but that's not going to faze us," Ferrare said. "When I was little, I was looking to score, to take the first shot myself. But now, it's getting the ball moving, getting us into our sets, whatever we're trying to do that game."
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Montville point guard Chris Ferrare scores 1,000th career point
Category: General Sports
