Boys Basketball – Photos: Middletown North Outlasts No. 5 Neptune

Surrounding an inexperienced supporting cast, Middletown North senior and four-year starter Rob Higgins is off to the best start of his likely-record-setting high-school basketball career.

Scoring 30-plus points in each of his first three games of the season while defenses commit their full attention to containing him is impressive enough, the results his young team is getting along with him might be even more noteworthy.

Higgins scored 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds Thursday to lead Middletown North to a 62-58 road win over Neptune, the No. 5 team in the Shore Sports Network Preseason Top 10.

PHOTO GALLERY: Middletown North at Neptune by Paula Lopez

After piling up the points again throughout Thursday's back-and-forth Class B North affair between the Lions and the Scarlet Fliers, Higgins stepped up and buried two key free throws with 25 seconds left to push Middletown North's lead to three.

Through three games this season, Higgins is averaging 31.7 points per game while hitting the 30-point threshold in each one. His 30 points led Middletown North to an opening-night win over St. John Vianney and he scored 34 of his team's 59 points in a loss to Wall earlier in the week.

Junior Ryan Rozynski delivered 12 points and 12 rebounds in Thursday's win and fellow junior Matt Spencer posted nine rebounds and 10 rebounds in the Middletown North win.

Sophomore Sam Fagan led Neptune with 21 points thanks to five three-pointers. Junior Sean Young added 12 points on four three-pointers for the Scarlet Fliers, who outscored Middletown North 21-9 in the second quarter to take a 29-26 halftime lead and set off a tight second half.