HAMILTON — Freshmen at public high schools typically aren’t ready to play varsity basketball, but it was apparent to Lawrence coach Jeff Molinelli from the day that Marvin McNeil walked in the gym that this would be a rare occasion. “With his skillset, we knew that he was gonna be special at some point in time,” Molinelli said Thursday after McNeil, now a junior, led Lawrence to a 57-39 win at Hamilton West. “Credit to him. You could tell he’s just a gym rat and he loves the game. We knew he was gonna be a very good player for us.” After gaining experience and learning from upperclassmen in his first two seasons, McNeil has emerged as one of the top players in the Colonial Valley Conference. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound guard entered the week as the league’s fourth-leading scorer (19 points per game). He has scored double figures in all 14 of Lawrence’s games including five 20-point games. In the past week he buried two game-winning shots to help the Cardinals knock off previously undefeated West Windsor-Plainsboro North and Red Bank Catholic — both in overtime. McNeil isn’t sure exactly how he fell in love with basketball. He simply played a lot locally growing up. Kyrie Irving was his first NBA jersey, and ever since then he wanted to channel the All-Star with clutch performances on the court. “I just worked,” McNeil said. “I’ve been playing since I was five, so I guess all that experience and my love for the game really just helped me.” Molinelli has had his share of talented guards in 13 seasons at Lawrence, but McNeil is one of the best and has the Cardinals off a 10-4 start this season. The last time that Lawrence won 10 games by mid-January came nine seasons ago when Myles Mitchell-White, the program’s all-time leading scorer, was a senior. “One thing I like about him is he’s a three-level scorer. He can get to the rim, he has a nice little pullup game, he can shoot, and his handle is good, so it just makes him very, very tough to defend,” Molinelli said. “He’s just a really solid player. It helps us play with a lot of confidence.” Lawrence made sure not to get overconfident, though, when taking on a 1-12 Hamilton West team that earned its first week of the season Tuesday against Princeton Day. Given that Lawrence had just beaten an 11-0 squad Tuesday as well, there was the chance of a letdown if the Cardinals didn’t stay focused. “It was a trap game,” McNeil said. “They were coming off their first win, so they were gonna play hard and we need to keep the same energy no matter what the record of the team that we’re going against is.” Noah Johansen and Andrew Tempo each scored 14 points while McNeil had 11. Johansen has been the other driving force of Lawrence’s success this winter. The 6-foot-5 forward is a strong defender and rebounder, and much of the team’s offense runs through his actions in the post. Molinelli believes that both McNeil and Johansen are both on pace to be named All-Conference players. “We always have guys that play hard and work, but having a guard like Marvin and a big like Noah, teams usually have one or the other,” Molinelli said. “So the fact that we have a nice inside-outside punch, and then guys around them that complement those two, it makes us tough.” McNeil views himself as a leader for Lawrence, and he currently sits atop the team’s stat sheet in points, assists and steals. In training sessions before the season, he focused on getting his teammates involved and finding his sweet spots to score in key situations. And now, the star junior has Lawrence on pace for its second 20-win season under Molinelli and in contention for the Valley Division title. “It’s been great,” McNeil said. “I have a good team. We work together, we play together, we pass together, we sit together, we eat together. We’re a team, so it’s pretty easy every time you come out and you play against these teams and you know what you could do. You know you could win.” LAWRENCE (57) Crowley 1-0-2, Johansen 3-8-14, McNeil 4-1-11, Tembo 6-2-14, Wilson 4-0-9, M. Carrick 1-2-5, Moore 0-2-2. Totals — 19-15-57. HAMILTON WEST (39) Radsolovich 3-0-6, Turner 5-0-11, Antoine 2-0-5, Martinez 1-3-5, Bradshaw 0-7-7, Ovalles 1-0-2, Miller 1-0-3. Totals — 13-10-39. Lawrence (10-4) 17 17 6 17 — 57 Hamilton West (1-13) 6 14 10 9 — 39 3-point goals: McNeil 2, Wilson, M. Carrick (L), Turner, Antoine, Miller (HW).