He came off the bench his freshman year – a spark amongst a fiery group of seniors, including his older brother – and helped Pelham garner its first Class I basketball crown.

As a sophomore and junior, his flame burned brightly as he guided the team to the Class I quarterfinal round each season.

That flame flickered when his junior campaign ended with him back on the bench, a coach’s decision based on a technical foul for arguing with the referee.

This year, he ignited into a full-blown wildfire, torching opponents to the tune of 28.1 points per game and 702 markers overall. And if it wasn’t for a thumb injury suffered in this year’s state semifinals, he may very well have led Pelham to another state championship. This was the evolution of Justin Hojlo.

In those four seasons he compiled a Pelham record 1,810 points, far past the old mark of 1,621 set by one of his mentors, James Roman, when Hojlo was a freshman.

In that time, the Pythons won 74 games in Class I and lost 12. They were 80-16 overall.

“He walked into a very fortunate situation as a freshman where he was good enough to be a successful player, but he really didn’t have to be thrown into the fire. He had a lot of big brothers on that team that really allowed him to take his time developing as a high school basketball player,” said Pelham head coach Todd Kress of the standout guard, who has averaged 23.2 points per game as a starter the last three seasons. “Once his sophomore year came, … the team was really thrown into his lap … That was a lot for a sophomore to handle. He wanted to defer to the seniors because it was their last year, but he knew, at times, he needed to be the guy on the court.

“As a senior, you saw he was finally able to really step into that leadership role,” Kress continued. “Now it was Justin who had a lot of little brothers looking up to him.”

Every game this season, Hojlo received opposing defenses’ severest concentration.

Every road and playoff contest, he was the object of fans’ hostility. Yet he led the Pythons to a 17-1 regular season.

Hojlo credits his maturation as a cager almost entirely to Kress, assistant Matt Regan and the other coaches at PHS. “I came in and all I could do was shoot three (pointers),” said Hojlo. “Now I have an allaround game, and I’ve got to credit the coaching staff for that. They’ve made me into a real basketball player.”

Despite his 5-foot-10 frame, he leaves behind some very large shoes to fill.

Michael Lombard, along with fellow sophomore Stephen Spirou, are the two most likely candidates to step into Hojlo’s starring role.

Lombard, a post player, said he hopes to succeed in different ways, but doubts he’ll ever have the game-changing impact Hojlo exhibited on a nightly basis.

“We’ll never have another player like him come through the program,” said Lombard. “It was just amazing to be around him. He could score in a hurry, and he was always there to carry us when we needed him.”

That’s not to say Hojlo was selfish. On the contrary, though he was never afraid to take an important shot, he just as often slashed toward the net, drawing defenders to him before dishing to a wide open teammate for an open look at the hoop.

But the one thing Kress hopes Hojlo leaves behind is his desire to win.

“I hope all the younger players really paid attention to those fourth quarters of tight games because the one thing Justin 100-percent positively showed throughout his four years is he hates to lose,” said the coach. “That’s just Justin’s mentality. You can’t imagine how fiery and demonstrative he is when he loses. I’m sure that 1,810 mark won’t be touched for many, many a year, but what I really hope, if nothing else, he passed on that desire to have the ball in tight situations.”

Kress said the most difficult part of accepting his team’s 61- 48 loss to Portsmouth in this season’s Class I finale was that Hojlo, due to the thumb injury, couldn’t take over one last time in a hotly contested fourth quarter. Still, Hojlo has played in 10 playoff games on the University of New Hampshire’s larger floor, as many as anyone in Class I. Now he hopes to have a similar impact on the Plymouth State University hardwood.

“I think you’re going to see a much different player up there,” said Kress. “You’re going to see a kid that hurts defenses if they don’t play him tight, and you’re going to see someone very dangerous from the perimeter. But I think, more than anything else, you’re going to see a facilitator on a very talented basketball team John Sheinman has up there.

“He’ll be one of the pieces in a bigger puzzle, and I see him fitting right into his role and dishing out a lot of assists. He’ll be a very popular teammate, I’ll put it that way,” added Kress. “Justin isn’t intimidated by anything, and Plymouth is very fortunate to have a player like him.”