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With his 3-point shot nicely aligned and his dribble penetration at full function, Ricky Holliday seemed destined for a career-type scoring night.

But the junior point guard would rather have big team nights in February and March than an individual windfall in a January game that likely would have been won by his Bound Brook squad had Holliday not scored at all.

So, after knocking down each of his four first-quarter shots (two treys) for 12 points, Holliday began to build toward those important games down the road by leading others to the open shots he’d found at the start.

Holliday steered Bound Brook to an 18-point lead in the first quarter and finished with 20 points to pace five Crusaders in double figures on their way to a 92-57 win over Belvidere Thursday night in a Skyland Conference-Valley Division contest in Bound Brook.

“I was looking to get my teammates involved instead of trying to boost my stats up,” Holliday said. Sharing the ball is more important than my points now, because that’s what might get us a championship in March.’’

Holliday attempted only three shots in the second quarter, making one, but handed out four of his 10 assists as Bound Brook (12-2) established a 59-31 lead and coasted to its sixth consecutive win.

Senior forward Tyjohn Young pumped in 10 of his 15 points and senior guard James Baker hit for seven of his 19 in the second period. Junior guard Isiah Williams was the Crusaders’ fifth man in double figures with 12 points, including 10 in the opening half.

“We’re not worried about who’s scoring as long as we get points on the board,” Young said. “As long as we’re scoring as a team, it doesn’t matter who’s putting the ball in the hoop.”

The 6-1 Young, a transfer from Piscataway, also collected 13 rebounds for the game while Capellan added 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals to anchor the Crusaders’ high-pressure man defense. Belvidere (3-9) committed 15 turnovers in the first half and paid for the majority of them with Bound Brook runouts.

“Our balance really makes it tough for teams to defend us, and Ricky did a good job of setting the tone,” Bound Brook head coach Anthony Melesurgo said. “He could have gone for 40, but he makes the extra pass and now we’re doing a great job of running the floor.

“We preach the team concept,” Melesurgo said, “and the guys have really bought into that.”

The sell wasn’t a difficult one on Thursday. Both teams operated at a quick pace, which meant plenty of putback and runout opportunities for Bound Brook, a bigger, faster, more athletic team than Belvidere.

“If you miss a three, we’ll make you pay at the other end,” Melesurgo said. “We did a good job early in transition. We like to push the ball a lot, and I thought that was a key in the first quarter.”

The sell to share the ball could have been much more difficult Jan. 7, when Bound Brook fell behind to Watchung Hills, 25-4, in the first quarter. Down by that much that soon, the Crusaders could easily have lost faith in one another and launched a comeback effort comprised of five distinct pieces. But Bound Brook battled together and took a lead with one minute remaining before falling, 46-39.

“That’s where the trust really started,” Melesurgo said. “We faced adversity that day and I thought our guys responded pretty well. I would never want to say that I was happy with a loss, but it brought out some good things. That game was about how resilient we were.”

Senior forward Bryan Mason scored 16 points, senior guard Craig Tomkins had 13 and sophomore guard Noah Barofski added 10 for Belvidere. The County Seaters struggled all night to find their shooting touch and were unable to help themselves off the glass. Bound Brook finished with a 50-22 rebounding edge.

“If they made their first shot, good, they got it. But there were no second shots,” Young said. “It was defense, rebound and then get back on offense.”

Mike Kinney covers boys basketball for MSG Varsity. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeKinneyHS