ERMA — The Lower Cape May Regional High School Caper Tigers had to wait only a week to avenge their disappointing double-overtime loss to the Ocean City High School Red Raiders on Jan. 28, taking a 56-46 victory in the rematch Feb. 5 in Erma.
The game followed a similar pattern to the previous one for three quarters, with tight defense, low scoring and the Caper Tigers holding a 10-point lead, 37-27. Each time Lower threatened to extend its lead, though, Ocean City forced turnovers and kept the game close.
However, the fourth quarter was very different than the previous one, during which Ocean City took advantage of numerous turnovers and missed foul shots to come back and tie the game, eventually winning it. This time the Caper Tigers opened the critical quarter with a pair of clutch baskets by Jacob Bey followed by key shots from the field and foul line by Archie Lawler to widen their lead to as much as 16 points with 4 minutes remaining. The score narrowed to 10 points, but only after both teams had inserted numerous substitutions.
Throughout the game, Ocean City played its typical hard-nosed, hustling game with sound fundamentals. Omero Chevere led the Red Raiders in scoring with 20 points, nine during their valiant fourth-quarter rally. Conor Muskett scored eight of his 10 points during that comeback effort. Dylan Schlatter added seven points and Kori Segich and Sean Sakers four each for the Red Raiders, whose record fell to 8-11.
Lawler led Lower and the game with 26 points, 12 during the critical fourth quarter, and Bey scored 14, six in the final stanza. Macky Bonner had nine points on three three-pointers in addition to skillfully running the Caper Tiger offense. Mike Cronin added five points for Lower, which improved its record to 6-11.
Both Ocean City coach John Bruno and Lower coach Scott Holden remarked on the similarity between the two games their teams played this season and cited the turning point in this game as the surge by Lawler and Bey to open the final quarter.
“We held them (Lawler and Bey) in check the first game,” Bruno lamented, “but they killed us today.”
Lawler upped his output from 12 to 26 points and Bey from 10 to 14.
“Our kids played hard, I’m proud of them. We’re still young and learning, we need to anticipate what’s going to happen because we’re not particularly fast. But they really go all out and you can’t fault their desire and effort,” Holden said.
Bruno said the Caper Tigers are much better than their record.
“They’re very well-coached and have some really talented kids. They play in a very tough division (in the Cape-Atlantic League) against some of the top teams in the area. Everyone knows how good Lawler and Bey are and Bonner is one of the best point guards in South Jersey. I think they’re going to surprise some people in the playoffs.”
Holden said his team had made some adjustments on offense to better cope with Ocean City’s tough defense.
“We also kept our turnovers down. Macky Bonner did a great job running the offense. All the kids were upset about the loss the last game and determined to win today,” he said.
Holden also pointed out how hard it is for his five starters (Bey, Lawler, Bonner, Mike Cronin and Auri Wright) to play most of the game, especially tiring them for the fourth quarter.
“But we’re now able to get some subs like Nunez (Oguer) and Carter (Eulis) in to give them some rest. We hope to do more of that and be stronger later in games and even be able to use a full-court press more like we did today at times,” Holden said. “Just like today, we came to play every game despite facing a tough schedule and some adversity. We beat a good, well-coached team today. I’m really proud of these guys and we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
The Ocean City boys are at Wildwood at 6 p.m. Wednesday and host Atlantic City at 6 p.m. Friday.
By R.E. HEINLY/Special to the Sentinel
