EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The Mainland Regional High School boys basketball team got off to a slow start in the final round of the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament and never caught up.
The Mustangs fell to Middle Township High School 61-45 in the CAL final Feb. 17. Cohen Cook and Jamie Tyson each had 14 points against the aggressive Panthers defense.
The Panthers played a lot of full-court defense in the first half, leading to Mustang turnovers. The fast pace did not allow Mainland to get into rhythm in the half-court as the team was outscored 27-15 in the first quarter.
Middle Township got the early lead thanks to multiple players getting hot from three-point range. The Panthers made 11 three-pointers in the game while Mainland had only two.
Every scoring run Mainland put together in a comeback attempt was met with another long shot in response.
The Mustangs reached the CAL final after beating Ocean City High School in the semifinals 55-50 on Feb. 14. The two rivals always play close games as Mainland tied the season series vs Ocean City at 1-1.
Cook led the Mustangs with 18 points, while they had big contributions from Tim Travagline and Stephen Ordille, who scored 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Mainland held a 25-24 lead at halftime after scoring only six points in the entire first quarter. The Mustangs corralled Raider Kori Segich as best they could in the second half. Segich scored 24 points including four three-pointers in the game.
With the CAL Tournament in the rearview mirror, the Mustangs moved to 22-6 on the year. They will start the NJSIAA South Jersey Tournament as the number one seed in Group III.
All of Mainland’s games in the tournament will be at home and potentially all be double-headers with the Mustang girls team.
Since the boys and girls basketball teams are both top seeds in their respective brackets, they will play double-headers at home as long as they continue winning.
On the other side of the bracket lies Ocean City as the number two seed. Due to the playoff seeding, if both teams continue winning, they would meet in the South Jersey Group III Championship.
The heated rivals seem to be on a collision course with each other to set up one of the biggest Mainland versus Ocean City games in a long time.
Mainland is set to start its bracket run at home versus 16th-seeded Westampton Tech High School on Feb 22. Game time is 4 p.m.
In the quarterfinals the Mustangs would play either Hammonton or Delsea High School at home on Feb 27.
The dominant Mustang team hit a speedbump against Middle Township. Mainland head coach Dan Williams described the CAL final as an “uphill battle” after his team gave up 27 points in the first quarter.
The leading point scorer this season for Mainland was Cook who had two quick personal fouls which forced him to play a little more conservative.
“In the beginning it wasn’t the threes so much as it was Jamir McNeil who was able to get to the rim when he wanted to,” Williams said. “He forced us to collapse on him which got the three-point shooters open.
Anthony Trombetta led the Panthers with 14 points including four three pointers. McNeil and Michael Zarfati added another 13 points each.
After the hot first quarter by Middle Township, Mainland stabilized and was only outscored by four points in the final 24 minutes of the game.
The Panthers abandoned the full court defense once the Mustangs started scoring open layups. They slowed the game down by holding onto the ball in the half court and not rushing their decisions.
Despite Mainland’s adaptations in the game the early hole it dug proved to be too much. In the second half Stephen Ordille made the only two three pointers for the Mustangs in the game. They shot more long shots than normal due to the score, but nobody managed to get hot.
Mainland will move on from the disappointing loss as the playoffs officially begin in the latter part of February.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
