OCEAN CITY — With a packed student section behind them, the Ocean City Red Raiders boys basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a big win over the rival Mainland Mustangs.
Mainland Regional High School came into the game looking to avenge its loss to Ocean City High School earlier in the season and held the lead at halftime.
Ocean City, however, took over the second half and defeated Mainland 61-43 on Jan. 22.
Senior Luke Tjoumakaris scored 23 points, including 17 in the first half, that helped Ocean City keep pace with an energized Mustang squad led by Cole Stefano. Stefano finished with 16 points and a trio of three-pointers. The junior gave Mainland the lead after he hit a buzzer-beating half-court shot to end the first quarter.
The 29-27 Mustang lead was eventually overrun in the second half with Ocean City taking control via a 21-6 third quarter.
Raider Chris Pontari, who has gotten better as the season has progressed, scored 10 straight points for the Raiders. The top offensive threat for Ocean City this season, Josh Lenko, added 12 points.
“We came out with a different level of intensity as we were fighting for every ball and rebound, which was key in us pulling ahead there,” Tjoumakaris said about the second half.
Three different Raiders reached double-digit points, which Tjoumakaris said is important to their success as a team.
“Everyone having a night makes it really unpredictable and hard to guard because everyone has a lot of skill,” Tjoumakaris said. “It’s nice I scored 23 but so what? More importantly we won the game and that is what really matters.”
With the loss, Mainland dropped to 6-9 so far this season after a game that was within reach. Head coach Dan Feld shared his thoughts after the game on what happened in the second half.
“Today we just were not good enough defensively,” Feld said. “It doesn’t matter what we would have run or our personnel. We just did not do a good enough job of stopping the ball at the point of attack. Ocean City is too good of a team and will take advantage of that.”
As the game went on, some players on the Mustangs got into foul trouble and had to sit to avoid getting fouled out.
Stefano’s first half funneled energy to the entire Mustang lineup but eventually was drained after the big third quarter from Ocean City.
Coming off a 30-point performance in their previous game, Dallas Rowell was efficient and aggressive with 8 points and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
In the fourth quarter, the Mustangs found similar success on both sides of the court as the start of the game, but the contest ended with Ocean City taking home the victory.
“In that first half we played with confidence with Cole getting us going,” Feld said. “We played tough, especially offensively where we refused to take bad shots. The guys kept moving the ball and getting good looks. Defensively we were able to keep them in front of us better than in the second half, but Ocean City is a team where you cannot let up and play one half of the game.”
Ocean City improved to 12-3 after defeating Mainland and adding a 75-59 win over Clearview High School two days later on Jan. 24.
Tjoumakaris and Lenko had their usual double-digit scoring performances with 18 and 17 points, respectively, but it was Dean Lappin’s day in the spotlight with 19 points.
Both teams have a couple of important Cape-Atlantic League games on the horizon as they battle for seeding in the conference tournament.
Lappin and the Raiders will hit the road for their next set of games with a quick three-game road split. Ocean City will travel to St. Joseph Academy on Jan. 28 and hopes to sweep the season series against the Wildcats. The Raiders will wrap up the week with games on back-to-back days at Egg Harbor Township High School on Jan. 30 and and Wildwood High School on Jan. 31.
Mainland has a home visit from Wildwood Catholic lined up for Jan 28. The Mustangs came from behind to beat Wildwood Catholic 63-62 earlier this season. A trip to St. Augustine Prep will finish the week and month of games for Mainland on Jan. 30.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
