NORTH WILDWOOD – The new-look Ocean City High School boys basketball team started off the season 2-0 after a back-and-forth battle against Wildwood Catholic Academy, two days after nipping St. Augustine Prep.
The Raiders followed that up with a 48-41 win over Holy Spirit Sunday evening.
Against Wildwood Catholic, the Red Raiders reclaimed the lead midway through the fourth quarter and held on to defeat the Crusaders 45-40 on Dec. 19.
Amid a 7-0 Crusader run late in the third quarter that put Wildwood Catholic ahead by four points, the Raiders relied on senior Ben McGonigle to stop the bleeding. After some solid passing by the Raider offense, McGonigle broke free and drained two jump shots to swing the momentum back to Ocean City.
Tied at 32-32 entering the fourth quarter, the two teams locked in on defense as neither team scored until halfway through the final frame. Ocean City broke through the stalemate first with two consecutive baskets by McGonigle and Luke Tjoumakaris within 30 seconds of each other.
“I was really impressed with our composure tonight with our young group,” Ocean City head coach John Bruno said. “It was their first real venture down here to Wildwood Catholic which is always a tough place to play. We had some turnovers, but I thought we did a good job of finding the open man and creating an easy shot. These kinds of games are called learning experiences and hopefully you win them like today.”
Tjoumakaris led the Raiders with 13 points in the game, but Bruno believed the 6’4 junior’s rebounding ability was the crucial part of the win.
“Luke’s work tonight on the boards was incredible,” Bruno said. “His job on the boards really saved us. They are a good rebounding team and yet he got after them and had a couple of his own.”
Ocean City’s lead survived two late three-pointers by the Crusaders to secure win number two for the rebuilt Raider roster.
Tjoumakaris is a part of a new group of Raider players who will see much more playing time this season after four starters graduated in the offseason. The lone sophomore on the team, Josh Lenko, started both games for the Raiders so far and had a season high 10 points against the Crusaders.
McGonigle is the one remaining starter from last year’s team and has taken a much larger scoring role for this season. He dropped a career best 20 points in the season opener against St. Augustine Prep and added another 11 points when the team needed him the most versus Wildwood Catholic. His 6-0 run between the third and fourth quarters pulled the offense out of a scoring rut twice and let the rest of the team finish the job.
“Ben is our leader. There is no doubt about that but what we need is the other guys to step up with 10–11-point nights which we’ve gotten these first two games,” Bruno said.
In Ocean City’s 66-64 win over St. Augustine Prep on Dec. 17, the Raiders went on a run in the fourth quarter to close the game and escape with a victory. McGonigle’s 20 points led the team, but it was junior Tighe Olek who stole the show.
Olek got hot from beyond the arc and made a whopping five three-pointers. The Raiders made a combined 10 on the day as they were locked into an offensive shootout. The junior was nearly perfect from long range and finished with 18 points. Tjoumakaris and Dean Lappin also added 11 points each in support.
Two games into the season and Ocean City has already found ways to win completely different games. The Raiders beat St. Augustine in a shootout behind 10 three-pointers and slugged out a victory against Wildwood Catholic in which defense ruled the day and the team only made a single three-point shot.
The Raiders will head back to Wildwood for the annual Boardwalk Basketball Classic at the Wildwoods Convention Center.
The Raiders’ first game of the Boardwalk Classic is on Dec. 23 against Williamstown High School. In their most recent meeting last season, the Raiders cruised to an 84-55 victory over Williamstown but with a much different team. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
Once the Raiders get back from a short Christmas break, they will play their second game of the event against Glassboro High School at 1 p.m. Dec. 28.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
