OCEAN CITY – The Red Raiders survived a scare Saturday afternoon to advance to the semifinals in the South Jersey Group III sectional basketball tournament.
After easily handling No. 16 Toms River East 54-37 in the opening round Feb. 28, the Ocean City High School boys were forced into overtime against No. 8 Seneca before prevailing 43-40.
The Raiders (20-6), the No. 1 seed in the sectional tournament, led Seneca (12-15) 15-8 after the first quarter, but Seneca turned the tables and outscored Ocean City 14-9 in the second.
The teams entered the half with Ocean City holding onto a slim 24-22 lead, but the game was tied at the end of the fourth quarter, forcing the teams into overtime where the Raiders outscored Seneca 5-2 for the 43-40 victory.
Luke Tjoumakaris led Ocean City with 13 points and Josh Lenko had 12. Ben McGonigle contributed eight, Tighe Olek and Dean Lappin four each and Leon Brown two.
In the opening round, Lenko was the leader with 15 points in the 54-37 win over Toms River East (11-16). Tjoumakaris and McGonigle had 12 each, Lappin five, and Brown and Olek two each.
The Raiders were taking on No. 4 seed Absegami (24-4) Tuesday evening after the Sentinel sports section went to press to see which team would make it into Friday evening’s South Jersey final. If Ocean City wins, the Raiders will go for the championship at home.
The Braves were 11-1 in the Cape-Atlantic League’s United Conference.
Ocean City is aiming for its third straight berth in the South Jersey title game after losing a heartbreaking triple-overtime game to Mainland Regional last year and falling to Moorestown the year before.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff