Win comes a day after coach gets his 500th victory
OCEAN CITY – Ocean City High School boys basketball head coach John Bruno has had the Red Raiders winning big games for his entire 36-year tenure and picked up a couple more last week.
One day after Bruno secured his 500th win as head coach, the Raiders followed up with a 50-37 victory over rival Mainland Regional High School in the Saturday double-header with the girls teams. It was the first meeting of the season between the cross-bay rivals as Ocean City was seeking revenge for last season’s triple-overtime loss to the Mustangs in the sectional championship game.
Luke Tjoumakaris led all scorers with a season-high 23 points and was unstoppable under the rim all night long. The junior had the Raiders off to a fast start.
A huge second quarter gave Ocean City a seemingly comfortable 22-point lead late into the game. Tjoumakaris made 11 shots from the floor as Ben McGonigle and the rest of the Raiders continued to feed him the ball. McGonigle added 14 points and has reached double figures in every game this season for Ocean City.
Despite the massive lead, the Mustangs did not go down quietly and made one last push.
After a timeout in the middle of the third quarter, Lucas DeBiaso and John Franchini sparked Mainland’s offense and rattled off an 8-0 run to end the quarter. Franchini started it off with a three-pointer and fed Harrison LaMonaca underneath for another bucket. DeBiaso breathed life into the Mustang student section with a powerful drive to the rim for a three-point play as the third quarter expired.
Mainland continued the offensive explosion into the fourth quarter, during which LaMonaca gave his teammates multiple second shot opportunities with his rebounds. Luke Kerrigan pulled Mainland to within single digits of the lead, 38-30, with a three-pointer to cap off the 13-0 Mustang run.
Kerrigan has come on lately for the Mustangs as a threat from beyond the arch. The junior has made nine three-pointers in his last four games off the bench. Griffin Fitzgerald led the team with 11 points against Ocean City and has been a constant source of offense for Mainland this season.
Ocean City got back on track quickly.
The Raiders went back to their first half game plan and fed Tjoumakaris on three straight possessions for a quick six points. McGonigle and Josh Lenko put on the finishing touches as Ocean City pulled the momentum right from under Mainland to seal the game.
The duo of McGonigle and Tjoumakaris has been Ocean City’s security blanket all season long. They lead the team in scoring with 191 and 170 points, respectively, but also heavily contribute outside of individual scoring numbers. Tjoumakaris gets himself or other teammates second chances on offense with his rebounding while McGonigle spreads the ball around to other scorers such as Josh Lenko and Zio Wright.
The Raiders ended the week with an 11-2 record with two big wins on back-to-back nights. Ocean City handled their biggest rival for their 11 win of the season, but the previous game had the most historic significance.
A day prior on Jan. 17 the Raiders took down a strong St. Joseph High School (12-2) team and clinched coach Bruno’s 500th win of his career by a score of 54-42. The team got to celebrate in front of Raider Nation that Bruno has called home for the last 36 years.
In the game itself the Raiders were in control from the start and relied on their dynamic duo on offense. Tjoumakaris led all scorers with 19 points followed closely by McGonigle with 18 points.
Across the bay, Mainland has had a tough start to the season and fell to 1-10 after the loss to Ocean City.
The defending South Jersey Group III champions lost a lot of senior players in the spring but have given players such as Fitzgerald and Kerrigan the experience they needed to improve their game.
Next up for the Mustangs is a home game against St. Joseph at 6 p.m. Jan. 23.
After that they will travel to St. Augustine Prep for a rematch against the Hermits on Jan. 27. Mainland hosted the Hermits on Jan. 7 when they fell just short of a comeback and lost a close 56-51 game. Sophomore Dallas Rowell dropped a season-high 20 points for the Mustangs in the first meeting. The rematch tips-off at 6 p.m.
The Mustangs will get another shot at Ocean City on Feb. 3 in the series finale at Mainland.
Before the second meeting of the year with Mainland, Ocean City has a couple of Cape-Atlantic League games to go through first. The Raiders will host Wildwood Catholic Academy (9-3) at 6 p.m. Jan. 23. Wildwood Catholic came close to knocking off the Raiders in the second game of the year in a 45-40 Raider victory.
Ocean City’s following game will be on the road against Millville High School at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
