OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Red Raiders’ playoff run is alive thanks to an incredible second-half performance in Tuesday evening’s sectional basketball quarterfinal.
After trailing 37-18 at halftime, the Raiders roared back in the second half to complete a 19-point comeback over the Cherry Hill West Lions on Feb 27.
With only three seconds left in the game, Charlie LaBarre caught a pass from Ben McGonigle and drove towards the basket. He then drained a floater as time expired to give the Raiders a 46-44 victory.
The Raiders’ bench and student section mobbed LaBarre on the court in celebration after his game-winning shot.
Ocean City took complete control in the second half. The Raiders outscored Cherry Hill West 28-7 after halftime and only gave up two points in the fourth quarter.
Dylan Schlatter gave the Raiders their first lead of the game after he attacked the basket and drew a foul. The senior converted the three-point play and gave the Raiders a 44-42 lead with 45 seconds remaining.
The Lions made their only basket of the fourth quarter to tie the game before LaBarre broke the tie with his buzzer-beater.
Kori Segich led all scorers with 16 points, followed by the hero LaBarre, who finished with 12.
Ocean City advanced to the South Jersey Group III semifinals thanks to the win over Cherry Hill West. The Raiders’ next game will be at home against No. 3 seed Camden Eastside (19-9) at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb 29.
A victory for the Raiders (25-3), the No. 2 seed in the sectional, would put them in the championship game on March 2 against the winner of the other semifinal, which features No. 4 Moorestown High School versus No. 1 seed Mainland Regional High School (24-6).
Mainland beat No. 8 Delsea Regional 51-37 in the quarterfinal.
Both possible matchups would be familiar foes for the Raiders. Moorestown (20-8) is the defending South Jersey Group III champion. The Quakers defeated Ocean City last season to claim the title.
The Raiders also could look to exact revenge on Mainland after they lost 55-50 in the Cape-Atlantic League semifinals against their heated rival if both teams make it to the finals Saturday. Ocean City beat Mainland 59-52 during the regular season..
Before they can think about the championship game, the Raiders will have to learn from their first-half performance against the Lions.
Ocean City was held scoreless through the first five minutes Tuesday evening. In that time Cherry Hill West jumped out to a 12-2 lead. A late surge by the Raiders helped narrow the gap to 18-10 after the first quarter.
The game got out of hand in the middle of the second quarter for the Raiders. The Lions hit four three-pointers in a row once Ocean City cut the lead to six. Carter Gill made three of the three-pointers in the run and in the blink of an eye the lead was up to 19.
Ocean City only had 16 minutes of game time to mount a 19-point comeback and avoid elimination.
The entire Lions’ offense evaporated in the second half. Its first points of the third quarter was a three-pointer after a long six minutes of play. The defensive adjustments at halftime helped the Raiders make up solid group as they outscored their opponents 14-5 in the quarter.
They would need a similar performance in the fourth quarter to make up the 42-32 deficit.
Schlatter got a huge steal at midcourt which led to Segich cutting the lead to single digits. He had another steal with three minutes left which cut the lead to 42-39. The senior gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 44-42 with only 1:30 left in the game.
Ocean City was locked in defensively and came through when the season was on the line. The Raiders only gave up seven points in the last 16 minutes of play. The only score in the fourth quarter for the Lions was a powerful drive through traffic to tie the game at 44-44.
Each Raider starter played all 32 minutes in the game and LaBarre was determined to settle it in regulation.
Patrick Grimley hauled in an offensive rebound with five seconds left and dumped it off to McGonigle. McGonigle then passed the ball to LaBarre at the top of the key to complete the comeback.
LaBarre euro-stepped around a defender and softly floated the ball towards the rim as the buzzer sounded. The gym erupted with fans and players jumping throughout the stands and court.
Ocean City saved its season thanks to the resiliency it showed in the second half.
Mainland girls roll
Mainland Regional’s girls continued their run in the South Jersey Group III tournament with a 69-30 drubbing of No. 9 Hammonton in the quarterfinals Tuesday evening. The Mustangs (27-1), the No. 1 seed in the tournament, host No. 4 Cherry Hill West Thursday in the semifinals.
They beat No. 16 Toms River South 52-22 in the opening round.
In the sectional tournaments, games are played at the higher seed.
– By WILLIAM TRUITT for the Sentinel.
