Ocean City finishes atop East Division in their abbreviated winter season
By R.E. HEINLY/Special to the Sentinel
ERMA – For a few hours in Lower Cape May Regional High School’s gym on Friday, March, 5, the teams and spectators alike could escape from the traumatic world of the pandemic and multiple other problems and enjoy a classic and highly exciting boys basketball game.
The Caper Tigers and Red Raiders put on a display of speed, hustle, determination and skill that represented all that is positive about high school sports. Lower led by narrow margins of 14-10, then 31-25, and then 44-40 until a final-quarter 19-12 rally gave Ocean City the win, 59-56.
The Red Raiders took their first lead of the game with just under a minute to play on a Gannon Brady driving basket. Lower’s Jacob Bey countered with his own driving basket. Brady Rauner then sank two clutch foul shots to ice the win for Ocean City, which improved its record to 8-1 and avenged its only loss of the season. Lower is now 7-5.
The first time the teams met this season, the Caper Tigers won by 2 points, 62-60.
Both coaches, Ocean City’s John Bruno and Lower’s Scott Holden, agreed it was a fiercely contested game between two talented, hard-nosed teams. Both were especially proud of the way their teams have coped with the challenges of a pandemic-plagued season.
Bruno characterized it as a typical LCMR-O.C. game.
“A great rivalry, a friendly rivalry, between two groups of great, talented, athletic kids,” Bruno said. “It’s always a great game with Lower. They’re very well-coached and have talented, tough kids. They, like us, have a bunch of multi-sport athletes. I love coaching that type of kid because of their mental toughness and drive.”
He added, “Lower’s still young, they’re going to be a power for years and tough for anyone to beat.” Bruno said this was “both a playoff and payback game for my team (it ended their season and allowed them to avenge their only loss), and led by our seniors we just refused to lose. We were missing our big man tonight (Tom Finnegan) but we kept our composure.”
The seniors were Brady, Joe Repetti, Will Drain, Ben Hoag, Rauner, Jake Schneider and Brendan Schlatter. “Everyone knows his role on the team,” Bruno said. “Gannon’s our only really gifted scorer but the rest maximize their roles in team defense and rebounding. Ben (Hoag) did a great job running the offense and made three big, big 3-point shots for us.”
Brady was largely unstoppable on offense, leading the game with 37 points. Hoag added 9 with his 3-point shots. Rauner and Schlatter each added 4.
Archie Lawler led Lower with 23 points. Jordan Pierce and Macky Bonner had 10 each. Jacob Bey scored 6, Jim Jameson 4 and Mike Cronin 3. Cronin’s desperation 3-point try in the last seconds barely missed, bouncing off the rim. Bey and Pierce were major rebounding forces and Bonner ran the offense well as usual. The loss stopped Lower’s four-game winning streak during which they had beaten two other teams in the area’s top 10. Ocean City came in ranked fourth.
Holden, while disappointed by what he called “a tough-to-swallow, late-game loss” viewed it as a valuable learning experience for his young team that has only two senior starters.
“Ocean City really upped their pressure and physicality in the fourth quarter. Our inexperience showed when we had difficulty adjusting to it. They’re (O.C.) a high quality, well-coached, experienced team. We have to learn from their example how to close a game.”
“Brady was unstoppable, we tried to do everything we could to slow him down but he killed us,” Holden said. “We’ll get better because of this (the late loss) and mature as a team.” Holden also had special praise for Jordan Pierce’s efforts. “He’s a three-year starter and has been a great leader for us. He, as always, was a force in rebounding and on defense beyond his scoring.”
Before the game, Bruno placed a cardboard cutout picture of his old friend and longtime Red Raider coach Jack Boyd next to the seat dedicated to former great Lower Coach George Holden in Lower’s gym. Bruno brings it to every game. Both coaching giants, who were also friendly rivals and good friends, were proud of how their former teams played adding another chapter to their legendary rivalry.
Ocean City finishes the season atop the East Division of the Cape-Atlantic League. Because of the pandemic, there were no playoffs or tournaments.