Ocean City hustles to get ball back, hit foul shots with 2.2 seconds to go to win
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – With 20 seconds left and the score tied 44-44, Wildwood Catholic Academy had the ball and plenty of time to set up a game-winning shot against Ocean City High School’s boys team Friday night.
Things did not go as planned.
With just more than 10 seconds on the clock, Wildwood Catholic called a time-out to formulate a final play. That was a mistake.
In a scramble during the ensuing inbounds pass, Red Raider Joe Repetti tipped the ball back toward the Ocean City side of the court. Teammate Tom Finnegan dove for it and knocked it foward. Fellow Red Raider Gannon Brady grabbed the loose ball under the basket, between two Wildwood Catholic players. As he went to take a shot with less than 3 seconds on the clock, he was fouled.
Turns out it doesn’t help to foul the hottest shooter on the team.
Brady coolly sank two free throws to put the team up 46-44.
The late scramble was a fitting end to a game against a pair of well-matched opponents, neither of which could hold a substantial lead at any point.
Ocean City’s biggest lead in the game was 15-10 partway through the second quarter. Wildwood Catholic had a slight half-time lead at 21-20 and late in the third quarter it was tied at 30-30.
With five minutes left in the game, it was tied at 37-37, but the Academy got its biggest lead of 5 points – 42-37 – a minute later.
It didn’t last.
The score was tied yet again at 42-42 with two and a half minutes to go courtesy of a 3-point shot by Brady.
Brady added two foul shots for the Red Raiders to retake the lead, 44-42 before Wildwood Catholic tied it again with a minute left.
After trips up and down the court resulted in no baskets for either team, that set up the final plays with 10 seconds to go.
After Brady gave Ocean City the final lead, 46-44, Wildwood Catholic tried to inbounds the pass with a long throw down the court with 2.2 seconds left, but the ball hit a barrier in the ceiling, giving possession back to the Red Raiders with little more than a second on the clock.
On a long inbounds pass of their own, the Red Raiders were fouled, sending Finnegan to the line. He missed his first free throw, then ricocheted the ball off the backboard intentionally to use up the clock as both teams tried to grab the ball.
The buzzer sounded and Ocean City’s players celebrated their narrow win.
Ocean City coach John Bruno said his team’s success against Wildwood Catholic Academy had a lot to do with the athleticism of his players and their non-stop intensity.
Bruno explained he doesn’t have many true basketball players on the team – athletes that focus first and foremost on basketball. What he does have are athletes who come from other sports including baseball, such as Finnegan, and football, including Will Drain, Brady Rauner and Repetti. Bruno attributed his team’s success so far this season to their competitiveness.
The coach didn’t diminish his players’ basketball skills, but said the intensity they bring with them to the court from their other sports has helped his team compete.
He cited that competitiveness in the last few seconds of the game when Repetti and Finnegan went full-throttle after the ball to stop Wildwood Catholic’s late threat and get the ball back in the hands of Brady, the player who broke the 1,000-point career plateau earlier this season.
Bruno also credited Drain’s toughness under the basket.
Brady led the Red Raiders with 23 points. Rauner scored 8, Finnegan had 7, Drain had 6 and Repetti had 2. Finnegan also had a key block late in the game.
For Wildwood Catholic Academy, Dasean Lopez scored 20, Jared Hopping had 11, David Zarfatti and Nick Montalbono had 4 each, Alex Konov had 3 and Liam Grimes had 2.
Ocean City improved to 3-1 last week heading into Monday night’s matchup against undefeated Atlantic City.
Earlier in the week, the boys beat Middle Township on the road, 59-41, courtesy of a big third quarter in which they outscored the Panthers 16-5. Leading 28-24 at the half, the big third quarter put them far ahead and Middle Township was never able to catch up.
Brady and Finnegan dominated the scoring with 24 and 23 points respectively. Rauner added 10 and Repetti 2.
Middle Township fell to 1-2 with the loss.
Ocean City’s only loss was to Lower Cape May Regional, 62-60.
In this COVID-19-condensed roughly six-week season, the Red Raiders will face Wildwood Catholic Academy on the road at 6 p.m. Feb. 22.
The boys have three games this week. In addition to Atlantic City Monday, the boys host Cape May Tech at 6 p.m. Wednesday and host Mainland at 5:30 p.m. Friday.