VIDEO: Millville freshman spoils Lower Cape May’s epic rally

Posted: January 17th 2026

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ERMA – A Millville High School freshman spoiled an epic comeback by the Lower Cape May Regional High School boys basketball team Friday evening.

Ro’Saun Rhett’s three-pointer with 2.1 seconds to play proved to be the difference as the Thunderbolts came away with a 37-36 victory in a key Cape-Atlantic National Conference contest.

Rhett’s shot nullified an extraordinary late-game effort by the Caper Tigers. Trailing 30-17 late in the third quarter, Lower used its pressure defense to reel off an extraordinary 19-2 run to take a 36-32 lead with 3 minutes, 49 seconds to play.

Senior guard John Fernandez had his fingerprints all over Lower’s comeback, coming up with numerous steals that led to easy baskets. He scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.

But Fernandez’s field goal at the 3:49 mark represented Lower’s last points of the game.

Two Lower subsequent possessions that took lots of time off the clock ended in turnovers. After the first, Millville’s Caiden Allen scored off an offensive rebound to make the score 36-34 with 2:26 remaining. After the second, Millville got the ball back with 50 seconds remaining and held possession until Rhett delivered his game-deciding three-pointer just ahead of the buzzer.

“We got down 13 but we got that back pretty quick,” Lower coach Scott Holden said. “But we had a couple really bad turnovers in the fourth quarter when we had the lead and then their kid bangs a pretty tough three-pointer.”

Lower missed a chance to take control of the conference race, as the result created a three-way tie in the loss column at the top of the conference standings among Lower, Millville and Cedar Creek. Lower beat Cedar Creek by a point on Wednesday, while Cedar Creek was victorious over Millville on Monday.

Millville held Lower to only four first-half field goals.

“It’s a missed opportunity, for sure,” Holden said. “Millville’s pretty darn good. They’re very good defensively and they’re very patient on offense. We weren’t locked in tonight to start the game.”

Ryan Mallon, who hit two important three-pointers during his team’s rally, added 10 points for the Caper Tigers (9-3 overall, 5-1 CAL National).

Allen scored nine of his 11 points in the second half for Millville (7-4, 5-1).

Lower Cape May is next in action Sunday at home against Wildwood Catholic at 1 p.m. The game will air live on the Cape Atlantic Live YouTube channel.