VIDEO: Olek’s timely second-half shots help Raiders pull past Prep in CAL semifinal

Posted: February 17th 2026

Tighe Olek scored nine of his 11 points in the second half to help Ocean City overcome St. Augustine in a CAL semifinal game Tuesday.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ATLANTIC CITY – Tighe Olek is not known as a huge scorer for the Ocean City High School boys basketball team.

But the senior guard/forward turned into one in the second half of Tuesday’s Cape-Atlantic League playoff tournament semifinal game.

Olek tallied nine of his 11 points after halftime – with each of the baskets seemingly coming at critical moments – to help the Raiders to a 46-42 victory over St. Augustine Prep at Atlantic City High School.

Ocean City will face Atlantic City in the title game Saturday at noon at Egg Harbor Township High School. Atlantic City was a 78-72 winner over Middle Township in the other semifinal.

Ocean City (20-4), the No. 2 seed in the tournament, led for the entire first half, taking a three-point advantage at the break. But third-seeded St. Augustine (15-12) used a 10-4 run to take a three-point lead of its own late in the third quarter.

Olek answered for the Raiders, however, sinking a three-pointer from the top of the key with six seconds to go in the quarter to tie the game. The Prep went ahead by three again early in the fourth, but a quick 7-0 run by the Raiders that included a basket and an assist by Olek gave Ocean City the lead for good.

“That three-pointer by him was huge and the foul-line jumper shortly after that was big, too,” Ocean City coach John Bruno said. “Those two shots and those two plays were very big. 

“Tighe’s been a key player for us all along. He just doesn’t score a lot. But he’ll guard the other team’s best player, he rebounds, he finds the open man. I was glad to see him get involved as a scorer because he deserves it. The shots he took were really good.”

Olek made five field goals for the game, four in the second half. He said the three-pointer that ended the third quarter gave him a boost.

“This year, I’m not much of a scorer,” Olek admitted. “I try to rebound and facilitate. But when I saw that shot go through it gave me a boost of confidence and helped me the rest of the way.”

The Raiders kept their poise when St. Augustine threatened in the second half.

“I give the Cape-Atlantic League credit,” Bruno said. “People are out there saying our league’s down because we don’t have any five-star Division I players right now, but week in and week out, we’re getting tough games all the time. I think our league prepares us for games like this, even when we’re playing other teams in the league.

“I never saw one ounce of panic in our kids. I never saw them flinch. That’s what you want out of your experience.”

The game served as a rubber match for the two teams, who beat each other by identical 49-39 scores during the regular season.

“They’re a great team with a lot of talent and I grew up playing with a lot of their guys,” Olek said. “We played two different times already and there was a zero point differential. We’re kind of dead even, so this was just about playing hard tonight.”

Luke Tjoumakaris led Ocean City with 14 points. Josh Lenko added nine.

Bryce Clark sank 11 of his 14 points in the second half and Zebron Bartley had eight of his 12 points in the second half for St. Augustine.

Ocean City returns to the CAL title game for the first time since beating Lower Cape May in the only double-overtime game in CAL title game history in 2010.

“We have a lot of seniors, so it’s great to get a chance to play in that,” Olek said. “Hopefully, we can win it all and bring it back to OC.”