NJSIAA basketball playoffs: Middle and Lower boys, Wildwood girls with comfortable wins; LCM girls fall on road

Posted: February 26th 2026

Three local teams picked up victories as the NJSIAA basketball playoffs began Thursday, two days later than scheduled due to the snowstorm earlier this week.

The following are recaps of the games:

BOYS

South Jersey Group II: (3) Lower Cape May 45, (14) Pennsauken Tech 33: Lower raced out to a 16-2 lead and held a 29-9 advantage early in the second half before the Tornados made things interesting with a 17-6 run that cut their deficit to nine points midway through the fourth quarter. Lower Cape May, however, never allowed its opponent to get closer. Ty Bonner led all scorers with 22 points, taking his career total to 1,405 points, for the Caper Tigers. John Fernandez chipped in 11 for Lower (22-5), which will host No. 11 Pleasantville in the second round Saturday afternoon at 12. Pleasantville was an upset winner over No. 6 Overbrook in its first-round game.

South Jersey Group II: (4) Middle Township 77, (13) Barnegat 52: Mason Murawski poured in 28 points to lead all scorers as Middle rolled to a first-round victory at home. Chase Moore (15) and Kanye Perkins also scored in double figures for the Panthers (15-11). Middle will host No. 12 Sterling on Saturday at 2 p.m. Sterling was a 52-44 upset winner over No. 5 Gloucester in its opening-round game.

GIRLS

South Jersey Group I: (2) Wildwood 68, (15) Clayton 18: Wildwood rushed out to a 23-3 lead after one quarter and never looked back in breezing to an opening-round win. Addison Troiano and Angela Wilber each scored 13 points and Rebecca Benichou added 12 points to pace a balanced attack by the Lady Warriors, who had 10 different players score in the victory. Wildwood will host the winner of Friday’s game between No. 7 Gateway and No. 10 Schalick on Monday.

South Jersey Group II: (7) West Deptford 54, (10) Lower Cape May 29: Ainsley Reed scored nine points and Brooke Robinson added eight for Lower Cape May, which finished the season at 9-16.