VIDEO: Lower rallies from early deficit, then holds on at the finish to advance to SJ semifinal round

Posted: March 1st 2026

By DAVID WEINBERG

For CapeAtlanticLive.com 

LOWER TOWNSHIP – Lower Cape May Regional High School’s boys basketball team took a while to get into the groove Saturday.

Whether it was Pleasantville’s swarming defense or the bleacher-rattling chants from the Greyhounds’ cheerleaders, the Caper Tigers started the South Jersey Group II playoff game as if they were in a trance.

Then they woke up.

Third-seeded Lower dominated the third quarter, then withstood a Pleasantville rally to earn a 57-52 win in the quarterfinals.

“That was an ugly win,” Lower coach Scott Holden said. “But I’ll take an ugly win every day. At this point of the season, all that matters is getting the win.”

With the win, the third-seeded Capers (23-5) advanced to the South Jersey Group II semifinal round, where they will play at second-seeded Camden on Tuesday. Camden was a winner over Camden Eastside in its quarterfinal game.

Lower last reached the South Jersey final in 2017-18, when it lost to Haddonfield. The Capers have never won a South Jersey championship since the current school opened in 1962.

“We have a lot of confidence,” Lower guard John Fernandez said. “We’ve been playing together since we were kids, so we have chemistry.”

They needed it to get past the 11th-seeded Greyhounds (15-12), who were coming off a convincing victory over sixth-seeded Overbrook Regional in the first round.

Pleasantville appeared poised to pull off another upset, grabbing an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes behind standout guard Ta’Kiesse Barnes.

Lower trailed by as many as nine points in the first quarter, as shots caromed off the rim and backboard, but steadily found its offensive rhythm. Back-to-back three-pointers from Jose Ramos and Cole Sederland capped a 10-0 run that gave them their first lead at 22-20 with three minutes, 23 seconds left in the first half.

The Capers took control in the third quarter. Fernandez scored 11 of his team-high 20 points in the period to help Lower to a 15-4 edge in the period. Lower capped the period with one of its best possessions of the season, taking a minute off the clock before Fernandez sank a three-pointer at the buzzer of the period off a feed from Ty Bonner.

“In the locker room at halftime, Ty, Ryan (Mallon) and I talked to the team,” Fernandez said. “It was time for us to really lock it in.”

Pleasantville’s Frank Reyes and Jamil Hadson swished back-to-back three-pointers to cut Lower’s lead to five points at 41-36 early in the fourth quarter.

Sederland and Mallon answered with three-pointers from Lower to restore an 11-point lead. Pleasantville closed the deficit to 55-52 with 17.9 seconds left in regulation, but Bonner hit a pair of free throws with 15.4 seconds remaining to essentially clinch the win.

Fernandez led Lower with 20 points, Sederland added 13 and Bonner scored eight points in the fourth quarter to finish with 12.

Hudson topped all scorers with 21 points and Reyes had 15 for the Greyhounds.

“There are times when our shooting isn’t always there,” Holden said. “But as long as we play defense and rebound, we can play with anybody.”