VIDEO: Trombetta’s shooting, McNeil’s dunk help Middle snap long loss streak to Prep in Hall’s Carpet Care Game of the Week

Posted: January 8th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The Middle Township High School boys basketball team produced a game to remember on Monday.

Torrid three-point shooting by Anthony Trombetta and a sensational late-game dunk by Jamir McNeil were the highlights as the Panthers snapped a long losing streak to one of their biggest rivals in downing St. Augustine Prep, 56-48.

Trombetta made all six of his three-point attempts in the second half and made 7 of 10 from that distance for the game in scoring a game-high 23 points.

He accounted for Middle’s first 12 points of the third quarter on four three-pointers, the last of which began a 19-6 run that allowed Middle to pull away from pesky a Prep side that had played the Panthers to a 37-37 stalemate through more than 2 ½ quarters.

Trombetta later hit two more three-pointers in the fourth quarter as Middle extended its lead to double digits. 

“I keep telling people – it’s habits,” Greer said. “He works hard every single day. He’ll come in tomorrow and shoot like he missed six in a row tonight. That’s what we preach here – watch your habits, both on and off the court.”

McNeil put the exclamation point on the victory with a one-handed dunk in traffic while being fouled with 1:30 to go to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game at 56-43.

Middle was whistled for a technical foul following the dunk when a handful of fans moved onto the court to celebrate.

“It’s one of the best dunks I’ve seen at this level, but we need to act like we’ve been there before,” Greer said. “We’ve been dunking here at Middle since about 1975. Can’t get a technical foul there.”

Greer paused, then added with a laugh, “I have to be the grumpy guy around here.”

The victory was Middle’s first in 13 games over St. Augustine. Its last victory in the rivalry came in February 2013 when the Panthers won in double overtime in a Cape-Atlantic League playoff tournament semifinal game.

“It means a lot to us,” Greer said. “We have the utmost respect for Coach (Paul) Rodio and that program. We expected this to be a normal Middle versus St. Augustine game. We thought it would be a war like that, nip and tuck the whole way, every possession, every rebound, every shot being important.”

That was the case for quite a while, until Trombetta’s shooting and McNeil’s thunderous dunk allowed Middle to pull away.

(Featured video courtesy MTHS Athletics)