VIDEO: Rare five-point possession helps Ocean City overcome LCM

Posted: January 21st 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

OCEAN CITY – When Macky Bonner completed a traditional three-point play with 5 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in Saturday evening’s game, the Lower Cape May Regional High School boys basketball team held a four-point lead over Ocean City.

The Caper Tigers would never have the ball with the lead again.

A few seconds later, Ocean City’s Dylan Schlatter was fouled while making a three-point attempt. He missed the ensuing free throw, but the Raiders secured the offensive rebound and went on to get a layup from Kori Segich. The five-point possession kickstarted a 13-0 Ocean City run and the Raiders went on to post a 52-45 victory.

“That was such a key point in the game,” Lower coach Scott Holden said. “I felt like we went from up four to down in an instant.”

After Ben McGonigle increased Ocean City’s lead to 43-40 with a shot in the lane with four minutes to go, the Raiders later finished a possession that lasted more than 1 ½ minutes with a Segich layup to go ahead by five.

“The kids actually did that on their own,” Ocean City coach John Bruno said of the delay set. “That wasn’t my intention because I first wanted them to attack. But the kids did such a good job with it. You get in that situation, if you keep driving and kicking, you do that enough and eventually you’re going to get a layup and that’s what we did.”

Segich, the Cape-Atlantic League’s leading scorer, led all scorers with 24 points, getting 17 in the second half. Pat Grimley and Charlie LaBarre were also each in double figures with 10 points.

“We’re as good as we shoot the ball and the last couple of games we’ve been really effective in the mid range,” Bruno said. “When you play teams like Lower Cape May, they force you to play every possession. That’s what I like about playing these kinds of teams with physical kids who play really hard.”

Ocean City improved to 13-1 with the victory, its sixth straight. It’s the best start to a season in Bruno’s 35-year coaching career.

“Sometimes I still question how good we are,” Bruno said. “So far, we’ve been good enough on particular nights to beat the other team. Some nights I’m not sure if we’re better than the other team overall but we were on that night. The kids are really doing a good job so far.”

Bonner led Lower Cape May with 17 points. Auri Wright added 13.

The Caper Tigers (12-3) had a seven-game winning streak snapped with the defeat.

“It’s a shame we didn’t finish a little better,” Holden said. “I thought we had a chance to put more points on the board. And we also gave up a few too many offensive rebounds.

“It’s so hard once they get a lead late in the game because they have such nice players who can shoot fouls and handle the ball. It’s definitely hard to get it out of their hands. We needed a couple things to bounce our way and they didn’t.

“But this was a typical Lower-Ocean City game – a tight game all throughout.”