VIDEO: Middle cleans up its own misses to pull away from OCHS in Hall’s Carpet Care Game of the Week

Posted: January 24th 2024

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The Middle Township High School boys basketball team’s best offense in the second half of Wednesday evening’s game against Ocean City was the missed shot.

The Panthers scored 12 points off offensive rebounds in the third quarter alone to help turn a three-point halftime lead into an eventual 14-point advantage before settling for a 71-63 victory over Ocean City in a battle of the Cape-Atlantic American Conference’s top two teams.

“That was huge,” Middle coach LaMarr Greer said of his team’s offensive rebounding prowess. “We stressed at halftime that we needed every rebound on both sides of the floor.”

Re’Ale Basquin was at the heart of Middle’s effort on the offensive glass in the third period. The senior forward scored all three of his baskets in the period on putbacks. He finished the game with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

“He’s starting to embrace his role,” Greer said of Basquin. “The fancy thing to do is score, score, score, but we’re asking him to rebound, rebound, rebound. We’re demanding that of him and he’s starting to embrace it.”

Thanks in large part to a big first half by Kori Segich, the CAL’s leading scorer, Ocean City led by as many as four points in the second quarter. Segich scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the opening half.

But Middle finished the half on an 11-4 spurt to take a three-point lead at the half, the run helped along by two three-pointers by Amir Elston.

The Panthers then opened the second half on a 14-6 run. The combination of putbacks in the paint, two three-pointers by Anthony Trombetta and another by Bubba McNeil led to Middle scoring 21 points in the period.

Middle eventually opened a lead as high as 14 points in the fourth quarter, until turnovers on three consecutive possessions led to a layup by Pat Grimley and two more layups by Segich brought Ocean City to within eight points. But Middle went 6 for 7 from the line over the final two minutes to hold off the Raiders.

“With the way the schedule is, you just don’t have time to practice playing with a lead as much as you’d like,” Greer said, “so it was great for us to be able to have to do that tonight against a really good team. I’d hope if we get in that situation down the road that we handle it a little better. The schedule being the way it is, sometimes you have to practice things in game to get the wrinkles out.”

Jamir McNeil led Middle in scoring with 19 points. In addition to Basquin, Bubba McNeil was also in double figures with 13 points.

Dylan Schaltter (15 points) and Pat Grimley (13 points) were also each in double figures for Ocean City.

The victory moved Middle (16-2 overall, 9-0 CAL American) to the brink of the CAL American title. One more conference victory by the Panthers or a loss by Ocean City (14-2, 7-2) will give Middle the regular-season title.

Both of the Raiders’ losses this season have come to Middle Township.

“It would mean a lot because I think our conference is one of the best in South Jersey,” Greer said. “It would be the first step of all the goals we want to achieve. Ocean City is a great team. To beat them twice, I mean, we’re the only team that’s beaten them, so that means a lot to us. They’re really, really good.”