VIDEO: Cunniff sparks Wildwood to comeback win in OT

Posted: January 16th 2025

WILDWOOD – It took an extra four minutes, but a team in desperate need of a victory got one Thursday evening.

The Wildwood High School boys basketball team rallied from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Gloucester Catholic, 64-59, in overtime.

Brian Cunniff’s 15-foot jump shot with 2 minutes, 52 seconds to go in the extra period gave Wildwood the lead for good. Cunniff scored 13 of his team-high 28 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. The senior guard went 5 for 7 from the foul line in overtime.

Wildwood held a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds of overtime, only to see Gloucester Catholic’s Carlos Mendez knock down a long three-pointer to cut the Rams’ deficit to three at 62-59. But R.J. Blanda and Cunniff each made 1 of 2 free throws in the final 23 seconds to put the game away.

Cunniff also added nine rebounds for Wildwood (4-7).

Jordan Dozier added 12 points and Nolan Mawhinney chipped in 10 points for the Warriors. All of Mawhinney's points came after the start of the fourth quarter, as he was saddled with foul trouble for much of the game.

Jack Mustaro, Gloucester Catholic’s all-time leading scorer, led the Rams (5-8) with 32 points. 

“We absolutely needed this,” Wildwood coach Scott McCracken said. “We needed it for the players and the coaches and everyone around our team.”

Wildwood trailed 46-38 early in the fourth quarter and still faced a six-point deficit at 51-45 with 1:30 to go in the fourth quarter. But Mawhinney knocked down a three-pointer and Cunniff’s steal of the ensuing in-bounds pass led to a layup by Gianni Troiano. Mawhinney then made 2 of 4 free throws in the final 35 seconds to force a 52-52 tie. Mustaro missed a contested three-pointer with four seconds to go, sending the game to overtime.

“We defended a little bit, we got some rebounds and we did a nice job on offense late in the fourth quarter,” McCracken said. “Us just getting it to overtime after being down was nice, and the kids did a really good job in overtime.”