By Lesley Graham
Ocean City outlasted Toms River East, 46-41, Saturday in a tough South Jersey Group 3 girls’ basketball semifinal playoff game that pitted the No. 2 seed against No. 3.
The Red Raiders’ win sets up a showdown Monday against archrival Mainland in the South Jersey final.
The starting five for Ocean City consisted of Danielle Donoghue, Abbey Fenton, Tori Rolls, Lauren Mirsky and Emma Finnegan.
Tom River East’s Kamryn Lister led all scorers with 14 points, while both Finnegan and Fenton had 13 for Ocean City.
The game did not disappoint fans, with high-paced action and momentum swings from start to finish. Ocean City came in as the No. 2 seed, while Toms River East was ranked No. 3.
Ocean City Head Coach Paul Baruffi, who recorded his 400th career win with the playoff victory, talked about how the momentum played a role in the big match-up.
“Basketball is a game of spurts,” Baruffi said. “We had it early, they came on, we got it back, they came on.”
With the final quarter of play underway, Ocean City found itself in the hot seat and its lead dwindling.
With the clock reading 1:35 to play, the Red Raiders were battling to keep the lead they had held all game, after a made bucket and one called foul for Toms River East.
The back-and-forth flow kept the game close, with East only down by two. Fortunately for Ocean City, with only 30 seconds to play, East was called for a travel violation and the Red Raiders were awarded the ball.
Lauren Mirsky was fouled in transition and hit both of her foul shots, padding the Red Raiders’ lead to five with 5.5 seconds to play.
Ocean City ran out the final seconds of the game to secure the victory and a chance to face rival Mainland in the Group 3 final on Monday.
When asked about the storied rivalry with Mainland, Baruffi said, “We just have to go play. We will play our game, play hard and work hard.”
The Red Raiders will face top seed Mainland on Monday night at Mainland. Game time is 5 p.m.
Ocean City will look to carry momentum from the win over Toms River East into the South Jersey championship playoff game against Mainland.
The Red Raiders came out hot to start the game, getting two big three-pointers from Fenton in the first eight minutes of play. East looked uneasy against Ocean City’s defense and was unable to find quality looks at the basket. Ocean City led 19-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started slow, with both teams scoreless for the first two minutes of play until Toms River East scored on a foul shot.
Ocean City struggled to find a rhythm in the second quarter with less offensive output, more turnovers and more fouls. Toms River East was able to close the gap, trailing by 26-19 heading to the locker room at halftime.
Toms River East found momentum in the second half, cutting the Ocean City lead to 4. East went on an offensive run, scoring 10 points in 5 minutes.
Even though the Red Raiders were able to convert on the offensive side of the ball, they forced passes and lacked crispness in their ball movement, which kept Toms River East’s hopes alive. At the end of the third quarter, Ocean City held a 35-31 advantage.
