By TIM KELLY
Just in time for the biggest college basketball event of the year, Ocean City enjoyed its own “Marsh Madness.”
The girls’ eighth grade team and boys’ fifth and sixth graders walked away with championship hardware recently in the youth hoops tournament, humorously named for taking place at H. Ashton Marsh School in Absecon – and for drawing a large number of teams from all over South Jersey.
The travel teams of girls and boys, representing the Ocean City Department of Recreation, capped their stellar seasons with the titles.
The girls, whose roster included eight players from the Ocean City Intermediate School, went through their second straight perfect, undefeated season.
“They were disciplined, unselfish and played as a cohesive unit,” Head Coach Trish Henry said. “They didn’t care who scored because they were focused on winning. They worked hard in practice, and it showed in the games.”
“This team learned the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose,” Henry added. “They also displayed great sportsmanship.”
Not only did they win at Marsh, they took their league title, the South Shore Travel League and the Optimist Tourney, held earlier in the season.
“They are a special group,” said Antwan McClellan, an assistant coach who agreed with head coach Trish Henry. “They play well as a team, they know their roles and they are unselfish and smart. It’s a team sport and they play like a team.”
McClellan said the travel team was 16-0 this year and 7-0 last season. The school team was 13-0 this year and 10-0 last season.
McClellan, a former Ocean City Councilman, coaches basketball in addition to serving as a state Assemblyman representing the First Legislative District.
Not to be outdone, the Ocean City boys’ squad went 22-2 and won the Marsh title the hard way. Losing to Northfield early in the proceedings, they went into the losers’ bracket, forcing them to beat Northfield twice to claim the championship.
In the semi-final, which would have been the final had they lost, the Ocean City boys were victorious, forcing an additional seven-minute period, which they won, 11-1.
“They really came through in the clutch,” said Terry Clemens, one of their coaches. “They played fantastic defense. We went with a man-to-man the whole game and (Northfield) had no answer for it.”
