Boys' Courtside Review
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Four public school boys’ basketball champions have been crowned. Here is a look back at each of the four public school groups:
Group 1
No. 5 seeded Woodbury emerged as champion, but that wasn’t considered a wild upset. The Thundering Herd won their second sectional title in three seasons. (Woodbury not only won the SJ Group 1 title in 2022-23, but was the state champion that season).
What’s interesting is that the Thundering Herd barely got out of the first round, defeating No. 12 seeded Glassboro, 57-56.
From there, Woodbury had to win the final three games on the road, beating No. 4 Audubon, 62-55, No. 1 seeded (and defending champ) Pitman, 60-50 in the semifinal and then earning a 49-45 win over No. 1 Haddon Township in the final.
That improved Woodbury’s record to just 17-14, but the Thundering Herd got hot at the right time.
The win at Pitman was a stunner. Woodbury 6-1 sophomore Devin Williams scored 26 points.
Williams was on fire in the tournament. In four games, he averaged 23.5 points in the four playoff wins. He scored a game-high 16 points in the defensive struggle against Haddon Township.
Group 2
Camden is the defending state champion, and the No. 1 seeded Panthers cruised to this year’s sectional title. Camden won its four playoff games by an average of 37 points. The closest game was a 64-44 semifinal win over No. 4 seeded Cinnaminson,
Camden then finished matters with an 85-50 win over No. 2 seed Middle Township in the sectional final.
Senior Aiden Gazaway led Camden in the championship game with 23 points. The heart and soul of Camden is 6-4 senior Emmanuel Joe Samuel. The lone returning starter from last year, Joe-Samuel scored in double figures in all four playoff wins, averaging 15.2 games.
There was no bigger public school favorite in South Jersey than Camden and the Panthers certainly delivered.
Group 3
Ocean City joined Camden as a No. 1 seed that won the sectional title. The Red Raiders’ were able to survive two close middle games.
They beat No. 8 Seneca, 43-40 in the second round and followed that with a 51-48 semifinal win over fellow Cape Atlantic League foe Absegmi, the No. 4 seed.
Ocean City then beat No. 2 seed Timber Creek, 66-53 in the sectional final.
Junior forward Luke Tjoumakaris picked a good time to hit his season-high, with 24 points in the championship game. Sophomore forward Josh Lenko scored 20 points, his second highest scoring output this season.
This was the third straight year for Ocean City in the sectional final and this time the Red Raiders were able to prevail. What a year it’s been for Ocean City coach John Bruno, who earlier this season earned his 500th win and has now guided the Red Raiders to the South Jersey Group 3 title.
Group 4
This was the most competitive championship game with two conference foes very familiar with each other. In the final, No. 2 Lenape beat No. 1 Cherry Hill East, 48-47.
As the final indicated, both teams are known for their defense.
For Lenape, which won its second straight sectional title, very little came easy following an opening 60-46 win over No. 15 Bridgeton. After that Lenape beat Olympic Conference American Division rival and No. 10 seeded Cherokee, 33-30 in the quarterfinal and then earned a 65-60 semifinal win over No. 3 Central Regional.
Then came the win over Cherry Hill East in the third meeting between these two Olympic American teams. East won the American with a 7-1 record, while Lenape was second at 6-2. These two teams split during the regular season.
Senior Mehki Carter led the way in the final with 15 points for Lenape. Carter had a great South Jersey tournament, averaging 15.7 points for a Lenape team that averaged just 51.5 points, but allowed just 45.7 points in the four wins.
Photo / Courtesy of Ocean City Boys’ Basketball
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Author: Marc Narducci
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