Crusaders survive Haddonfield comeback to remain unbeaten

The Wildwood Catholic High School boys basketball team is now South Jersey’s last unbeaten club.

The Crusaders survived a torrid comeback by previously unbeaten Haddonfield to post a 40-37 victory Saturday afternoon at the Shoot Down Cancer Classic at St. Augustine Prep in a game featuring teams ranked among the top 10 in South Jersey by various media polls.

Jacob Hopping’s three-point basket with a little more than three minutes to play gave the Crusaders the lead for good after shorthanded Haddonfield rallied from a 13-point second-quarter deficit to take a brief lead in the final period.

Hopping’s three-pointer gave Wildwood Catholic a 36-35 lead. Caleb Fields later came up with a steal and a basket to up the Crusader advantage to three points, but Haddonfield’s Sam Heine made a difficult bank shot from the right of the lane to draw his team to within a point with 24 seconds to go.

Jake McGonigal then found Matt Capozzoli for a layup with six seconds to go for Wildwood Catholic and Haddonfield couldn’t covert on its final possession.

Wildwood Catholic moved to 11-0 with the victory. Haddonfield, which had four rotation players out due to injury, fell to 11-1.

Fields (12 points) and Taj Thweatt (10) each scored in double figures for Wildwood Catholic. Aiden Blake had 12 points for Haddonfield.

— Brian Cunniff