OCHS sweeps Absegami in basketball – schools closing again Friday

By TOM WILLIAMS

Both Ocean City High School basketball teams defeated Absegami last night and got home before Winter Storm Grayson began covering the land with white stuff.

The boys improved to 5-2 with five players in double figures in a 62-53 win over the Braves. And the girls made it seven straight without a loss in a 63-28 win in the Dixie Howell Gymnasium.

Ocean City High School was closed today and will be closed again tomorrow but the heavy storm will probably not impact the basketball schedule. However, tonight’s wrestling with Middle Township has been postponed and this weekend’s Hammonton Wrestling Duals and Hackney Girls Swimming Invitational might be impacted.

Absegami battled the Ocean City boys and actually took the lead late in the third quarter. But the Raiders ran off eight straight points in the fourth period – six of them by senior Issac Robertson – to take a 54-45 lead with 4:45 left. Ocean City almost opened the door for the Braves by missing seven of nine free throws in a three-minute stretch but Absegami could not take advantage.

Jake McQuarrie, Joe Sacco and Luke Varallo led OCHS with 11 points. Sacco added four steals and five assists, Varallo had four steals and four assists and McQuarrie made five assists. Junior Donovan Graham had the most impressive line – 10 points, 10 rebounds, six steals, two assists and four blocked shots. Robertson also scored 10 points. Tom Jamison returned after missing most of three games with a shoulder injury and scored nine points. Harry Pfeifle grabbed four rebounds in just over three minutes.

Jonte Jones led Absegami with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Braves had a 42-31 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 27 times.

The Ocean City girls jumped out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter and went into halftime leading, 37-15.

Sophomore Emma Finnegan led the way with 16 points, making five of 10 shots and six of eight free throws. Junior Danielle Donoghue scored 14 points on five-for-nine shooting and had five rebounds, five steals and five assists. Senior Kilie Wyers made four of six three-point attempts for 12 points and added three assists.

FREE THROWS: The OCHS girls, ranked No. 10 in the Online 25, play No. 20 Lenape Sunday at noon in The Seagull Classic at Holy Spirit. Baruffi’s Raiders go to Atlantic City on Monday …. the Raider boys host No. 21 Middle Township on Monday and Lower Cape May comes to town on Friday. Both games can be heard live on 98.7-The Coast and will be video streamed through OceanCitySports.com …. the Absegami boys are now coached by Ken Johnson, who won 141 games in 11 seasons at Pleasantville …. box scores, schedule, results, stats and more are available at http://www.oceancitysports.com/OCDiary.html.

OCHS Boys Scoring
40 Luke Varallo       11.4
3 Issac Robertson     11.1
12 Donovan Graham     10.7
33 Jacob McQuarrie    10.6
13 Tom Jamison        10.0
11 Joey Sacco          8.4

OCHS Girls Scoring
1 Danielle Donoghue  13.1
43 Emma Finnegan      10.3
3 Kilie Wyers          8.7
15 Mickey Baker        6.1
10 Tori Rolls          5.6
35 Abbey Fenton        2.6