By BRIAN CUNNIFF
WILDWOOD — The fans of the Wildwood High School basketball teams — and there were plenty of them in the Warrior gymnasium Monday evening — certainly enjoyed the first round of the state playoffs.
Both Warrior teams opened play in their respective South Jersey Group I tournaments and picked up double-digit victories in front of their home fans, who created a sellout in the Wildwood gym.
The girls team frolicked to a 53-18 victory over shorthanded Gateway, before the boys team used a late run to pull away from Cape May Tech, 76-61.
In the girls game, second-seeded Wildwood used an incredible first quarter to take control immediately against No. 15 Gateway. The Lady Warriors made 12 of 17 shots in the opening frame and raced out to a 30-3 lead against a Gateway team that was missing its leading scorer due to illness.
The score was 38-3 at the half, with Gateway generating only 11 first-half field goal attempts.
Jenna Hans scored 14 of her 17 points in the first half and Imene Fathi added 14 points for Wildwood (22-5), which will host No. 10 Pitman on Wednesday at 5:30 in a game that can be heard live on 98.7 The Coast radio. Pitman was a 48-38 winner over Pennsville in its opening-round game.
Sixth-seeded Wildwood held leads between six and 10 points for most of the boys game until No. 11 Cape May Tech rallied to get to within two at 60-58 midway through the fourth quarter. But sophomore Ernie Troiano IV knocked down a right-baseline three-point shot and the Warriors converted two Cape May Tech turnovers and a technical foul into six straight free throws. All told, the Warriors (19-8) finished the game on a 16-3 run.
Diante Miles netted a game-high 29 points to go along with nine steals and Seamus Fynes tallied 18 points for Wildwood. Miles and Fynes combined to shoot 11 for 12 from the line in the final quarter.
Wildwood moves on to face third-seeded Woodstown on the road on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in a game that can be heard live on 106.3 The Shore radio. Woostown won its opening-round game over Maple Shade, 83-44.
Dylan Delvecchio scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half and also had a game-high 11 rebounds and James Longstreet added 12 points for Cape May Tech (9-17), which was charged with 32 turnovers.