Junior Ty Bonner scores 1,000th point amid team-leading 25-point game (17 in first half)
ERMA — Ty Bonner was a man possessed Thursday evening. It was the final home game of the season, the first round of the South Jersey Group II playoffs and he was closing in on 1,000 points.
He didn’t disappoint.
Just like his Caper Tiger teammates, the Lower Cape May Regional High School junior wasn’t intimidated by the taller Barnegat High School team that towered over him. That’s been the standard all season for the LCMR boys, who rarely have matched up height-wise against opponents.
Bonner hit from the outside, the inside and from the free-throw line.
He pulled back and hit four treys in the first half, a basket and three free throws to accumulate 17 points, putting him close to the milestone. His second basket in the third quarter, on his second consecutive breakaway and layup, marked his 1,000th career point.
After a brief ceremony at half-court, he went four for four from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to cap a 25-point performance, only two shy of his season best, to lead the Caper Tigers over Barnegat 59-51.
“I felt great just from the start of the game. My shots were hitting and it just took off from there,” Bonner said.
Throughout the game Feb. 27, he made a point to feed his teammates — including a sweet behind-the-back pass under the basket — rather than ball-hog.
“I knew the 1,000 was going to come eventually, so I had to play my game and find my teammates when they were open. And that’s what I did,” he said.
Acknowledging the height differential against Barnegat, Bonner added, “We’re used to it, always being undersized the last three years. Offensive rebounds, boxing out have been our key focuses all year. And I think we did that tonight.”
“It’s something we tried to instill in them,” head coach Scott Holden said. “These past three years it always seems like we have a short team. We always talk about tip-outs, not trying to grab it coming down. Just keep the ball alive. By doing it in practice, they learn where to scramble to get the ball and things like that. But we have to get second and third shots for us to be successful. A lot of teams in high school, I don’t think they box out when they see us walk on the floor. It’s not a priority a lot of times.”
As for Bonner’s 1,000th point, Holden said it wasn’t the priority for his player.
“He was all about the win first. To get to 17 points in the first half, that was nice, so he wouldn’t have to worry about it, to get it over with, to get the game on.”
In spite of the height disadvantage, the Caper Tigers out-rebounded Barnegat 32-21 with Mason Cronin leading all players with 13 boards. His teammates got in on the action as well; John Fernandez had six, Ryan Mallon five, Brayden Melo four, and Bonner and Cole Sederland two each.
Barnegat (16-10), the No. 9 seed in the tournament, jumped out to a small lead to open the game, but heads-up play by Cronin stealing the ball was part of LCMR’s push to regain the lead and hold onto it. The home team finished the first quarter up 16-15.
A flash of the height differential came in the second quarter when a Caper Tiger shot was brutally swatted away leading directly to a dunk on the other end, but LCMR negated that advantage and Barnegat’s double-teaming defensive pressure with adept passing.
The teams traded leads in the quarter, with Barnegat getting out to its biggest margin of the evening, 28-23, with 2:30 remaining, but the Caper Tigers stormed back with eight unanswered points to end the half with the lead at 31-28.
In the third quarter, Bonner’s efforts saw him push the lead to 35-28, with his second basket of the half earning him the 1,000th point.
LCMR was abled to pull away to a 40-30 advantage, courtesy of a trey by Melo and a basket by Fernandez, but Barnegat came back with a string of baskets to tie the game at 40-40. Fernandez hit a three of his own and Barnegat converted another basket to make it 43-42 heading into the final quarter.
The visitors took a 46-45 lead with 5 minutes to go and the teams traded baskets to see the game tied at 49-49 with 3 minutes left.
Mallon hit a key three-pointer and when Barnegat charged down the court to respond, Cronin was able to draw a big offensive foul to give possession back to the Caper Tigers.
Up 52-49, Bonner pulled down an offensive rebound and fed it to Cronin, who raced down the court for the layup. He was fouled and converted for a 55-49 lead.
History repeated itself as Barnegat ran the court for a shot and Cronin again drew an offensive foul.
“That’s my favorite part of basketball right there,” Cronin said of drawing offensive fouls. “It doesn’t get much better than that. It brings the hype.
“We’re just aggressive,” he added. “I’m the biggest dude at 6’3”. We get after it and everybody does what they’re supposed to.”
With about a minute to go and a 55-51 lead, it was Sederland’s turn to be fouled. He connected from the free-throw line to push the lead to six, 57-51.
Bonner took the next foul and converted for the 59-51 lead with 35 seconds left. After being unable to connect on its next possession, Barnegat stopped trying with 13 seconds left.
Fernandez finished with 11 points, Cronin had nine, Sederland six, Mallon five and Melo three.
The Tigers, with a 15-11 record and the eighth seed in the tournament, moved on to play No. 1 seed Camden on Monday evening after the Star and Wave sports section went to press.
“It was great,” Cronin said of the win. “We have a road trip Monday.”
“Obviously they’re massive favorites to win Group II,” Holden said of Camden High School’s boys team. “We just want to go and see what we can do. We always try to say we practice for the really good teams. Now they’re going to have the chance to play one of the best teams in South Jersey.”
Girls knocked out of tournament
HADDONFIELD — The Lower Cape May Regional girls basketball team bowed out of the South Jersey Group II sectional Feb. 17, falling 54-34 to Haddonfield in the opening round.
Haddonfield (18-11) is the No. 5 seed in the tournament. LCMR (8-19) is No. 12.
Ainsley Reed and Savannah Wareham did the bulk of the scoring for the Caper Tigers. Reed finished with 15 points and Wareham had 12. Brooke Robinson scored five and Alex Vogt two in the loss.
The girls fell into a deep deficit early, down 16-5 in the first quarter and 30-7 at the half. They picked up the pace in the second half, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters, but it wasn’t enough.
Vogt finished the season as the leader in scoring with 240 points, followed by Robinson with 203. Meredith Lutjen had 137, Wareham 125 and Reed 148 for the Caper Tigers.
Leks Domanowski contributed 55 points.
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
