February 1, 2012
Hoops galore in February
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
It’s February again and area basketball fans are smiling. Even bigger than usual.
Great basketball events start this weekend. The Battle By The Bay is scheduled for Friday, Saturday
and Sunday at ACHS. It is one of the state’s premier boys basketball events, which also includes
girls games, for some strange reason.
On Friday night, Atlantic City’s girls will face Cedar Creek and the Atlantic City boys meet Plymouth
Whitemarsh in a doubleheader starting at 6:30.
A tripleheader begins on Saturday at 11am with the Ocean City girls against Point Pleasant Boro,
Holy Spirit boys meeting Piscataway Tech and Plainfield against Henry Wise MD. The evening
doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 5, matches Linden against Boys & Girls NY and St. Patrick
against St. Joseph-Metuchen, two top 10 South Jersey teams.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Boys & Girls returns to face Philly’s Math Civics & Science at noon and the
event wraps up with Atlantic City taking on Pleasantville, with the highly popular cheerleader throw-down
at halftime.
A week later (Feb. 11-12) the girls will play in the Future Stars at Mainland and the boys will play in the
Olympic-Cape Challenge at St. Augustine Prep.
The first high school girls game on Feb. 11 (11:30am) will match Mainland against Lower Cape May.
Next, Atlantic City will meet No. 13 Willingboro. No. 12 Ocean City plays Camden Catholic at 3, followed
by No. 10 Middle Township against No. 18 Holy Spirit. The final two games on Saturday are
Absegami-Williamstown and Cherry Hill East-Central.
The Mainland action starts Sunday morning at 10:15. The first game pairs Vineland and Point Pleasant
Boro, followed by No. 7 ranked Seneca against Piscataway. At 1:45, No. 8 Sacred Heart plays No. 11
Washington Township, followed by Cedar Creek-Clearview and St. Joseph-Cherokee.
The Olympic-Cape Challenge at St. Augustine Prep, features 13 boys games. On Saturday, Mainland
starts it off against Seneca at 11:30 a.m., followed by Vineland-Winslow. Starting at 2:45, Ocean City
meets No. 17 Cherry Hill East, No. 20 Wildwood Catholic faces Camden Catholic and No. 10 St. Augustine
battles No. 6 Eastern.
On Sunday morning in the Rodio Gym, Sacred Heart plays Pennsauken at 11:30, followed by St. Joseph-Cherokee,
Middle Township-Camden, Holy Spirit-Woodrow Wilson and Atlantic City-Paul VI.
In the Spina Gym at St. Augustine on Feb. 12 starting at noon, Egg Harbor Township plays Timber Creek,
Bridgeton takes on Cherry Hill West and Oakcrest plays Triton.
The next weekend is President’s Weekend (Feb. 18-20) and the 17th annual Hoop Mountain Shootout at
Holy Spirit has another strong lineup with 14 games in three days.
Saturday begins with Egg Harbor Township-Oakcrest at noon, followed by Mainland-Our Lady of Mercy and
Atlantic City against Mary Louis (NY) Academy. The final two games at 5:15 are Ocean City-Trenton Central
and Holy Spirit-Winslow.
On Sunday, Central meets Moorestown at 1pm, followed by Middle Township-Neptune, Sacred Heart-Christ The King NY
and St. Joseph-Lenape.
On Monday, the always strong President’s Day lineup includes Vineland against Atlantic Christian;
Trenton Central vs South Shore NY; Shabazz, the state’s top team, against Rancocas Valley, Ocean City
against Curtis (NY) High School and wraps up with Holy Spirit against Willingboro.
In addition, the day before the Hoop Mountain Shootout begins, eight of the 12 qualifiers will begin playing
in the brand new Cape-Atlantic League playoffs. The boys semifinals will be Feb. 21 at Hammonton and the
girls semis on Feb. 22 at St. Augustine. The CAL championship doubleheader will be on Feb. 25 at Richard
Stockton College.
All this basketball in one month, just a few minutes from where you live. And, if wrestling is your bag, the NJSIAA
Team Tournament is about to start, the District 32 Tournament will be at Absegami, the Region 8 Tournament at EHT,
followed by the NJSIAA state tournament in Atlantic City.
The state basketball tournament begins on Feb. 27 and there will be many local teams playing. But, until
then, there is some great basketball. Fans from around South Jersey and the rest of the state will have to
travel to these events. But they are right in your backyard.
Because it is February and Atlantic County is the center of the high school basketball world!
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