by The Cherry Hill East Cougars went up against the BCIT-Westampton Panthers at the 9th annual Jimmy V Classic in Marlton, New Jersey. The Cougars would end up squeezing out the 5 point win but the Panthers would not go down easy and made it a competitive match up until the very end. Cherry Hill East was led by Senior guard Deon Sanders who knocked down 4 three-pointers and ended the game with 16 points. BCIT guard Lonnie Mills put up 11 points in a solid effort for his team.
Mills put up 6 of his 11 points in the first quarter including an insane 4-point play. However, the Cougars came out from the opening tip playing disruptive defense and did not allow any easy shots for the Panthers. They did a great job preventing penetration and trapping when the ball was thrown down low. Senior guard Alex Levine was a big part of this and seemed to be everywhere defensively. He would also hit a jump shot right before time expired to cut BCIT’s lead to 1 at the conclusion of the first quarter. They carried this momentum into the second quarter as Jake Green would come in and hit a 3 pointer to get the period started. BCIT’s Jayson Carr hit a layup on the other end before Alex Levine came back down and hit another 3 for East, forcing the Panthers to call a timeout. The Cougars would continue to dominate the second quarter with their stingy defense and crisp ball movement. Jalen Holmes began to assert himself late in the quarter with two easy buckets in the paint. Deon Sanders’ second three pointer of the game would cap off a Cougars 8-2 run to end the half with a 32-20 lead.
Both teams would come out in the second half with high energy making the third quarter a competitive one. BCIT’s Edrese Williams and Khamani Wade both stepped up to put points on the board for the Panthers. Williams started to get hot from deep and the Panthers began to creep back into the game. The Cougars would not hand their lead over easily though. Jake Green hit another three pointer in the third and Sanders got out in transition twice for easy buckets to keep BCIT at an arm’s length. Entering the fourth quarter with a 43-35 lead, East looked to close the game out but it would not come easy. Both squads struggled to hit shots but BCIT big man Tahiij Hunter was huge down the stretch. After a putback and an assist to teammate Justin Murray, Hunter hit a baby hook to cut East’s lead to 3 with just under two minutes left. Deon Sanders then came down to hit his fourth three pointer of the game in the clutch to put the lead back to 6 as time continued to expire. BCIT’s Khamani Wade came back and hit a huge three of his own with 25 seconds remaining. Time was on the Cougars side at this point as the Panthers were then forced to play the foul game to preserve the clock. BCIT would get another 2 points in the midst of this but the game was eventually put away at the line by Jalen Holmes as East would take home the 54-49 win.
Cherry Hill East starts off the season 2-0 and has their sights set on 3-0 as they take on Willingboro high school next week. BCIT will look to bounce back and get their first win of the season against Moorestown.
