OCEAN CITY — Friday was only the first step for the Middle Township High School boys basketball team.

The Panthers clinched the Cape-Atlantic American Division title with a 65-36 win over Ocean City at Dixie Howell Gymnasium. Middle also made a strong case for being the top seed when the CAL Tournament starts Feb. 10.

But senior standout Jamir McNeil and coach LaMarr Greer still hope many more accomplishments are on the horizon.

McNeil scored a game-high 16 points, including two 3-pointers.

"It was good for us, but we have to stay on the course," McNeil said. "We have to get prepared for the CAL (tournament). Hopefully we go to states and get a (championship)."

Middle captured the South Jersey Group II title in the 2022-23 season but lost in the state semifinals. Last winter, the Panthers lost in the sectional final. The main goal for Middle is reaching the state final this season at Rutgers University.

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"I am proud of these seniors," Greer said. "They put a number on our wall every single year that they have been here. That's tremendous for them to do that. It's amazing. They are a winning group and they have to just keep pushing because our goal is to get to Rutgers."

Middle stormed out to a 20-7 lead early in the second quarter and led 32-17 at halftime.

Even more impressive was its shooting.

The Panthers made 12 3-pointers, including seven in the first half.

"That's what we try to emphasize," McNeil said. "We try to drive and kick open 3s. That's our game right there. That's how we started the game off, and it worked."

Greer said his team constantly works on 3s.

The Panthers' Mason Murawski scored 11, including three 3s. Adam Bouabbache scored nine points, all coming from 3-point range. Amir Elston scored 10, including three 3s.

McNeil and Murawski made back-to-back 3s to start the fourth quarter and give Middle a 54-30 lead.

"If our kids are playing at the college level, they have to be able to shoot the 3. And not just the 3, but the kind of 3 we want to shoot," Greer said. "Clean looks. Catch and shoot. We don't want contested 3s. We put an emphasis on good, clean-look 3s."

Greer did not expect to have such a dominant win against Ocean City.

"This is an amazing program. (Ocean City coach John Bruno) is an amazing coach," Greer said. "He is one of the best coaches in the state of New Jersey. So to do this is rare. Like, this isn't real. We are happy to get out of here with a win."

But McNeil knew his team was capable of doing this type of damage.

"We have been working hard all week at practice preparing for this," the 18-year-old from Cape May Court House said.

Ben McGonigle scored 13 for Ocean City. Luke Tjoumakaris added 11, Chris Pontari three. Josh Lenko, Tighe Olek, Dean Lappin and Leon Brown each scored two.

Middle played strong defense, swarming the ball and forcing Ocean City to make turnovers.

"Our defense brings a lot of energy," McNeil added. "That leads to (wins). That's what we did (Friday). We showed it."

"We have a lot of respect for this program," Greer said. "Our kids came here knowing that if we don't play defense we were going to lose because of the tremendous respect we have for Coach Bruno and this program, so we came in focused."

Bruno, who recently got his 500th career win, told his players after the game "to move on to Monday."

"That was our theme," Bruno said. "Games like this happen. They played well. They shot the ball well. We did not shoot the ball well. They were the much better team (Friday), and there is nothing we didn't do that we should have done that would've changed the outcome.

"This is one of those games you just put behind you."

Bruno said his players are good with "not getting too high with a big win or too low when we have that bad loss."

"They are a good team," Bruno said of Middle. "We just wish we would have played a little bit better. But there is nothing we can do about it. We had a great season up to this point, so we just have to move onto the next game."

Ocean City's next game is at rival Mainland Regional on Monday.

"It's a rival game. It should be easy to get ready for them," Bruno said.

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