Camden boys explode for 17 straight points to blow out Pleasantville in South Group 2 semifinal

It was a statement that began with an exclamation point.

Lance Ware’s dunk off a nifty feed from Nasir Lett late in the first quarter started a run of 17 straight points for the Camden basketball team.

By the time the Panthers were finished raining three-pointers, blocking shots, and converting layups, they had outscored Pleasantville 27-2 and seized irrefutable command of Friday night’s South Jersey Group 2 semifinal.

“Energy,” Ware said of the key to Camden’s 77-54 victory before a large and loud crowd at Woodrow Wilson.

Ware, a 6-foot-9 senior, generated 15 points with 12 rebounds and three steals, and 6-6 sophomore Jerome Brewer added 20 points for second-seeded Camden (17-9).

Lett, a 5-foot-10 junior guard, made a trio of three-pointers and finished with 12 points as Camden advanced to face top-seeded Haddonfield in Monday night’s highly anticipated South Jersey Group 2 final at Cherry Hill East.

Haddonfield (28-1) advanced with a 51-30 win over West Deptford in another semifinal on Friday.

“People have been asking me all year, ‘When you guys play Haddonfield?’ ” Camden coach Vic Carstarphen said. “I would tell them, ‘That game’s not on the schedule.’ ”

Camden and Haddonfield have met deep in the South Jersey Group 2 tournament in each of the previous two seasons, with both games going to overtime, and both decided on last-second shots.

Camden beat Haddonfield on John Evans’ floater in the last game in Clarence Turner Gymnasium in the sectional finals in 2017, and Haddonfield beat Camden on Mike DePersia’s put-back in the sectional semifinals at Cherry Hill West in 2018.

“I wasn’t here last year, but I know how much it hurt these guys to lose last year,” Brewer said of the game that ended Camden’s run of six consecutive sectional championships.

Senior guard Sahmir Jones made seven three-pointers and scored 31 points in his final game for Pleasantville (20-9).

Camden overwhelmed Pleasantville with a 10-minute stretch that might have been the Panthers’ best extended period of basketball this season.

“Just the way we were locked in at the defensive end, the way we were locked in in making the extra pass,” Carstarphen said.

Camden usually is a team that likes to work the basket inside to big men such as Ware and 6-foot-6 sophomore TaQuan Woodley.

But the Panthers’ outside shooting was key to the lopsided victory in William Smothers’ Gymnasium, the East Camden facility that has become the team from Parkside’s home away from home during the wait for the construction of a new Camden High School.

Camden made a season-high nine three-pointers, including eight in a first half that ended with the Panthers on top, 48-22.

“Our little guys can shoot, but they’ve been hesitant,” Carstaphen said. “I told them, ‘Shoot the ball.’ We’ve got big guys who can get offensive rebounds.”

Brewer made a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter, and Lett bounced off the bench and made a pair as well.

In the second quarter, Lett, senior guard El Khana Hidalgo and sophomore guard Devin Benson each connected from behind the arc in the midst of that 27-2 run that turned a 16-13 lead into a 43-15 advantage.

“When we play together as a team, we win,” Brewer said. “That’s what we need to do. We need to play together.”

On the first night of March, Carstarphen said he saw signs that his team is coming together in the state tournament after a wildly inconsistent regular season.

“I saw it in the loss to Camden Catholic,” Carstarphen said of a 57-54 setback on Feb. 21. “Guys were playing for each other.

“We’ve gotten away from the me, me, me thing. It’s got to be a we, we, we thing.”

Pleasantville 13 9 17 15 – 54

Camden 21 27 18 11 – 77

P: Sam Growalt 2, Elijah Jones 2, Jalen Freeman 6, Sahmir Jones 31, Jacob Valeus 13.

C: Ethan Tarte 13, Lance Ware 15, TaQuan Woodley 4, Jerome Brewer 20, ElKhana Hidalgo 10, Nasir Lett 12, Devin Benson 3.