By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On Instagram @sjglorydays
ATLANTIC CITY — Conventional wisdom, especially in high school basketball, says to sit on a lead in the final three minutes or so, milk the clock, make the other team have to foul you and put you on the free-throw line, and ice the game from there.
Wayne Nelson and his Atlantic City High boys basketball team don’t give a rip about playing conventionally. They play to win, whatever it takes — and usually that means a philosophy of all gas, no brakes.
And why pump the brakes when you have a kid like Don’Taye Thompson, and he’s hot as a fire in July?
Thompson, a sophomore, put together easily the best game of his young career on Tuesday night as he exploded for 50 points to lead Atlantic City to a 78-72 win over top-seeded Middle Township in the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament semifinals. The victory puts the Vikings one win away from their first league championship in more than a decade. They’ll take on Ocean City on Saturday at noon at Egg Harbor Township High.
“If we try to slow it down, that doesn’t really suit us. We try to make smart decisions, but we’re going to keep our foot on the gas,” said Wayne Nelson, who took over for former all-time great Vikings coach Gene Allen a few years ago. “He was feeling it, so you just let him go. He was on fire. I’ve been saying it all year — the kid is special. In these moments, the will power to make something happen is almost second-to-none. I’ve never coached a player like that. He’s a kid who, if he gets hot, just let him go. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
Thompson had 25 points by halftime and was scoring in a whole host of ways — NBA-range 3-pointers, jumpers, dunks, drives to the basket. Still, Middle hung tough behind guys like Alex Daniel, Chase Moore and Mason Murawski, and the Panthers trailed just 39-28 at halftime.
But each time the Panthers (14-10, 11-1 Cape-Atlantic League American) hit a big shot, Thompson was there to answer. Middle got as close as 63-58 with a little less than four minutes left on a big three from Kanye Perkins, but less than a minute later Thompson answered with a three of his own to push Atlantic City’s lead to 66-59. Thompson nailed eight of his team’s nine 3-pointers. In all, he hit 18 field goals and went 6-of-8 from the line. Had he been perfect from the line he’d own the school’s all-time single game scoring record (51 points, set by Ray Bethea Jr. against ACIT in 2018.)
Thompson said his previous high in a game was 49 points, during his middle school days. His career high prior to Tuesday night was 38 points in a win over Wildwood Catholic earlier this year.
Thompson struggled with a cramp in his left calf muscle late in the fourth quarter but still managed to score nine points in the final three minute to help hold off Daniel and the Panthers. Daniel had a tremendous game, scoring 27 points and adding eight rebounds and two assists, and Murawski finished with 19 points for Middle.
But it was too much Atlantic City (17-9, 7-5 CAL American), and too much Thompson. Thompson added three rebounds, three assists and three steals, and senior point guard Tamir Rex had nine points, four assists and six steals. In all, the Vikings had seven players register either points or rebounds, making it a pretty impressive team win despite Thompson scoring nearly two-thirds of the points.
“This feels good. Coming in here and having to follow Gene’s footsteps — you know the precedent he set, so you want to be able to accomplish things like winning the CAL, or winning a South Jersey title,” Nelson said. “This game has been haunting us the last two years. The last two years we made it to the semifinal game and lost. This year, being that (the semis were at Atlantic City High), I don’t even want to say destiny, I call it the basketball gods made a way for the semifinals to be here. We felt like if we could get back home, we had a good shot to get to the championship game.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Atlantic City vs. Ocean City on Saturday at noon at EHT High for the CAL championship. Middle Township hosts Barnegat on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the opening round of the South Jersey Group 2 state playoffs.
