The victorious Camden players gathered near center court, raising the state championship trophy they had just won in triumph. The purple-and-gold fans in the first couple rows at Jersey Mike’s Arena hooted and cheered, waving pom poms and exchanging high fives, as the school’s ubiquitous chant rang out.
YOU WANT THE HIGH?
(stomp, stomp)
YOU GOT THE HIGH!
(stomp, stomp)
It was a typical scene after the most atypical state title run in recent memory. But a few rows up from the delirious Camden faithful, another group of spectators gave the winning team a long standing ovation. Even after the Camden players had turned to take their celebration into the locker room, these young men kept clapping — even smiling — with only the town name across some of their sweatshirts giving their identity away.
Manasquan.
Yes, that Manasquan.
The ugliest saga that New Jersey high school sports has endured in years ended with a simple gesture that gives you hope for the future — or, at the very least, a reason to smile. The players who had their championship dreams stolen by the inexplicable decision to reverse a correct call on a buzzer-beating basket in a state semifinal game were in the building to watch the team that advanced in their place win the trophy.
And when that team, Camden, defeated Newark Arts High, 69-50, in the Group 2 state final, Manasquan saluted them. The history books will show that the Warriors were losers in the 2024 tournament, but anyone who watched how they handled the controversial ending to their season know they are anything but.
“I’ve said it from the beginning: Those kids are victims, too,” Manasquan coach Andrew Bilodeau said as he stood in front of his seat. “There was a championship game today, and Camden won. We’re here to support them. I’m happy for those guys. They are the Group 2 champions.”
Manasquan didn’t make the trip to Piscataway only to cheer on Camden. In what turned out to be a cruel scheduling quirk, the Manasquan girls team was also playing for the Group 2 title in the game that immediately followed Camden-Arts. That meant hundreds of fans from the Jersey Shore town watched some or all of the game.
One of them was Ed “Ollie” Oliver, an 87-year-old Manasquan High graduate widely regarded as the biggest fan of Squan sports. He said the bitterness in town over the end to Tuesday night’s game had not gone away. Not even close.
“It’s disgusting,” Oliver said as Camden opened a double-digit lead. “Manasquan won the game, and the losers are here playing for the championship.”
The saga would have been bad enough that a deserving Manasquan team had its shot to play for a state championship stolen in the most painful way. This became more than that.
This became a courtroom battle, with Manasquan refusing to accept the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s decision to not reverse the call. This became fodder for conspiracy theorists, with viral clips of the game’s final seconds and aftermath scrutinized frame-by-frame, like the Zapruder Film.
The referee who so decisively — and correctly — called Manasquan junior Griffin Linstra’s putback shot good before huddling to talk it over with his partners had to be in cahoots with the Camden assistant coach who was pleading his case on the court, the conspiracy nuts insisted. And the presence of an NJSIAA official during the discussions? Well, they insisted, that just proved that the state association was in on the steal, too.
It was ugly, and Camden was sucked into the vortex. What began as a suggestion from well-meaning adults who were trying to fix this mess — that Camden should “do the right thing” and stand aside so Manasquan could advance — felt more like a demand at the end of the week. Somehow, the Camden players who did nothing wrong were painted as the bad guys.
“It was frustrating,” Camden coach Maalik Wayns said. “You start hearing about your character and your integrity, and it had nothing to do with us. It’s unfortunate for them and the city of Camden to get (cast) in a bad light like that.”
The Camden players didn’t let the noise distract them. They opened a 10-0 lead on Arts, which built to 22-7, then 48-23. One year after they were disqualified from the state tournament because of brawl in the Camden County Tournament, they cruised to their 13th state title.
From 10 rows above the court, Manasquan watched from the opening tip to the buzzer. At some points, the players looked more like they were in an 8 a.m. algebra class than at a basketball game. But when the game ended, they stood in front of their seats and gave the victorious team a long ovation that was a lesson in sportsmanship.
“I’ve been asked time and time again what’s the lesson you teach the kids from this, but we don’t have to teach them anything,” Bilodeau said. “They taught everybody else with their behavior. That’s what you take away from this.”
That could have been them raising that trophy. But four days after they had their biggest victory of the season stolen from them, the Manasquan players proved that they were champions all along.
MORE FROM STEVE POLITI:
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.