The rivalry between the Cherry Hill East Cougars and Cherry Hill West Lions is known for its excitement, and the most recent matchup on December 30th, 2022 was no exception. The Cougars, with a record of (5-2), faced off against the Lions, who had a record of (2-4).

West started off the game strong as they led 19-15 after the first quarter. Quinn Gibson (‘25) got it going early as he had nine of his 17 points in the opening period. The second quarter was slower paced and less scoring took place as just 16 total points were scored in the quarter. Despite that, East cut the score to a tie at the half.

East came out of the half playing well. Ian Gross (‘23) and Chris Delgado (‘26) hit multiple threes in the quarter to propel the East lead to 6 entering the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter went back and forth with many lead changes. East trailed by three with just over one minute left as Brian Cotter (‘24) hit a long three to tie the game up at 51.

After each team got one defensive stop, the game headed to overtime. East pulled ahead in overtime as Jack Flannery (‘23) and Gross hit big shots and free throws to lead the team to a 59-56 win.
Gross finished the game with 25 points. Flannery finished with 15 points and Delgado had 14 of his own.

East looks to take this win and carry its momentum into their game at Williamstown on Tuesday.