The Cherry Hill East Cougars varsity basketball team defeated the Lindenwold Lions by a final score of 67-53 as part of an invitational tournament on Wednesday afternoon. The Cougars’ win helps improve their record to 2-3, while the Lions dropped to an identical 2-3 record.

Carl Gibson (‘19) and Sam Serata (‘19) led the Cougars in scoring as they produced 20 and 22 points, respectively. Corey Avery (‘18) of Lindenwold led the Lions in scoring with an impressive 34 point outing.

East’s game plan in the first half was heavily centered around outside shooting, as a majority of their field goals came from jump shots and three-pointers. The Cougars opened both the first quarter and the second quarter with two early threes. A few minutes into the game, Dienye Peterside (‘18) made a great behind the back pass in the paint to increase their lead to 10-4 in what was one of the most impressive plays of the game. Towards the end of the first quarter, Serata hit another three to extend the lead to 15-9. East led at the end of the opening quarter, 17-12.

The Cougars opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run to blow the game open, including a three from Gibson a minute into the game. Other than a flagrant foul with 2:15 left in the first half, East dominated the second quarter, scoring 24 points and outscoring Lindenwold by ten points. They ended the half on a 7-0 run to take a 41-26 lead into the break.

Lindenwold ran a full court press defense throughout the game. While East was able to expose it in the first half quickly, the Lions tightened up after the break and were able to slow down the Cougars offense. However, they continued to struggle to score throughout the game, and could not close the gap after in the second half.

Both offenses were struggling in the third quarter, as they combined to score just 25 points. East also turned their attention to scoring more inside rather than outside coming out of the break, but to little avail. They led the Lions 54-38 at the end of the third quarter.

One player who had a productive second half was Cougar forward, Josh Hall (‘18), who had success both rebounding and inside scoring. He was a key reason why Lindenwold was unable to close the gap late in the game.

While Lindenwold became sturdier on defense in the second half, they were unable to dig themselves out of their initial hole, as they fell to the Cougars by a final score of 67-53

The Cougars return home on December 29 to continue their invitational tournament against the Highland Regional Tartans. Lindenwold will also continue their tournament at East on December 28 against an opponent that is to be determined.