By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – It wasn’t its best effort of the season, but the Middle Township High School boys basketball team will certainly take it.

Despite missing four straight foul shots in the final 40 seconds, the Panthers held on to beat Ocean City, 38-36, Thursday night to officially qualify for the inaugural six-team Cape-Atlantic League Tournament scheduled to begin next week.

The victory improved Middle to 13-6 overall and allowed the team to clinch second place in the CAL National Conference. The first- and second-place teams in each of the league’s three conferences qualify for the tournament.

The victory also moved the Panthers to 5-0 in games against Cape May County teams, with one more local rivalry game remaining – Monday’s contest at Lower Cape May.

“First things first, we always start with trying to win locally and we’re proud that we’ve beaten everybody locally so far,” Middle coach Tom Feraco said. “Second, we’re just happy to get in (the CAL Tournament). This wasn’t our best game, but we’ll take it. These games in our conference have all been so tough this year.”

Middle led for most of the game, taking a 12-5 lead after one period by scoring the final nine points of the first quarter. But the Panthers could never extend their lead to more than seven points.

Ocean City even took a brief one-point lead early in the fourth quarter when Matt Bosch, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, scored a basket in the lane while being fouled. But Middle scored the next four points to take the lead again for good.

Middle, which entered the game third-best in the CAL in free-throw shooting percentage, missed four straight free throws in the final stages of the game to keep the Raiders alive. The Raiders, however, missed the front ends of two one-and-ones in the final minute and also saw a shot in the lane by Andrew Kimball that would have tied the game with 13 seconds to play spin around the rim before falling out.

Ocean City had one last chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, but Chris Turner’s heavily contested three-point shot at the buzzer fell short.

Darrell Shelton finished with 17 points to lead all scorers and Tom Catanoso added nine for Middle.

Ocean City fell to 11-9 overall, 5-7 in conference games with the loss.