By BRIAN CUNNIFF

Staff Writer

HAMMONTON – When the clock wound down under 10 seconds, it appeared the Middle Township High School boys basketball team would have trouble getting off a good shot.

But then Tom Catanoso got his hands on the ball, drove hard toward the right wing and knocked down a fall-away jump shot from 12 feet away to lift the Panthers to one of their biggest wins of the season.

Catanoso’s shot, which fell through the basket 1.8 seconds before the buzzer sounded, gave Middle a 50-49 win over St. Augustine Prep in a semifinal game in the inaugural Cape-Atlantic League Tournament Tuesday night.

The victory earns the Panthers a berth in the CAL title game on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Richard Stockton College against Atlantic City, which edged Holy Spirit, 35-32, in the other semifinal.

Catanoso finished with 17 points, getting 10 of them in the fourth quarter. Tom Feraco Jr. led all scorers with 21 points for the Panthers (16-9).

The Prep (20-4), which had taken a 49-48 lead with 25 seconds left on two foul shots by David Sullivan, got 15 points from Austin Johnson.