High school basketball: No. 7 Camden escapes with 57-55 win over Gill St. Bernard's behind 18 points from D.J. Wagner

A gritty back-and-forth showdown between two of the top teams from the Garden State went down to the wire Thursday night as No. 7 Camden (N.J.) took down Gill St. Bernard's (Gladstone, N.J.) 57-55 behind a team-high 18 points from top-ranked junior D.J. Wagner.

Camden led 31-20 lead at the half before Gill St. Bernard's came storming back with a 20-4 run to open the third quarter.

The Knights took a 40-35 advantage after Georgetown pledge Denver Anglin knocked down a 3-pointer late in the third quarter to cap the 16-point swing.

Wagner quickly responded for the Panthers, igniting a 6-0 Camden run with back-to-back baskets followed by an Elijah Perkins dunk to give Camden a 41-40 lead.

Geancarlo Peguero, who sparked the Gill St. Bernard's run with 12 points in the third quarter, knocked down a corner 3-pointer to give the Knights a 43-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Camden (13-2) showed fight to get its first basket of the fourth quarter, scrapping for five offensive rebounds on the possession before Wagner knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Five-star junior MacKenzie Mgbako hit a mid-range shot from the corner to give Gill St. Bernard's a 45-44 lead. Camden responded with an 8-0 run that was sparked by a pair of clutch 3-pointers from Dasear Haskins to give Camden the 52-45 advantage late.

Gill St. Bernard's (11-4) refused to say die in the bruising battle, going on a 7-0 run after top-ranked sophomore Naasir Cunningham stole the inbound pass under the basket and went the length of the floor for a layup at the other end to make things 53-52 with 18 seconds remaining.

After a pair of made free-throws made things 55-52, Gill St. Bernard's executed a play to perfection out of the timeout to set up an open 3-pointer from the right corner for Mgbako, who missed the potential game-tying shot with five seconds remaining.

Anglin finished with a game-high 20 points in the loss.