Many people probably wouldn’t have banked on the Barnegat boys basketball team delivering a perfect record through the first few weeks of the season, and that set up the Bengals to be in a position they haven’t been in since two years ago.

“I’d rather us be the hunted rather than the hunter,” said head coach Mike Puorro, following a 56-42 loss to Shore Conference Class B South rival Point Pleasant Borough, the Bengals’ second of two losses last week. “When you win your first seven, you get a target put on your back. But as a team, you want that. You want that kind of pressure.