Cape basketball fights hard, but falls in quarterfinals to Warriors
At 13-7 for the regular season, some basketball aficionados probably would’ve bet against Cape making it far into the state tournament, let alone defeating Wilmington Friends and No. 3 Seaford, but the young Vikings surprised the state by reaching the quarterfinals before falling 54-44 March 1 to a senior-laden Sanford in an epic battle of defense.
The Vikings came out strong, putting up a long three by point guard Stephen Sivels and four points by Damian Robinson before the Warriors got on the scoreboard. Sanford clawed back, with the first quarter ending at 14-14.
The Warriors took control in the second quarter, outscoring Cape 10-3 to garner a seven-point halftime advantage. Cape came to within five points in the third stanza, then brought the game within two in the fourth quarter before the Warriors hit their shots when the Vikings had to foul to gain possession.
Robinson and Sivels each scored 13 points and snagged four and two rebounds, respectively. Robinson blocked two shot attempts. Sophomore Jameson Tingle added 10 points, five assists and a steal for the 14th-seeded Vikings.
“I would say we were very prepared for this game,” said Robinson. “They played really physical. They may be a little stronger and a little faster than us, but we tried our hardest. I’m very proud of everyone.”
“Not a lot to say,” said Tingle. “We were fully in the game. I just felt as though the things we couldn’t control affected the outcome of the games a lot more than our play. It’s unfortunate that our season is over, but we’re getting back in the gym and working for next year.”
Sophomore Oz Batson delivered five points, two rebounds and a steal.
“I feel defensively we played great,” said Batson. “In my opinion, even though we lost, we did it the right way. We played hard and we matched them defensively, but not on our offense. We could have been a little more physical. We need to clean up a lot on offense and maybe next year we’ll go further. I’m happy for our season. A lot of people didn’t think we could do it, but we’re here.”
Sophomore Geordan Downing tallied three points, three rebounds and two blocks, while Braxton Figgs and Quardell Richards came off the bench to add quality defensive minutes.
“They were very physical with us,” said Cape coach Steve Re. “We turned it over [18 times in the game] because of their physicality, like their hand checking. Our key to the game was, can we compete with them on the boards? Can we rebound? Defensively, we were outstanding. We took them out of their sets and rotated like crazy. Offensively, we just couldn’t handle their physicality. But we had four sophomores on the court. We were young. We got here, and we played above our seed. It was a learning year for us.”
The Vikings end their 2025 campaign at 15-7 overall.
Sixth-seeded Sanford moves on to the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center to play No. 2 St. Elizabeth Friday, March 7.
