Delmarva Christian devours the Jaguars in ESIAC semis
The Delmarva Christian boys’ basketball team seemed to do no wrong Feb. 14, as the Royals used a big first quarter to score the first 22 points of the game and run to a 69-19 running-clock victory over visiting Salisbury Christian in the ESIAC tournament semifinals.
The Royals took a 44-16 halftime lead, then continued to surge in the second half for the 50-point win.
DJ and Darrius Liles led the Royals with 15 points each, with DJ grabbing a team-leading six rebounds and Darrius dishing off six assists. Landon Jackson put in 11 points. Senior Kasey Bell had nine assists. Malachi Light tallied eight points and five steals. Andrew Collins was a force in the paint with five points and four rebounds.
Seth Mifflin, Noah Barbrow, Calab Holloway, Jay Parrish, Christian Worley, Joshua LoRusso each played tough and contributed off the bench.
“We just wanted to come out, play hard, work well as a team and not make mistakes,” said Worley. “We knew we were the better team. We just had to come out and play like it. We played more aggressive on defense right from the jump.”
“You just have to sell out when you’re in there,” said Collins. “I had to play hard in the paint because when you’re in there, you have to hustle, hustle, hustle.”
“We have to keep this going in the finals,” said Royals head coach Marc Hannah. “Our focus has been defense. If we want to win a championship, we need to play eight quarters of great defense. They gave me four quarters tonight, and they have to give me four quarters on Monday. It’s all about us and how we choose to play. We are very gifted offensively. Our philosophy is to pass up the good shot for a great shot.”
The Royals will face Worcester Prep for the ESIAC title at 5:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 17. They defeated the Mallards Feb. 10 56-34.
