Beach boys spread the love to advance to quarterfinals
No. 7 Cape put on quite the show for the home crowd in their 73-55 win over No.10 A.I. DuPont in the second-round of the 2026 DIAA boys basketball state tournament.
A rocking house helped fuel a big first quarter for the Vikings and they took a 17-9 lead after the first eight-minutes. An alley-oop pass from junior Oz Batson to Jameson Tingle, who posterized his defender, sent the student section into a frenzy.
“Our student body is amazing!” Braxton Figgs said. “I couldn't be more thankful for them showing up to stuff like this; it’s all my friends and I definitely feed off of that energy.”
Briggs led the Vikings with 18 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks as part of a stat-filling night that included three helpers and a steal. He was one of five players to reach double-figures in scoring.
“The first playoff game is different from a regular season game and the speed of the game goes up, the competitiveness goes up - everything about the game goes up about 10 to 5 attributes,”Batson said. “It's a great environment to be in because it's always next play. You can think the energy goes high, goes low, but it's always the next play.”
Holding steady proved to be key for Cape as A.I. DuPont stormed back to make it 29-28 at the break. The rust may have been due to the week-long delay caused by winter weather.
“We just had to get that out of our system a little bit, we were breaking down on defense, we were playing too fast, and not trusting our teammates,” Re said. “But, we really executed in the second half,” Steve Re
Despite the drama, the Vikings showed the poise that has made them successful all season.
“I've had my father help me train myself that when something goes wrong, it doesn't even matter because something great is about to happen,” Batson said. “Next play is next, the next moment is next.”
To that end, Batson took a missed lay-up in the third quarter and leaped into action for a put back dunk that was almost surreal.
“It's so fun coaching those guys when they play like that, because it's more about the team than the individual,” Re said.
“We were moving the ball at a good rate,” Tingle said. “Playing with my friends in that environment was great, there was dunking left and right…it was just a great experience to be around.” Jameson Tingle
The cherry on the third quarter sundae came when junior Geordan Downing somehow cleared his hands along the sideline for a deep buzzer-beater and a 53-37 Cape lead.
“It boosted me up a little bit, boosted my team up and showed that when we come into the third and fourth quarters, we handle business,” Downing said. “It was a crazy atmosphere. Every bucket was loud…it was a great game for us - it was really fun.”
“As a senior, I definitely wanted to go out with a bang with my guys,” “I don't think we could have performed any better in that second half.”
Cape kept the party going in the fourth quarter to punch their ticket into the quarter finals with a 73-55 victory.
“A.I. was a good team,” Tingle said. “They fought hard, but it'll be disrespectful to just walk around and play around and disrespect their name. Closing out shows maturity, and as we go through the tournament, that's what we need.”
Tingle led the team with three steals and finished second on the team with 13 points, eight rebounds and one block. Senior Dell Richards dozen points and six boards were third on the team. Junior Steve Sivels led the team with five helpers and tied Downing with 11 points. In addition to Figgs’ 18 points, Batson’s eight points rounded out the scoring.
No. 7 Cape will take on No. 2 Howard in the quarter-finals at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 7 at Howard.
