Royals return to ESIAC schedule in dominant form
The Delmarva Christian boys’ basketball team is fending off all challengers to their ESIAC title following its 57-32 win over conference rival Salisbury School Jan. 21.
“We're trying to click, lock in, play what we're supposed to play, know where everybody's at, hit the right passes and play the right defense,” said senior forward Andrew Collins.
Collins took coach Pat Woods’ advice to heart and used his impressive footwork to complement his size and dominate in the paint. He chipped in a dozen, but could have had more if the game script was a bit tighter. Junior Noah Barbrow opened the scoring in the contest and had a game-high 14 points. Delmarva Christian kept the pressure up to take a 39-13 halftime lead.
“If we build off intensity, we will be a great team,” forward Barbrow said. “If we start off hot, we stay hot the rest of the game.”
With the big lead, the Royals took their time with the 30-second shot clock and used their lead to work some offense.
“It was good to kind of see that we could execute everything,” Woods said. “We threw just about everything in the playbook at them to kind of make sure our guys could do it.”
Salisbury School actually won the second half, but Delmarva Christian was only settling for premium looks in the final two quarters.
“I wanted it to be a field goal percentage game,” Woods said. “We rebounded, we took care of the ball and it became the knockdown shots. We were able to get points off turnovers too.”
Junior Caleb Holloway tied with senior Seth Mifflin for the team lead in rebounds. Mifflin’s three helpers tied freshman Aarian Tucker to lead the Royals in assists. Tucker filled up the box score, but his most important stat was his zero turnovers.
The victory moves the Royals to 6-4 overall and keeps them undefeated in the ESIAC, a main objective for Delmarva Christian.
“Dominant – it's who we are,” Collins said about how the team is feeling. “We're coming back stronger than ever.”
Delmarva Christian welcomed Wilmington Charter Jan. 22 after the Cape Gazette deadline.
Aaron Mushrush joined the sports team in Summer 2023 to help cover the emerging youth athletics scene in the Cape Region. After lettering in soccer and lacrosse at Sussex Tech, he played lacrosse at Division III Eastern University in St. David's, PA. Aaron coached lacrosse at Sussex Tech in 2009 and 2011. Post-collegiately, Mush played in the Eastern Shore Summer Lacrosse League for Blue Bird Tavern and Saltwater Lacrosse. He competed in several tournaments for the Shamrocks Lacrosse Club, which blossomed into the Maryland Lacrosse League (MDLL). Aaron interned at the Coastal Point before becoming assistant director at WMDT-TV 47 ABC in 2017 and eventually assignment editor in 2018.
