Vikings stampede back to defeat the Riders
With their team down 15 points in the second quarter, the Cape faithful started to get nervous that the Vikings’ two-game win streak might come to a end, but the Cape boys’ basketball squad stormed back in the last six minutes, scoring 16 straight points to take a 53-49 victory Jan. 23 at the Vikings big house.
The Riders had their chances late to tie the game at 51. With just seconds left, they went to the charity stripe for a total of seven chances at foul shots and went 0-7, allowing the Vikings to gain their revenge from a five-point loss Jan. 5 at Camden.
Freshman point guard Jameson Tingle and senior Jack Schell each had a double-double, with Tingle scoring 15 points while snagging 11 rebounds and Schell tallying 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Junior Jayden Dukes scored 13 points, including three from behind the three-point arc.
Freshman Geordan Downing scored eight including a big three to take the lead in the waning seconds of the game.
“I saw that I was open and I pulled the trigger,” said Downing. “Coach Re told me to be aware, be more than just a shooter and keep fully engaged in the game [so] I’ll have the confidence and I’ll be ready to shoot the ball. It came to me and I took the shot.”
The Vikings received quality minutes from freshman Oz “Wizard” Daisey, who scored four points, grabbed four rebounds and made four steals in just 11 minutes of play.
“Oz came in and gave us a big spark,” said Cape head coach Steve Re. “He really gave us a lift.”
“This helps my confidence,” said Daisey. “When I get put in the game, I feel like I can take more shots, be more aggressive with and without the ball, dive on the ground for the ball, talk more on defense and do everything I can to help the team win the game.”
“Before this game, our road was a little bumpy,” said Dukes. “Now that we have seen that we can beat quality teams like CR, we think we have a good chance at the playoffs.”
“We needed this one,” said Re. “Three in a row, and we’ve got some tough games coming up. We’ve been talking about mental toughness, gutting it out and playing to adversity. We needed to pay attention during timeouts, and be able to adjust our defenses and share the ball. We didn’t do it for the whole first half, but we sure as heck did it in the third and fourth quarters. We had three freshmen on the court during that comeback.”
The Vikings travel to Dover Thursday, Jan. 25, to take on the 9-2 Senators. Dover defeated an injury-riddled Vikings squad 67-44 Dec. 19.
Dan has worked for the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years as a photographer and reporter, covering high school sports and happenings around eastern Sussex County. He won a photography award from the National Newspaper Association, and numerous awards from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association. A Delaware native, Dan graduated from Cape in 1972 and returned as a teacher and coach in the 1980s. He retired from the classroom in 2016. He was inducted into Cape High’s Legends Stadium in 2016. In his spare time, Dan enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, grandchildren and dogs.
