Wednesday brought the quarterfinal round of the Delaware County Boys Basketball Tournament. Two games kicked off the tournament that will continue Friday and finish with the championship on Saturday.
6 pm game: Cowan vs Daleville
In the first game, Cowan defeated Daleville 54-45. The First few minutes of the contest were competitive. But after taking a three-possession lead at the end of the first quarter, the Blackhawks never allowed the Broncos to make a run.
The Blackhawks were physical throughout the whole game and fought for every rebound. Head coach Aaron Groves liked his team's effort on the boards.
“Rebounding is huge and has been for us all year,” Groves said. “Yeah, we got a big six [foot] nine [inch] guy [junior center Cole Duncan]. But as you saw sometimes in the first half, he went to help and we didn't help him on the backside and they[Daleville] got more rebounds.”
Speaking of Duncan, he was a menace for his squad with a triple-double stat line that included 19 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocks.
Another key component for Cowan was their ability to share the ball. Duncan thinks that his team has improved on that aspect.
“We moved the ball and tried to get the best shot possible,” he said. “I think we've done a great job, especially towards the end of Christmas break.”
Daleville will move on to face Yorktown on Friday at 6 pm.
8 pm game: Wes-del vs Delta
In the second game, Delta utilized a huge offensive first half to defeat Wes-Del 75-53. Everything from three-pointers, layups and free throws filled up the first half. The Eagles went into halftime up by 25 points.
One thing that never changed throughout the game was Eagles head coach Mark Detweiler. Even when his team was up by double digits, he was still yelling plays and telling his team to “hustle.”
“You just want to play the right way from start to finish and I thought for the most part, we did that,” he said.
The second half was a little quiet offensively, but the Eagles' bench was still able to sink baskets. Coach Detweiler believes that getting the bench involved will give his team the best chance to make the championship game.
“We want to use our bench,” he said. “We want to play three games this week and we want to keep guys fresh. So it was important to start the way we did tonight because we can feel comfortable going deeper and you know, getting guys that maybe haven't been getting minutes.”
Leading the Eagles was junior Jayden Furney with 24 points. He was followed by fellow junior D’Amare Hood who finished with 21 points.
Delta will face Wapahani on Friday at 8 pm.
Contact Zach Carter with comments at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ZachCarter85.
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