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A much-anticipated matchup between two of the top teams in the Henlopen Conference and two of the top boys' high school basketball players in the State of Delaware lived up to its billing Friday night, Dec. 11, 1998 in Georgetown.

Sussex Tech's Brian Polk and Seaford's Andre Matthews each scored 29 points and excited the capacity crowd with an assortment of slam dunks, alley-oop layups and 3-pointers. In the end, Seaford walked away with a thrilling 70-67 victory in a contest that featured eight ties and 10 lead changes.

"It was like two heavyweight fighters just going at it, and they got the last punch," Tech coach Jerry Kobasa said.

Tech (1-1) rallied from a 19-point second-quarter deficit to take a four-point fourth quarter lead but stumbled down the stretch. The Ravens were held scoreless the final 2:12 as Seaford (1-1) reeled off seven straight points to grab the win.

Polk scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half and poured in 15 in the third quarter as Tech got back into the game after first half filled with turnovers and missed shots.

"What we did to get us back in the game was play good defense and handle the ball and take the ball to the hole," Kobasa said. "What we did in the last two minutes - we did some dumb things. We had a chance to win the game on the foul line and we missed three fronts end of the one-and-one. You can't win games like that, not against a team that's that good."

The game was tied 63-63 when Polk hit a 15-foot pull-up jumper and Darnell Bryant put back a missed shot to give Tech a four-point lead with 2:12 remaining. After Matthews hit one of two foul shots, Seaford's Jason Vincent came up with a loose ball in the lane and drained a short jumper to pull the Jays within 67-66 with 40 seconds to play.

Tynell Tingle was fouled on Tech's next possession but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Seaford grabbed the rebound and Matthews was fouled on a drive to the basket, hitting both free throws to put Seaford ahead by one. Vincent then intercepted Tech's inbounds pass near halfcourt and fed Brent Evans, who hit one of two foul shots to make it 69-67.

Tingle's missed 3-point attempt from up top led to a Vincent free throw that gave the Blue Jays a 70-67 lead. Bryant's desperation 3-point shot from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer was off the mark.

"Any time you fight back like that and you take the lead like we did, it (a loss) is real hard to swallow," Kobasa said. "But the thing is, tomorrow morning we're going to get up and we've got to start again."

Brandon Palmer finished with 16 points for the Ravens while Seaford's Courtney Griffin pitched in 14.

Seaford led by 19 points (36-17) late in the second quarter and held a 41-23 advantage early in the third before Polk took matters into his own hands. Over the next four minutes, the junior scored 13 points, draining a number of outside jumpers, including a 3-pointer, and driving the lane for scores.

A stifling defense effort forced Seaford into a series of turnovers and triggered a 22-5 run that got Tech within 46-45 with 1:13 left in the quarter.

"We just tried to go full-court man-to-man and deny Matthews the ball, and we kept it away from him quite a bit," Kobasa said. "He's like a man among boys ... and the kids responded well to that, we played very good defense. What we didn't do in the second quarter, we did in the third quarter."

Polk finished with 15 points in the quarter and Tech trailed just 49-47 heading into the final eight minutes.

After Palmer drove the lane for a layup to tie the score early in the fourth quarter, Polk scored on an alley-oop layup that gave the Ravens a 51-49 advantage, its first lead since early in the opening period.

The lead then changed hands six times over the next five minutes before the Blue Jays took control down the stretch. Matthews scored 11 points in the fourth quarter with two coming on a crowd-pleasing, one-handed slam dunk.

The game was tied 13-13 at the end of the first quarter but Tech was plagued by turnovers, poor shot selection and anemic offensive rebounding for most of the second period. This allowed Blue Jays to go on an 18-2 run that put them ahead 31-15 with 2:51 left in the first half. Matthews had eight points during the run while Griffin and Jason cook hit 3-pointers.

Overall, Seaford outscored Tech 23-8 in the period and carried a 36-21 lead into halftime.