the Cafe
 |
     |
Tech Boys Rout Caesar Rodney
to Claim Henlopen North
By DAVID MAULL, Cafe Locale
The hooting and hollering could still be heard from behind the closed locker room door long after the final buzzer had sounded and the water cooler had been dumped over coach Jerry Kobasa's head.
After a pressure-packed two-and-a-half week stretch in which it didn't have the luxury of even a single slip-up, the Sussex Tech High School boys' basketball team finally had a reason to celebrate.
A 70-52 victory at Caesar Rodney Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999, clinched Tech's first Henlopen Conference Northern Division title and gave the Ravens a berth in next week's conference championship game.
"This is something special for the school," Kobasa said. "We've only been in the conference four years. We've played very competitively but now we had a chance to to do something for our school, and we did it."
The Ravens will play Southern Division champion Lake Forest in the conference title game Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Cape Henlopen. Tech defeated Lake 69-59 in their regular-season meeting on Feb. 16.
"I've never felt like this before, it's the best feeling I've ever had," said guard Tynell Tingle, who led all scorers Tuesday night with 24 points.
Despite squandering a 13-point lead and allowing CR to pull even at the end of three quarters, Tech responded like a championship team down the stretch, outscoring the Riders 26-8 in the final period to seal the victory.
Knowing they had to win the remainder of their games to hold off second-place Seaford in the division title chase, the Ravens recorded five straight victories to close out the regular season. The streak included impressive road wins over Cape Henlopen and Lake Forest.
"It felt like we were playing Russian Roulette. You never knew where the bullet was going to come. We had five or six games to go and didn't know what chamber that bullet was in," Kobasa said before sharing an embrace with Buck Starkey, who coached Tech from 1992-95 and helped build one of the state's most successful programs.
Tuesday's win improved Tech's record to 17-2 in the conference and 20-2 overall. The only two losses were to Seaford.
"We've been talking about this (division title) since before the season started. It's been our goal," guard Brandon Palmer said. "It's all I've been thinking about."
Added junior Brian Polk: "It feels very good because now when I have kids and they go to that school I can say I was on that team. All we tried to do was bust our butts, work hard in practice and focus on our defense. When you know you've got to do something ... you've got to want to do it and be motivated and just work hard at it."
For a while Tuesday night, everything appeared to be slipping away. Tech held a 33-20 lead late in the second quarter and still led by 11 early in the third before falling apart. The Ravens spent the last five minutes of the quarter missing easy shots and turning the ball over.
This allowed CR to go on a 16-5 run that tied the score 44-44 with eight minutes to play. Janavor Weatherspoon had a dunk, a 3-pointer and a short jumper during the spurt while Kyle Dixon drained a three and dropped in a layup.
But Tech would regroup and use its defense and rebounding to take control of the game. The score was tied 46-46 early in the fourth quarter but the Ravens outscored CR 22-6 down the stretch.
"CR's got a heck of a team, they were my preseason pick to win the North. They've got a lot of firepower," Kobasa said. "But in the fourth quarter the kids came out and we played man-to-man defense and everybody just stepped up the pressure. I thought we played the passing lanes much better and we didn't give them any openings to the basket."
Polk started the rally with a put-back and a 17-footer before Palmer drained a short jumper and a layup. Back-to-back layups by Darnell Bryant made it 58-48 with 3:08 to play. CR spent most of the quarter missing shots and committing costly turnovers.
"In the fourth quarter I think they made some real key mistakes that let us build the lead up a little bit," Tingle said.
The Ravens hit 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch and held a 9-4 edge in rebounding in the final period.
"I knew I had to slow it up because it was getting out of hand," Palmer said of the team's fourth-quarter resurgence. "We had to set up something and take our time."
Polk finished with 16 points, Palmer 13 and Bryant 10, but it was Tingle who earned high praise from his coach. The sophomore hit three 3-pointers in the game and went 5-of-6 from the foul line in the final 2:11.
"He's been the difference the last five games," Kobasa said. "We knew he was a great defensive player but his offense the last five games has been excellent."
Tingle opened the game on a hot streak, scoring 10 points in the first quarter as Tech raced to an early 17-11 lead. He finished the half with 16 points, helping the Ravens to a 34-26 halftime advantage.
Late in the third quarter, after CR had rallied to take a 42-41 lead, Tingle drained a three from the right wing to put the Ravens back ahead. They would never trail again.
Weatherspoon led CR with 17 points while Arvin Kottri added 16 and Dixon 10.
Brought to you by:
Mid-Atlantic Beach Guide
Copyright© 1998-1999 Coastal Images Inc.