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The mood in the Sussex Tech locker room was somber as players stripped off their uniforms and dressed in street clothes for the bus ride home.

Suddenly, the voice of basketball coach Jerry Kobasa echoed from the showers, where players had gathered moments earlier for a postgame meeting.

"At four o'clock tomorrow we're watching that (game) film together as a team," he said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

One who had not been in Sussex Central's gym the preceding two hours would probably assume from the mood in the locker room that Tech had lost to its Georgetown rival.

But it hadn't.

The Ravens defeated Central 54-52 to improve their record to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Henlopen Conference.

But Kobasa and his players were frustrated at having allowed Central to rally from a 16-point second quarter deficit to nearly tie the game in the final minute. Trailing by 12 with 2:16 to play, Central to ran off 10 straight points to pull within 54-52.

The Knights had a chance to tie the game from the free throw line with no time remaining but Travis Leonard missed the front end of a one-and-one, allowing Tech to escape with the win.

"They (players) were down after this win because they know they played hard and then they just kind of let down again," Kobasa said afterward. "Our feet looked tired in the second half. We did things that weren't very mature and we just let them crawl back in."

The lessons learned from that Jan. 5 game took hold four nights later, as Tech soundly defeated Northern Division foe Caesar Rodney 69-59. The victory capped a brutal nine-game season-opening stretch in which the Ravens played some of the top teams in Delaware and Maryland.

With an 8-1 overall record, the Ravens stood fifth in the state's most recent prep rankings.

"We're real surprised, we've always started slow," Kobasa said. "I think we've had a lot more contributions from everybody early in the season than we've had in the past. This is something new for us."

While Brian Polk has been the team's catalyst, scoring 39 points in the victory over CR, Tech has gotten solid contributions from a number of other starters.

Junior Brandon Palmer, sophomores Tynell Tingle and Lawrence Walston and senior Darnell Bryant have all stepped forward and given the Ravens a multitude of weapons. In one victory early in the season, five players scored in double figures.

Polk, meanwhile, has taken his game to another level since his days at Sussex Central, where he spent his first two years of high school.

The junior transfer has scored in double figures every game and been a force at the defensive end with his rebounding, shot blocking and ball-hawking skills.

"You put a Brian Polk anywhere, and his ability is going to raise everyone else too," Kobasa said.

The Ravens' success has hinged on an outstanding defensive scheme, which forces large numbers of turnovers and sparks the transition game. Opponents have often found it difficult to get the ball past half-court against Tech's pressure defense.

In the first month of the season, Tech has beaten defending conference champion Cape Henlopen, Northern Division foes CR and Sussex Central, a tough nonconference opponent in Hodgson and Maryland Bayside Conference powers Wicomico and Crisfield. Its only loss was to an equally-powerful Seaford team 70-67 on Dec. 11.

Kobasa admitted the strength of the team's schedule, would have made 6-3 a reasonable goal. But when asked if Tech can now compete with the most powerful teams in the state, Kobasa noted, "We have the ability to."

Perhaps the only thing missing is a vocal team leader and Kobasa is hoping Polk, Palmer and Bryant can step into those roles.

"This team is a lot more quiet," he said.

But it's play on the court speaks volumes.