Cape basketball hands Polytech a loss
Beauty may lie in the eye of the beholder, but most onlookers would agree that the Cape Henlopen boys’ basketball team’s Jan. 29 matchup with Polytech wasn’t exactly a Picasso. The Vikings shot a paltry 32 percent from the floor on the night and went scoreless on 16 straight possessions in the fourth quarter, but they survived a 46-40 street fight with the one-win Panthers behind a career-high 18 points from sophomore sharpshooter Ja’Vaughn Burton.
Head coach Steve Re was happy to get the win, but he was troubled by the ugly numbers.
“We were able to pull the win out at the end, but we did not look very good doing it,” Re said after Cape (7-7, 5-4 Henlopen North) kept its postseason hopes alive by eking out its third victory in as many games. “We tend to lose focus and lose our concepts at home, and I don’t know why. We stopped moving the ball and we stopped moving without the ball. We stood around and watched way too much. Everybody was being a ball-stopper and our movement wasn’t good.”
The Vikings’ offense looked stagnant from the start, as spacing issues and a lack of off-the-ball movement limited their quality looks. Burton bailed them out again and again, hitting four deep three-pointers and a few mid-range jumpers to keep them in front through the first three periods.
Sophomore forward Ethan Pires started the final frame with a three from the right corner to give Cape its biggest lead of the night at 39-31, but Polytech responded with nine unanswered points and pulled ahead 40-39 on a Kiaurice Lockett lay-in at the five-minute mark.
Lockett’s bucket was the Panthers’ last of the night, as the Vikings held them scoreless over the final 4:59 and hit five of six free throws down the stretch to secure the win. Junior wing Sh’Kai Chandler connected twice at the charity stripe with just under three minutes left to put Cape ahead for good.
The Vikings won despite being held without a field goal for 7:27 of game time in the fourth quarter.
Burton credited Polytech’s defensive effort.
“[Polytech] sped us up, and we didn’t play our game,” said Burton, who finished 7-for-14 from the floor and collected three steals. “We had a lot of turnovers [late in the game] too, so we couldn’t get shots up.”
Senior guard Brandin Obidike paced the Panthers (1-13, 0-9 Henlopen North) with 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Cape got eight points from junior forward Jo Jo Kirby, seven from Pires and six from junior guard Kris Rushin, who also dished out five assists. Chandler tallied five points and four steals, while senior forward Anthony Smith closed out the scoring with a deuce.
Polytech shot 32 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers. The Panthers have dropped eight straight games to Cape dating back to 2015.
The Vikings begin a five-game road trip Friday, Feb. 1, at Caesar Rodney.
