Cape boys’ basketball survives Milford 54-47

The Cape Henlopen boys’ basketball team embraced the mantra, “a win’s a win” in its Feb. 1 battle with Milford, eking out a 54-47 victory in Lewes despite ragged play and ugly numbers.

“It’s one of those games where you won, but you feel like you lost,” said coach Steve Re after his Vikings overcame 37% shooting, 16 turnovers and a pair of long scoreless stretches. “We just had to grind this one out tonight. We didn’t shoot it particularly well and weren’t organized particularly well. When you beat a team earlier in the season, you come back out and think you should just do it again the same way, but that’s not the case. We’ll regroup with some days off.”

Tyrone Tolson came up huge in the clutch for Cape. The junior off-guard scored eight of his 12 points over the final nine minutes of play, knocked down a pair of late three-pointers and forced key turnovers down the stretch. Tolson willed the Vikings to the win in a game that easily could have gone the other way.

With Cape down 34-33 and struggling to generate offense late in the third quarter, Tolson arced in a three-pointer in the final seconds of the frame. His trifecta energized the Vikings, who then converted six of their first eight field goal tries in the fourth period. Tolson put his team ahead 49-44 on a three from the left corner with three minutes remaining, but Jordan Savage answered from long range seconds later to close the gap to two. Milford had several chances to pull even, but the Bucs never scored again, fumbling the ball away four times in the final two minutes.

Milford finished with 28 turnovers on the night.

Tolson reflected on the Vikings’ hard-fought win.

“I got some isolation sets and was able to knock down some open shots,” said Tolson, who added four steals and two assists. “The numbers will show that we played hard even though we didn’t make shots that we’d normally make. We fought hard and got the job done thanks to coach Re. Without him, we don’t get this win.”

Senior guard Drew Zimmerman added 10 points and two steals for Cape (10-5, 8-3 Henlopen North), while senior wing Trey Leggins tallied nine points, two assists and two steals. Senior big man Odin Potemski posted seven points, including three critical free throws in the final minute, while junior forward Jack Schell chipped in five points and eight rebounds. The Vikings got a major boost from reserve guard Kameron Trammell, as the junior collected five points, two steals and a three-pointer off the bench.

Cape returns to the hardwood Tuesday, Feb. 7, at Sussex Central.