Cape boys’ basketball grounded by the Eagles 81-57
Sophomore forward Elisha Gregory came off the bench to score 15 of his 18 points in the second half and ignite a late 21-0 run, as Smyrna surged past visiting Cape Henlopen 81-57 in a Jan. 17 boys’ basketball matchup.
Cape, desperate to avoid its fourth loss in five games, hung right with Smyrna for nearly three quarters. The Vikings used hot shooting from junior guard Ja’Vaughn Burton to erase a nine-point halftime deficit and closed to 49-48 on a corner three-pointer from senior guard Collin Mallet with 1:46 left in the third. The Eagles answered by scoring the last nine points of the frame, including a three-point play by Gregory, to regain control. Smyrna carried that momentum into the fourth, holding Cape scoreless for four more minutes and extending its advantage to 70-48 on a straightaway three-pointer by senior guard Davaughn Stanford midway through the period. Gregory and junior guard Robert Wiley tallied eight points each during the Eagles’ decisive run, which was spearheaded by reserves.
Burton scored a game-high 22 points and knocked down three long-balls for the Vikings (3-6, 2-5 Henlopen North). He poured in 10 points during a four-minute third-quarter spurt, knocking down a variety of mid-range shots to keep Cape close. Senior guard Kris Rushin delivered his best performance in some time, collecting 12 points, three assists and four steals, while Mallet added 11 points and three three-pointers. Senior forward Sam Luciano-Solomon also reached double figures for the Vikings, scoring 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
Senior guard Nahshon Sylvester scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Smyrna (9-2, 6-1 Henlopen North), which also got 11 points from Wiley. The Eagles played an efficient brand of basketball, connecting on 49 percent of their field goal tries and committing just nine turnovers. Meanwhile, Cape continued its season-long shooting slump, failing to hit more than 40 percent of its shots for the ninth consecutive game. The Vikings also struggled to draw fouls, getting to the free-throw line just three times all night.
Cape head coach Shemik Thompson saw plenty of reasons for optimism following the setback.
“I was very, very happy with how we played for two and a half quarters,” Thompson said. “We competed. When we get down, we typically fall apart. Today, we came out of the half down 10, executed, got one stop at a time, and we cut the lead to one in a matter of minutes. We were playing good basketball for the first seven minutes of the third quarter, but [Smyrna] got a little lead on us and we started taking bad shots instead of executing. There’s still a lot of good to take from this.”
Burton agreed with his coach.
“We showed we have fight in us,” said Burton, who is averaging 20.3 points over his last three games. “We just have to finish games. If we do, people will realize we’re a pretty good team.”
Cape returns to action Tuesday, Jan. 21, when it hosts Milford.
