Royals wrap up first half of season with big win over Lake Forest
Wrapping up their tour of the Henlopen South undefeated (3-0), the Royals of Delmarva Christian upended Lake Forest 61-46 in their final game of 2024.
“Against public schools, I feel like we have not had the best record, but coming out with a win in this game is very important for us going into Christmas break,” said Royals senior Malachi Light. “We don't have another game for quite some time, so we just gave it all out on the court.”
Things weren’t easy early on, as senior Darius Miller led the Spartans into battle and electrified the crowd with a few dunks as part of a first quarter won by Lake Forest 20-17. Teammate Indio Hagan connected from deep in the scoring barrage, forcing Delmarva Christian to make some adjustments.
Settling down in the second, the Royals began to dictate their preferred style, which was more methodical on defense and selective on offense, keeping Miller and Hagan at bay, and giving more chances to their own guys.
“We just played team defense; we didn't give them too much attention, but we gave them the respect they deserved,” said coach Marc Hannah.
Delmarva Christian freshman Darrius Liles made his presence felt in the second by tripling his three-point first-quarter output.
“When everybody's down and you're the underdog, you gotta show them you're good enough to beat a good team,” Liles said.
Behind Liles’ nine, the Royals took over and began padding the lead, getting contributions from his brother DJ, big man Andrew Collins and their selfless playmaker Kasey Bell. Delmarva Christian led 32-29 at halftime.
“We had the mindset that this would be a playoff game for us; if we're saying we are a playoff-capable team, then we got to be able to play with teams like this,” Hannah said. “We know Lake, for us, is a really strong, really good team, so I was really proud of the way our guys came out and played today.”
A third quarter dominated by Delmarva Christian saw the lead swell to 49-39 thanks to the strong play of Light and the Liles brothers, who were the beneficiaries of selfless ball movement from Bell, Landon Jackson and Collins.
Darrius Liles’ six points in the final frame put him at a career-high 22 points and helped stave off a comeback attempt, giving the Royals a 61-46 win heading into their nearly month-long break.
Light scored 15, seven in the third quarter, and drew plenty of attention from the Lake Forest defense to help maintain the lead with lengthy possessions. The senior thinks the game will go a long way in maintaining confidence.
“They’re a great team that came to compete and we beat them,” Light said. “This shows us we can compete with anybody; just play our basketball, and no one stands in our way.”
The Royals will welcome Nandua (Va.) at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18.
