Vikings conquer Royals in boys’ hoops season opener
The Cape and Delmarva Christian boys’ basketball teams jumped into the regular season by battling one another in Lewes Nov. 29. The game marked the debut of Cape’s talented freshman Geordan Downing, and the young man did not disappoint.
Downing splashed onto the scene with a three to open scoring for the home team, and the Vikings led from start to finish to defeat the Royals 70-48.
“Getting a W quickly is always great, and we had a lot of first-time guys play tonight,” said Cape coach Steve Re. “I had a good feeling because of how well we played in the preseason.”
The Vikings are short-handed due to the football team's run to the DIAA state championship; Re noted they have had to operate a bit differently to start the season. He thought his team struggled in the first half despite jumping out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter. A big reason for the early lead was Downing, who made his first two three-point attempts.
The two teams leveled out in the second quarter, keeping the Vikings’ lead in single digits heading into the break. Senior Emmanuel Ortiz Villaman led Cape in scoring at half with eight points, thanks to a 4-for-4 effort at the stripe.
Cape began to pull away in the second half as Downing scored 11 of his game-high 17 points and Kameron Trammell registered nine of his 13 points in the final two frames. Ortiz Villamen ended the game with 12 boards and Jack Schell had 10. Seven offensive rebounds were gathered in by the two big men. While the turnover margin was nearly even, Cape outrebounded Delmarva Christian 41-24.
The Vikings were 7-for-7 at the free-throw line and created a few more easy looks with 10 steals, three coming from Downing. Re added that Jayden Dukes also performed well as a new member of the varsity team, collecting nine points, eight boards and three assists.
Despite the opening loss, Delmarva Christian is optimistic about the season.
“Our goals for this year are to win our conference, make the state playoffs and compete for a state title,” said coach Marc Hannah.
Hannah believes the key to winning will be chemistry. He said the team’s defense and rebounding will determine its success. The coach thinks he has depth on this year’s team as well.
“We have eight to 10 guys who all have a variety of skill sets. This will help us adjust to just about any situation,” Hannah said.
The Royals will travel to Delmar at 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 1. Cape will not play again until Tuesday, Dec. 12, when they host Smyrna.
