Allen’s 26 points in 10 minutes doom Vikings to fourth straight loss
Stud shooting guard Jordan Allen busted a close game wide open with a heroic individual effort, scoring 26 points in a 10-minute stretch to help Dover defeat the visiting Cape boys’ basketball team 70-51 Jan. 5.
Allen, a 6-foot-4 senior off-guard whose outside shooting prowess has earned him a scholarship to Rider, didn’t need to torch the net with high-arching three-pointers. Instead, he ripped down offensive rebounds for easy put-backs and converted repeatedly in transition on the way to 35 points and eight boards.
After a shorthanded but inspired Cape squad came out hot and took a 17-8 lead after one period, Allen went to work. He tallied seven points during a crucial 11-2 Dover run to open the second quarter, capping it with a lay-in to tie the score at 19 with 4:16 left in the frame.
The long, athletic Senators, who hung with national powerhouse Neumann-Goretti earlier this year and are a legitimate threat to win the state title, took their first lead of the game at 25-24 on a 12-foot pull-up jumper from Allen about three minutes before halftime. Cape point guard Demetrius Price answered with a steal and a lay-in to put the Vikings back in front, but Dover closed the half on a 9-2 spurt and took a 36-30 edge into the locker room. Allen outscored Cape 16-13 on his own in the second stanza.
Allen’s onslaught continued in the third, when he embarked on a personal 10-2 spurt that widened the Senators’ lead to 46-32 at the 6:05 mark. He connected on five consecutive shots, including three put-backs on the offensive glass, during the decisive run.
The Vikings (4-5, 3-1 Henlopen North) never got closer than nine points the rest of the way, suffering their fourth consecutive loss after a promising 4-1 start. Cape has dropped 12 of 13 games to Dover dating back to the 2009-10 season.
Price paced the Cape attack with 13 points and two assists, while sophomore forward Randy Rickards added 12 points and six rebounds. The Vikings got nine points, including two three-pointers, and four boards from sophomore wing Ian Robertson. Junior forward J.R. Yeates contributed six points and a block.
The Vikings played without starting power forward Jeremiah Smack, who was sidelined by an illness, and his presence was sorely missed on the boards. Dover corralled 33 rebounds to Cape’s 19, outworking the Vikings 15-7 on the offensive glass. In a more positive development, Steve Re’s team found uncharacteristic success at the free-throw line, hitting 14 of 19 shots at the charity stripe after a disastrous 10-for-23 outing against Appoquinimink last week.
Re wasn’t happy with his team’s response to early miscues.
“Our inability to play through one or two mistakes consecutively is our continuous downfall,” Re said. “It’s a mental thing. Instead of fighting, we get down [on ourselves]. I said it [after the Bishop McNamara game]: we don’t embrace the challenge … It’s mental toughness, and basketball IQ at times, that hurt us tonight.”
Re lauded the play of Allen, who went a blistering 13-for-24 from the floor, but explained that many of the standout guard’s buckets were the result of poor Cape rebounding.
“We let Allen get loose tonight,” Re said. “I mean, he’s going to get some buckets, but you can’t let him get 10 points on offensive rebounds.”
Dover (4-4, 4-0 Henlopen North) ended a two-game skid behind Allen’s big night and could conceivably run the table for the rest of the regular season. Sophomore forward Thomas Hoskins chipped in with eight points and four rebounds, while senior guards Steven Justice and Tre’Vonne Moore added six points apiece.
The Vikings are back in action Friday, Jan. 8, when they travel to unbeaten Smyrna.
