There were moments during the Jan. 30 game at Delmar and late in the fourth quarter against Caesar Rodney this week that the Indian River Indians boys’ varsity basketball team could have snatched victory from defeat.
Coastal Point • JESSE PRYOR:
Miyo Castro and the rest of the Indian River basketball team nearly top off Caesar Rodney as their stretch through the Henlopen North concluded.They trailed Delmar (4-10, 3-9) 35-30 at halftime before Barry Bratten turned it on for a 66-57 win over the Indians. Bratten scored a game-high 26 points but was able to really expose the Indians on the offensive glass, where he plunked down 22 of his 26.
“We were down 24-18, but we pressured them and got some turnovers to bring the score to 35-30. We just didn’t rebound,” Indians head coach Pat Kelly said. “We expended a lot of energy defensively, but we turned the ball over way too many times and Bratten was able to really hurt us.”
Indian River (5-10, 4-8) trailed Caesar Rodney (11-5, 10-3) by only four points with four minutes left in regulation. But, again, turnovers limited Indian River and allowed Caesar Rodney to pull away for a 65-58 win.
Indian River has been without point guard Tyree Oliver for the past two games, due to a sprained ankle, which forced Kelly to dress eight and play only six against the Riders. And without an experienced ball-handler to run the offense down the stretch, Indian River suffered.
“Caesar Rodney rolled us last year in the [first round] state playoffs, and they’re basically the same team,” Kelly said. “So I was very happy that we were able to play with them. We just turned the ball over too many times in crunch time.”
Indian River finished the game against Caesar Rodney with a ghastly 23 turnovers.
“It’s what we’ve been doing,” Kelly said of their turnover woes. “But to lose by five is really a shame.”
“The kids really played well,” he added.
Preston Irving led the team with 27 points, had six rebounds and four steals against Caesar Rodney. Miyo Castro plunked down 14 in the losing effort. Morgan Hunt has filled in nicely for Oliver since he injured his ankle against Sussex Central (11-4, 10-3).
Coastal Point • JESSE PRYOR:
Freshman guard Desahwn Godwin finds himself out of position for the rebound against Sussex Central.He made two three-pointers as part of eight total points, had four steals and five assists in an 83-64 loss to Sussex Central. And he continued that trend against Caesar Rodney with five points, five rebounds and four steals.
And, now, with five games remaining and four against the Henlopen South, Kelly is eager to get back to practice.
“If we’re going to get over the hump, then we need to work on the fundamentals,” he said. “We need to get better at rebounding and ball-handling.”
“We can win games, but we need to work on some things and to suck it up,” Kelly concluded.
Indian River will host Seaford (5-10, 3-9) on Feb. 6 and then travel to Woodbridge (8-7, 7-5) on Feb. 9. The Indians currently hold a 2-1 combined record over Seaford and Woodbridge this season. The Indians will conclude the regular season with consecutive home games against Dover (8-8, 8-5) and Laurel (2-13, 1-12).