The Indian River Indians varsity basketball team capped a five-game losing streak and tallied their fourth straight defeat versus the Henlopen North with a 68-50 loss to the Sussex Tech Ravens on Jan. 23.
Coastal Point • JESSE PRYOR
Freshman forward Keion Sturgis puts one up in big man's land against Sussex Tech.The Ravens, led by forwards Kory Belle and Jacob Mitchell, held a definitive edge in the paint over the under-sized Indians. They combined to score 32 points and corralled 17 of their 22-team rebounds in the rout.
“It seems like all the South teams either have height or have good guards. And, tonight, me and Jacob were able to take over,” Belle said.
Belle and Mitchell scored four times, easily, on in-bound plays and went 5-6 from inside the paint on offensive rebounds.
Indian River, on the other hand, snagged only 12 rebounds, with Miyo Castro leading the team with four. Indians point guard Tyree Oliver recorded one of the three team offensive rebounds, with Castro and freshman guard Deshawn Godwin being the other two. Oliver was the only player to capitalize, after hitting a short pull-up jumper in the lane.
Indian River’s lone big-man, freshman Montre Andrews, provided a defensive presence by blocking three shots but did little else.
He scored all four of his points on 2-3 shooting in the second half and recorded only one rebound in the game.
Sussex Tech may have pounded Indian River inside but the Indians still found a way to make the game interesting.
Indian River was able to dribble into the paint and dish for easy baskets behind collapsing defenders and thrived in transition.
And in doing so, the Indians trimmed the Raven lead throughout the game from 12 to six — until the fourth quarter, when that lead ballooned.
“All in all, I thought the kids scrapped, stuck together and played hard,” Kelly said. “We had a couple of chances to cut the lead in the third and fourth quarters but couldn’t capitalize.”
“Deshawn and those guys did a good job getting those steals to get opportunities, but we couldn’t get it close enough, Kelly added.
Oliver finished with three assists — two to senior guard Morgan Hunt, who splashed two straight three-pointers in the third quarter. Hunt was in his second game since joining the team late last week and should provide valuable minutes for the Indians.
“Morgan was able to get in there and do some stuff,” Kelly said, referring to Hunt’s two three-pointers and a steal. “He’s got a good floor game, and in two games he hasn’t turned the ball over. And, physically, he’s a man, and that’s going to help us.”
Godwin tacked on two more assists after penetrating off the dribble for easy scores inside.
And Castro led the Indians in scoring with 14 points on 5-16 shooting and 4-4 from the free-throw line. He also added a team-high four assists.
Godwin and Oliver’s defensive play in the passing lanes ignited a good portion of their second-half scoring.
Each recorded three steals, and was able to get the ball out and running. Castro scored four of his five field goals in transition or on the dish off of penetration.
And though the Indians seemed to have fallen down the worm-hole, Kelly said he has seen improvements.
“We’re struggling, but it is what it is,” Kelly said. “We still have a lot of inexperienced players playing varsity basketball. But I thought we’ve been doing better as far as attention to detail and not taking a lot of bad shots. And as far as the height differential, we had a lot to overcome. But we’re not turning the ball over a lot, and I didn’t think the score was indicative of how close the game was.”
“Sussex Tech doesn’t do a lot, but what they do — they do well,” Kelly added. “It’s a simple plan and its beauty is its simplicity. They have the height inside to score, and if you collapse then they’ll knock down open shots.”
“We tried to close the court down to try to use our quickness, but they were able to go over top of us,” Kelly concluded.
And with a lack of size on this year’s team, it appears that using quickness to overcome a lack of height could their best game-plan.
“It’s just what we have to do,” Kelly admitted. “And if we do, then we’ll steal some games.”
Indian River will play the guard-heavy Sussex Central Golden Knights at home tonight, at 7:15 p.m., and then round out their January schedule next week with away games at Delmar and Caesar Rodney.
Four of the Indians’ final five opponents hail from the Henlopen South.