Delaware Blue Coats Ricky Council attempts a dunk against College Park , Photo courtesy of Ben Fulton
Wilmington- The Blue Coats returned to Delaware after a three-game road-trip, on Wednesday night to take on the College Park Skyhawks. The Skyhawks, an affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks, entered with a 3-1 record, while the Coats tipped off with a 2-2 record.
The Skyhawks are led by 2-way player & 46th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Seth Lundy (Penn State), and former Roselle Catholic (NJ) standout, Chris Silva. Silva, you may remember from his time at South Carolina or for the Bubble darling Miami Heat in 2020. The Blue Coats would be haunted by both of these players as the game would get under way.
Delaware actually would take a 28-22 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to shooting 5 of 14 from 3-point range and even scoring distribution. 8 different Coats would score in the opening frame led by David Duke & Terquavion Smith’s 6 points.
The Coats would actually dominate the 1st half of this basketball game, however only took a 7-point lead into the break, 55-48. The aforementioned Chris Silva was a BEAST in the first half, scoring 20 of his 26 points in the first two quarters. The 4th year big man single handedly kept the Skyhawks in the game.
Smith would lead the Blue Coats at the break with 17, including 5 threes. The Blue Coats would take 24 first half 3-point attempts.
The third-quarter is where this game would flip, as Seth Lundy would take over this game.
The rookie guard was quiet in the first half, only scoring 6 points and unable to hit from deep. However, he would unload on the Blue Coats for 11 third-quarter points and the Skyhawks would outscore Delaware 33-23, to take an 81-78 lead into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter would be tightly contested and back and forth with pace. This was G-League basketball at its highest form. Rookie standout, Ricky Council would go back and forth with the Skyhawks to the tune of 13-point fourth quarter as a part of his 23-point second half explosion. Council would end with a game high 31 points. David Duke would hit a floater for his 20th point with 4 minutes to go to give Delaware the lead back at 99-98. The next possession Council would hit a fall-away jumper for his 31st point and that would be it for the Blue Coats with scoring.
Delaware would go scoreless the final 3:25 of play, despite having many good shot attempts to tie or take the lead down the stretch.
Council would lead the game with 31 points and was one of 3 Blue Coats to score over 20 points, Smith (23) and Duke (20) would also lead the way.
College Park was carried by Silva & Lundy. They both would finish with 26 points.
Delaware is back to work on Saturday, 11/25, playing host again to the Skyhawks at the Fieldhouse, tip off set for 6pm.
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