Middletown Basketball Amir Hite clamps down on defense in win over St Georges photo by Nick Halliday 1

Middletown defends home court in dominating effort

Glenn FrazerHeadlines, Sports

Middletown Basketball Amir Hite clamps down on defense in win over St Georges photo by Nick Halliday 1

Middletown Basketball Amir Hite clamps down on defense in win over St Georges, photo by Nick Halliday

The top ranked Middletown Cavaliers and the #4 St George’s Seahawks struggled to score points in the first half of their boys basketball game Monday night. At the end of the first quarter the Cavaliers held an 8-2 lead and were up just 17-8 after the opening 16:00 minutes of play. In the locker room, Head coach Azeez Ali told his players they were “playing at the Hawks pace in the first half, and wanted the Cavs to increase the defensive pressure while also making certain they get into a better rhythm with jump shots”. 

Coach Ali’s team followed his instructions to perfection, out-scoring the Hawks 15-3 to start the 3rd quarter, grabbing a lead of 32-11, and never looking back in a 64-28 win.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Jaden Rogers and Marcus Edmond helped spark the run that basically put the game “on ice”. Rogers scored 9 of his 13 points in that 3rd quarter with several power moves in the paint. 

As they did on Saturday with a convincing win over “top-ten” Howard (77-48), Middletown shot extremely well at the free throw line against SGT, converting 12-of-13 attempts (92%). On Saturday, the Cavs made 19-of-23 at the line (83%). There are certain aspects of the game that help guide teams to success and a “deep run” in the postseason. Those include solid defense, efficient free-throw shooting, and good ball movement. The Cavaliers are proving they have the ingredients to have such success, but when asked in his post game interview, coach Ali told us, “to quote the late-great Kobe Bryant, ‘The job’s not done yet”. “We’ve played well in the regular season, but haven’t achieved any of our goals yet”. 

Middletown improved to 14-2 with the win and 6-0 in the Blue Hen Conference Flight A. Marcus Edmund led a balanced effort with 14 points. Rogers put up 13, Amir Hite added 12, and Jaiden McGhee supplied 10 points plus a “2-handed slam” in the first half of play. 

The Cavaliers have a 4-game winning streak following the loss to Salesianum in late January and have games left at Mount Pleasant and Cape, sandwiched around their “Senior Day” home game with Caravel on the 18th. That game with Caravel can be seen on Delaware Live-302 Sports.

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