Warriors take on West Scranton

Delaware Valley High School’s boys’ basketball teams recently played West Scranton. First up was the JV team.

In the first half, DV looked really good, holding a slight edge at 18-16. James Dabney was a total powerhouse. Of the 18 total team points, he scored 14 of them. Then he went down and stayed down. He was finished for the night with a serious sprained ankle.

The team will not be the same without him, and we got a preview of that in the second half. DV struggled to keep up with W. Scranton. Ben Ioffe battled hard to fill the void and the rest of the team kicked it into high gear as well. After three periods the score was 32-34. Then in regulation it was all tied 42-42. The extra period didn’t go DV’s way. W. Scranton won it 51-47. The whole team played hard but just couldn’t get it done.

Ioffe fought fiercely, scoring eight points. Harrison Bixby hung tough, putting in seven points. Joe D’Antonio scored six points, Jacob Brink hit for five, Drew Dabney scored four, and Mat Marotta three.

On the varsity side, it was a cake walk. DV was up 23-2 before W. Scranton hit a three to close out the period at 23-5 for the first period.

In the second period, DV slowed down some, partly due to W. Scranton pouring on the defense. At half time DV was up 33-19, still a comfortable lead.

In the third period, both teams scored 10 points. W. Scranton hung it all on defense, and it worked. They managed to hold their own with DV for the period.

Now came the final period. W. Scranton, who was desperate and determined at this point, smothered DV with a combination of defense and three-pointers. They closed in within nine points several times before DV would pull ahead again.

Isiah Berrios was his typical powerhouse self under the boards and on total defense.

It was a hard-fought battle and a sweet win for DV, who took the game with a final score of 60-50.

Leading the way in scoring was Tyler Lombardo with 17 points. Close behind was Trey Newton with 15. Colin McGarvey scored nine and Logan Olsommer put up eight.

Every player also played great defense while enduring what was close to a mugging by W. Scranton on their defensive side. So overall this was a nice win for DV.