By Andy Walter

MIDDLETOWN — Dover High knew that some people doubted its five-point win over Middletown in the second game of the season.

The Senators didn’t leave any doubts this time.

Ninth-seeded Dover went on the Cavaliers’ home court and ran away to a dominating 70-44 win over No. 8 Middletown before a packed gym in the second round of the DIAA boys’ basketball state tournament on Thursday night.

The Henlopen Conference champion Senators (19-3) held the Blue Hen Conference champion Cavaliers (15-7) to their lowest point-total of the season in earning a quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded Salesianum (13-8) on Saturday at a time and site TBD.

In the first Dover-Middletown showdown, the Senators beat the Cavs, 58-53, on Dec. 9, after rallying from a 19-point deficit. On Thursday, Dover outscored Middletown, 42-22, in the second half to break the game open.

“There was a lot of talk about how we ‘escaped’ early on in the season,” said Senators’ coach Stephen Wilson. “They didn’t have their football players, we didn’t have ours. So now we both had our football players.

“It was a revenge game so we had to come here and play the best we can on the defensive end. That’s what I thought we did today.”

“Everybody had to get their nerves out,” said senior Lance Rainford, who netted 16 points, all in the second half. “We just played ball. We were waiting for that punch back. It came early.

“We slowed the game down, executed better and played hard for all 32 minutes.”

Like in the first meeting, the Senators got off to a slow start as the Cavs jumped out to an 11-3 lead.

But Dover went ahead to stay on a flurry of three straight baskets from junior guard Jaheim Harrell (16 points) midway through the second quarter. Harrell’s personal 6-0 run gave the Senators a 19-16 advantage.

That lead quickly grew to as much as 28-18 before the Senators settled for a 28-22 lead at halftime.

“Jaheim being one of the leaders of this team, he always finds a way to get us going,” said senior center Elijah Sessoms. “Once he starts rolling, we all follow suit. It’s a game after that.”

The assumption was that the Cavs — who had won eight of their last nine games — would make a run at the Senators in the second half. That run never really came, though.

Dover never led by fewer than six points over the last two quarters. The Senators’ advantage grew to 46-28 by the end of the third quarter when Amir Hite (15 points) scored five straight points, converting a three-point play with 44 seconds remaining.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on the team that can play basketball,” said Wilson. “Right now they’re sacrificing and deciding that it’s not about how many points I score. They’re buying into this system right now.”

Dover’s advantage hit 50-30 on a putback by Sessoms with 6:27 remaining in the contest. It seemed clear that the referees were allowing both teams to be especially physical around the basket.

That was fine with the Senators, who have made it a point to be stronger this season.

“When the game gets physical, we always find a way to come out on top,” said Sessoms, who finished with nine points and a number of rebounds. “We just played with heart.”

Rainford scored six straight points himself late in the contest with a breakaway dunk putting the Senators up 68-42 in the closing minutes.

As much as they enjoyed Thursday’s victory, the Senators know they have to quickly refocus.

Dover will face Sallies having won 10 of its last 12 state tournament games. One of those victories was a comeback win over the Sals in the 2020 quarterfinals.

“Sallies is a great, disciplined team,” said Rainford. “They’ve got some great players. We’re going to handle business and do what we do every day — get better at practice tomorrow and we’ve got another game.”

“They’re a good team,” said Wilson. “But at this point, we’re going to play all good teams. So what can we do? It’s thirty-two more minutes of basketball, that’s all I care about.”

Follow Andy Walter on Twitter at @DSNSports.