By Andy Walter

DOVER — The last time Dover High faced Middletown, the Senators found a way to get past the Cavaliers.

But they had to dig out of a 19-point deficit to do it.

Dover knows it will be even more difficult the second time.

The ninth-seeded Senators, though, will gladly face a rematch with Middletown after dispatching No. 24 Polytech, 83-46, in the first round of the DIAA boys’ basketball state tournament on Tuesday night.

Henlopen Conference champion Dover (18-3) ran off 26 of the contest’s first 28 points to take control from the start against the Panthers (10-11).

The commanding victory sends the Senators to No. 8 Middletown on Thursday for a 7 p.m. second-round matchup with the Blue Hen Conference champion Cavaliers (15-6). Dover rallied for a 58-53 victory over Middletown on Dec. 9.

Senators’ coach Stephen Wilson is a former Middletown head coach.

“You’ve got to play good teams in the tournament,” he said. “I get a chance to go back to a place I really enjoyed.

“That’s what’s fun about it,” Wilson said about facing a rematch. “You’ve got to make some adjustments and do some different things and we’ll see where it goes.”

“We’re going to go into that game as another battle,” said senior center Elijah Sessoms. “No matter who we play, we try to have the same outcome. We just want to come out with a win.”

Dover, which is 9-2 in the state tourney since 2019, goes into Thursday’s contest feeling pretty good about itself.

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Against Polytech, junior guard Jaheim Harrell found his outside shooting touch as he finished with a game-high 22 points after hitting five three-pointers. The Senators got threes from six different players, netting 11 in the game.
Sessoms (15) and Keyon Scott (11) also reached double figures as 11 Dover players scored on the night.

“We shot well, we defended well,” said Harrell. “We just played as a team and came out on top.

“We play everybody as if it’s our best game. We still played them like they were one of the top teams in the state. We handled business.”

The Panthers, who were looking for the program’s first state tournament win since reaching the state finals in 2015, got 20 points from junior Xavier Brewington.

Polytech (10-11) was a last-minute addition to this year’s tourney. The Panthers were left out of the original bracket on Friday but appealed because of a discrepancy in their record of one of their opponents.

The two teams weren’t sure they were playing each other until Monday afternoon.

“We were definitely relieved that we got another game,” said Polytech coach John Pierce. “It worked out in our favor and we got to play. It’s always a good time being in the state tournament.

“Hey, Dover is Dover. They played well. Our guys, it seems like we came a little rattled.”

Follow Andy Walter on Twitter at @DSNSports.