Smyrna earns quarterfinals with 63-46 win over Caravel

By Ben Heck Special to the Delaware State News
Posted 3/6/21

SMYRNA — Caravel Academy’s offensive attack can put up a load of points in a hurry.

That’s why, even when ahead by double digits with less than two minutes to play, Smyrna …

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Smyrna earns quarterfinals with 63-46 win over Caravel

Posted

SMYRNA — Caravel Academy’s offensive attack can put up a load of points in a hurry.

That’s why, even when ahead by double digits with less than two minutes to play, Smyrna High’s Elijah Credle wasn’t ready to let off the gas pedal.

The senior continued hustling up and down the court, battling for rebounds and knocking down shots until the final buzzer sounded.

Leading by just two points at halftime, No. 6 Smyrna eventually pulled away with the 63-46 win over No. 11 Caravel in the third round of the DIAA boys’ basketball state tournament Saturday night.

“Every game from here on out is going to be a four-quarter game,” said Credle. “So that’s what we have to do. We have to play until the end, play until the final whistle.”

The unbeaten Eagles (17-0) move on to face No. 3 Howard High School of Technology in the quarterfinals Tuesday night. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. in Wilmington.

“Caravel, we know, has a good team,” said Smyrna coach Andrew Mears. “Being a team that has had so many injury issues, it was really tough having an idea of what exactly to expect out of them tonight … We saw two guys tonight who we didn’t see last game and they’re two quality basketball players, so we had to figure out things on the fly, which isn’t a great way to be in a tournament game.”

Smyrna’s second half scoring surge was due mainly in part to the senior Credle’s game-high 20 points and Olumuyiwa Salako’s dominant performance under the basket.

Credle added seven rebounds and seven assists, while Salako scored eight points and reeled in close to 20 rebounds.

Junior Elisha Gregory recorded 12 points, while senior Rob Wiley and junior Devin Demoe each added eight points in the Eagles’ 17-point win.

Senior Josh Morrow led the way for Caravel’s offense, putting up a team-high 19 points for the Bucs (10-6).

Credle opened the game with one of his three three-pointers just 35 seconds in as the first eight minutes featured five lead changes. With seven unanswered points to end the quarter, the Bucs entered the second quarter with a 17-10 lead. It proved to be their largest lead of the night.

Smyrna came out strong in the second quarter, putting up five quick points to regain the momentum. Smyrna outscored the Bucs 18-9 in the quarter to take a 28-26 lead into the break.

“It felt worse than that,” Mears said of the team’s first half. “It felt like we were down (at the half) and it was just because we weren’t playing our best version of ourselves. We had tremendous rebounding from our senior leader Salako, and we were able to settle down in the second half and got closer to what we looked like all year.

“We didn’t really step it up on defense (in the first half),” said Credle. “We weren’t playing Smyrna defense and they took advantage of it. We just had to step it up after halftime.”

Credle opened the second half just as he did the first half, dropping a three-point bucket in the first 30 seconds to get the scoring started. He scored 10 of his team’s 14 third-quarter points.

Smyrna saved its best performance for the fourth quarter, cruising to 21 points in the eight-minute span to put the game away and set up the team’s first showdown with Howard since Dec. 18, 2018.

On Tuesday, the Eagles will hope to see a similar result to that 2018 matchup, which ended with an 83-55 victory.

“This is huge,” Mears said. “Undefeated, that was fun at the end of the season, but now all that matters is the next game, the next win. Being in the quarterfinals, traditionally it is at the Bob Carpenter Center so it doesn’t have quite the same feel, but you can’t tell our kids that … Our kids are excited for the opportunity we have right now, it’s not every year that you get this opportunity so we’re very happy and fortunate to be in this position.”

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