CAMDEN — Caesar Rodney and Smyrna High both had identical records.

But their approach to offense has been very different this season.

While the Riders were averaging 85.3 points per game, the Eagles were scoring 66.5.

So it’s not surprising that, by controlling the pace, Smyrna also came away with the win, downing CR, 70-52, in their Henlopen North boys’ basketball showdown on Tuesday afternoon.

The victory, the Eagles’ third in a row over the Riders, leaves Smyrna (5-0 North) as the last unbeaten team in the division.

“When you get two pretty good teams together, it’s going to come down to which team kind of dictates their game plan,” said Smyrna coach Andrew Mears. “We weathered the storm that they threw at us in the first quarter. It kind of looked like it was going to go CR’s way with the pace.

“But we found a way to grind and get stops and shift that thing to our type of pace.”

After the Eagles’ two victories in the series a year ago were decided by a total of just three points, Tuesday’s contest looked it might go down to the wire, too.

CR (4-1) led by as many as seven points in the first quarter before Smyrna used a 13-5 second-quarter run to go up 25-22 at halftime.

The Eagles were still leading by only four midway through the third quarter before reeling off nine straight points to build a 42-29 advantage.

The Riders never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter. The final 18-point margin was Smyrna’s biggest lead of the night.

The Eagles, who were giving up only 37.8 points per game, forced CR into 15 turnovers over the final three quarters. The Riders also shot only 38 percent (13-for-34) over the last three quarters.

Mears liked the way his players handled the big-game situation overall.

“It’s great to see early-season matchups like that,” he said. “Early in the season, whether you win or lose, it’s good to face some adversity. It’s definitely nice to walk away with the win — you find a lot of things you can build on.

“I think both programs probably needed that early in the season.”

Senior guard Elijah Credle had a good game for Smyrna, netting 10 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter. With the Riders still within 53-43, Credle sank a big three-pointer from the corner with four minutes remaining.

“That’s kind of who he has to be for us this year,” said Mears. “With the ball in his hands, he’s got to be a lot of our brains and then take advantage of opportunities. I thought he did a good job of letting the game come to him and then put it away when it mattered.

“He’s a very unselfish player. He’s all in. He’s very coachable. We’re lucky to have a few of those guys on the team. I feel any night we can have one guy score more than everybody else and our guys are OK with that.”

Olumuyiwa Salako added 18 points with Robert Wiley scoring 13 for Smyrna.

Brycen Williams finished with 20 points for the Riders with Juan Jordan scoring 12. The two squads are slated to meet again on Feb. 19 at Smyrna.