By Andy Walter

NEWARK — Dover High has this way of playing the game.

The Senators have their lapses, like any other squad.

But, when the victory is up for grabs, Dover just seems to find a way to take control.

It was that way again on Thursday night when the No. 2 Senators asserted themselves in the final eight minutes to earn a 59-53 win over No. 3 Middletown in the DIAA boys’ basketball semifinals.

The 14th straight win for Dover (22-2) sends it to Saturday’s state championship game at 6 p.m. at the Carpenter Center. The Senators will face No. 4 Salesianum (15-8) in the finals.

The Sals beat top-seeded St. Elizabeth, 65-51, in Thursday’s second semifinal. Dover beat Sallies, 72-52, on Feb. 13 but the Sals were missing three players and their head coach that night.

Senior point guard Denim Perkins said Dover felt comfortable playing in the Carpenter Center before a sellout crowd.

“I just love the way we’re playing as a group,” he said. “A lot of us have played on bigger stages than this in AAU and all kinds of stuff. This game meant a lot but this was just another game for us.

“We knew if we sticked to the game plan and we stayed composed we could get the job done.”

The Senators said it was defense as much as anything that allowed them to close out the win. The Cavaliers shot just 5-of-16 in the fourth quarter and committed 17 turnovers in the game.

“It’s not that we wear you down to get turnovers,” said coach Stephen Wilson. “We’re not wearing you down to get steals. We’re wearing you down so you don’t have your legs in the third and fourth quarter.

“We don’t teach trying to get steals. We try to get deflections and try to get good angles to keep people in front of us. We think our man-to-man defense is good enough to keep you in front.”

“We focused more on defense and it all came together,” said senior Dorell Little.

Dover will be trying to win the program’s first state crown in what will be its sixth appearance in the finals.

On Thursday, the Cavaliers (18-6) trailed only 42-41 when Jack Murdaugh sank a three-pointer with 7:28 left in the contest. But Dover answered with a 10-1 run and Middletown never got that close again.

The Senators led 59-49 before Middletown netted four points in the last four seconds.

Dover led for 25:37 of the 32-minute contest. There were six ties and six lead changes.

While the Senators went up by as many as 12 points, the Cavs never led more than two.

Dorell Little (16 points), JayVion Denis (13) and Denim Perkins (12 points, 10 assists) all scored in double figures. The Senators sank only 3-of-16 three-pointers but Denis made all three.

It was a three from Denis that put Dover ahead to stay, 36-35, with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

The Senators’ three sophomores — Denis, Chase Little and Tarrance Williams — combined to score 28 points. Little transferred from Polytech with his older brother.

“Our super sophomores came up big today,” said Perkins. “They played at both ends of the court.”

Zion Mifflin, one of Middletown’s five Seaford transfers, had a team-high 15 points for the Cavaliers with Aviyon Matthews collecting nine points and 11 rebounds.

The Senators still have one game to play. They know the job’s not done yet.
“We have more work to do, one more,” said Little. “We can’t be satisfied yet.”

Ruggerio.com

Free throws

Middletown was hurt by its 6-of-15 foul-shooting. Dover was 14-of-19. Perkins was 8-for-8 from the line.... The Cavs were just 3-of-14 from three-point range with one coming just before the final buzzer. ... Middletown was called for 22 fouls while the Senators were whistled for 11. ... The Cavs finished with a 36-27 edge in rebounds.

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at awalter@iniusa.org. Follow on Twitter @DSNSports.