Dover's first basketball state title was worth the wait
By Andy Walter
Posted 3/12/24
NEWARK — Sometimes the only thing better than winning a state title is waking up the next morning and having it hit you all over again.
Dover High basketball standout Dorell …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Already a member? Log in to continue. Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
Please log in to continue |
Dover's first basketball state title was worth the wait
Dover players celebrate their DIAA state championship victory over Salesianum Saturday night. SPECIAL TO THE DAILY STATE NEWS/GARY EMEIGH
Posted
By Andy WalterNEWARK — Sometimes the only thing better than winning a state title is waking up the next morning and having it hit you all over again.
Dover High basketball standout Dorell Little and his brother, Chase, were still enjoying the Senators’ state championship on Sunday.
“My brother, he was so excited,” said Dorell. “He woke up still talking about it — ‘We state champs.’ That’s all he wanted.
“I don’t know how to explain it. It just feels really good to have that under your belt. It’s history, everybody will keep talking about it. We know now we left our mark.”
The Littles weren’t the only ones waking up on Sunday to realize that their longtime dream really had come true.
Dover High could finally call itself Delaware’s state champions in boys’ basketball for the first time.
A mission that started in 1972, when the Senators dropped a crushing one-point decision to Wilmington in the state finals, was finally completed on Saturday when Dover rallied for a memorable 56-53 victory over Salesianum in the DIAA state title game.
Playing before an animated sellout crowd of 5,101 at the Carpenter Center, the Senators overcame an early 11-point deficit to pull out a dramatic win over the defending state champion Sals.
Rallying behind the dynamic duo of Dorell Little and Denim Perkins, who netted 47 of Dover’s 56 points, the Senators somehow won a gritty contest it led for a total of just three minutes and 49 seconds.
Little and Perkins shot a combined 6-for-24 in the first half as the Senators couldn’t get anything to fall.
“The message was, never quit, play defense, rebound the basketball, have a little fun,” said coach Stephen Wilson, who was in the state finals with Dover for the third time. “It’s basketball. You’re going to make mistakes. But, in the end, as long as you have one more point than them, we’re happy.
“I told Rell (Little) and I told Denim, you’re 1-for-7 and 5-for-17 right now, but who cares?” he added. “Take 17 more. I heard that they scored all the points (but one) in the second half. I don’t know, but I could care less. We just had to have one more point than them. I’m just so pleased.”
“For us to win, I knew me and him were going to have to go,” Perkins said about he and Little. “I told him, let’s just go back to old days and let’s go. You can’t hang your head in championships.
“To be the best, you’ve got to knock out the best,” Perkins said about beating Sallies. “We did that.”
One of the more memorable scenes from the closing minutes of the title game was Perkins happily running down the court with the ball after he was fouled with three seconds left.
Remember, Perkins was the one who, as a fourth-grader, told Wilson that he was going to Sanford. That was because the Warriors had just beat Dover in the state tournament.
When the two hugged after Saturday’s win, the message was much different.
“He just said he’s so proud of me,” said Perkins, “and that he loved me and that we loved each other.”
For Wilson, the Senators’ state crown was extra special because he had his father, Charles, there on the bench with him. The elder Wilson was the point guard on the De La Warr state championship team in 1969 — just the third season that there was an official state tournament in Delaware.
The Wilsons shared an emotional embrace just after Saturday’s game ended.
“My dad has always had a lot to say that he’s the only state champion in the house,” Stephen Wilson said with a smile. “I’ve got an opportunity now to talk.
“My wife (Jennifer) said she had a dream that it was good. Usually she tells me the truth about things. I just wanted to believe and coach my guys.”
Wilson didn’t have to go far to find someone to tell him about the heartbreak of that 1972 squad.
Longtime Dover track & field coach James ‘Bunchie’ Solomon was a starter in that game. The Senators thought they had won the title before a controversial traveling call gave Wilmington the chance for its last-second, game-winning shot.
“Coach Solomon was very instrumental,” said Wilson. “He’s been telling me to stay the course and stay locked in. I was locked in this year, I was locked in.”
Senior Noah Allen had witnessed more of Dover’s ups and downs over the last two decades than any current Senator player. With older brothers Xavier, Jordan and Elijah all playing for Dover, Noah had been going to games since he was two.
He said he’ll never forget the loud, raucous atmosphere of Saturday’s game.
“We knew it was going to be a game like this,” said Allen. “The experience was amazing, playing in this type of environment.”
The Littles’ family had been chasing a state championship for a long time, too.
Their dad, also named Dorell, was a standout on the Lake Forest team that lost in the 1999 state finals.
When he struggled to get a basket at the start of Saturday’s game, Dorell Jr. thought he just had too much adrenaline going.
“I had to calm down and let it come to me,” he said. “When it did, I got it going.”
Little has seen the scrapbook of clippings and photos from when his dad was playing. Little said he and his brother have always been motivated by family.
“That’s why we just go hard, for him,” said Little. “He and my mom, all the sacrifices they made, that’s what I love them for.
“He was really excited for me (on Saturday). I gave him a big hug.”
Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at awalter@iniusa.org. Follow on X at @DSNsports.
DIAA State Finals
2-Dover 56,
4-Salesianum 53
At the Carpenter Center
Salesianum 13 14 12 14— 53
Dover 6 17 17 16—56
SALESIANUM (53)
FG FT Pts Reb Ast Stl
2-Kareem Thomas 6-12 4-5 18 6 3 2
4-Zachary Swartout 1-3 0-1 2 2 1 0
11-Isaiah Hynson 7-17 0-0 15 1 1 2
12-Justin Hinds 4-5 0-0 8 5 1 0
23-R.J. Johnson 3-4 0-0 7 6 0 1
10-Luke Brown 1-3 0-0 3 2 0 0
22-James Laur 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
25-Patrick McGuinn 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
30-Dominic Downs 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Totals: 22-44 4-6 53 26 9 5
Three-point field goals: 5-11 (Thomas 2-5, Johnson 1-1, Brown 1-2, Hynson 1-3).
Blocks: 5 (Brown 2, Thomas, Hinds, Johnson).
Fouled out: Hinds.
Technical foul: Johnson (6:23, third quarter).
DOVER (56)
FG FT Pts Reb Ast Stl
1-Denim Perkins 5-13 6-7 16 8 8 4
3-Dorell Little 14-29 2-3 31 9 1 2
11-JayVion Denis 0-5 0-0 0 3 1 1
22-Chase Little 0-1 1-4 1 5 0 1
25-Istavan Norwood 0-4 3-4 3 2 0 1
5-Noah Allen 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 1
10-Nahseem Cosme 0-1 0- 0 0 2 0 0
33-Tarrance Williams 2-3 1-2 5 3 0 0
Totals: 21-59 13-20 56 37 11 10
Three-point field goals: 1-12 (D. Little 1-1, Allen 0-2, Perkins 0-4, Denis 0-5).
Blocks: 2 (D. Little, Norwood).
Attendance: 5,101
Time with the lead: Sallies-26:20; Dover-3:49.
Lead changes: 5.
Times tied: 4.
