The Delhi boys basketball team couldn’t withstand a second-half run from Moravia as they fell to the Blue Devils 49-42 in the Section IV Class C championship game Saturday at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
After being knocked out in the quarterfinals last year, it was a point of emphasis for the Bulldogs to make it to this game throughout the season.
“It felt like the players worked really hard to have a long goal of being in this position that we’ve gotten to,” Delhi coach Warren Kelly said. “We played a hard schedule during the year to try to challenge ourselves to prepare for this game.
“I love this team. They kept growing as the year went on, they kept trying to get better even when we were racking up win streaks. They are a hungry group that I think overall are pretty darn mentally tough that don’t stay down for very long when they’re down.”
Lucas Nealis and Angelo Krzyston each had 12 points to lead the Bulldogs while Rocco Schnabel added six points in the loss.
Abram Wasileski and Kyler Proper had 14 points apiece for Moravia while Logan Bell was also in double figures with 11 points.
Proper opened the game with a three but Delhi responded quickly and got off to a fast start which saw it take a 10-4 lead with two minutes to go in the first.
They would take a 10-7 lead into the second quarter where both offenses went quiet for a bit until Krzyston made a layup in traffic to make it 12-7 with six minutes to go in the first half.
Consecutive baskets from Seamus deMauro pushed the lead to 20-11 with three minutes to go and Nealis drained a three to increase it to 23-11 with just over a minute left.
Moravia cut the lead to 23-15 heading into the break.
“I thought our zone was making them really struggle for good looks; we were rebounding outstanding. We also did a nice job, I thought, of getting back in transition,” Kelly said of Delhi’s first-half performance. “We were very concerned about the transition offense. I feel like that was key. They were frustrated and we definitely hit some big shots and we had good movement on offense.”
Moravia began to close the gap in the third quarter with a couple early baskets from Wasileski leading to a timeout with the Delhi lead down to 23-19.
Nealis made a three out of the timeout and a Krzyston jumper pushed it back out to 28-19 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
Moravia continued to chip away at the lead and was gaining momentum before Nealis made another huge three with 10 seconds left.
Moravia scored on the other end and the Bulldogs were clinging to a 33-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Krzyston opened the quarter with a basket but the Blue Devils offense kept coming and pulled within one at 35-34.
Not long after, Bell gave Moravia its first lead since the opening minutes at 37-35 with a three and the Blue Devils wouldn’t look back.
Ivan Richardson tied the game at 37 but Moravia would come back with a free throw to take a lead it would never relinquish down the stretch.
“I feel like they found some cracks in our defense that we talked about but we didn’t adjust to on the fly,” Kelly said of the second half. “We just came up a little too short with the defensive adjustments that we tried to make in the second half as they were putting the push on us.”
Despite the loss, Delhi — which finished its season with a 17-5 record — had a large crowd of fans that made the trip to support the team, which was something Kelly and the team appreciated.
“It’s really big,” he said of the support. “It always means a lot to see people in your community support your team when you have a nice year like we did. Probably everybody in the community is connected to somebody on the team through one of two degrees of separation one way or the other and they did a great job of showing how proud they were of this group and how much they love this group.
“We’re really grateful for it. Saw a lot of faces in the crowd that it just warmed my heart to see them at the game and I hope the kids appreciate that as they look back at this game.”
Moravia 49, Delhi 42 (Saturday)
M … 7 8 14 20 — 49
DA … 10 13 10 9 — 42
M: Drew Nye 1 6-6 9, Abram Wasileski 5 4-7 14, Kyler Proper 6 2-3 14, Logan Bell 4 2-2 11. Totals: 16 14-18 49
DA: Teddy Kelsh 0 0-0 0, Lucas Nealis 4 0-0 12, Charlie Haight 1 0-0 2, Will Kulaski 0 0-0 0, Ivan Richardson 2 0-0 4, Tommy Nagy 1 0-0 2, Angelo Krzyston 6 0-0 12, Seamus deMauro 2 0-0 4, Rocco Schnabel 2 2-2 6. Totals: 18 2-2 42
Three-point baskets: M 2 (Nye, Bell); DA 4 (Nealis 4)