The Delaware Blue Coats secured their second straight victory at Chase Fieldhouse on Saturday, Nov. 30, taking down the Maine Celtics by a final score of 118-110.

Delaware was down by three after the opening frame, a quarter that despite being close, was mostly controlled by Maine thanks to lights-out shooting from Jordan Schakel. The 26-year-old guard scored a game-leading 11 points with three makes from beyond the arc, and it didn’t help that the Coats committed five untimely turnovers as well.

“That’s what he [Schakel] does. I was really upset because I feel like all of his threes were preventable, like in transition just not getting matched up to him,” said head coach Mike Longabardi. “We’ve got to be more conscious, he’s a dead-eye shooter. Hopefully, the more we play, the more we get used to each other, those mistakes will be eliminated.”

The script was flipped in the second, as the Coats outscored the Celtics 38-24 highlighted by nine points from Darius Bazley and eight from Jeff Dowtin Jr., a theme that would continue for the rest of the game.

It was Dowtin Jr. in particular who starred in the second half, scoring 17 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. He totaled 30 points in the game and frequently sought out mid-range isolation buckets, and at one point, it seemed like he couldn’t miss from that area.

“Just staying aggressive, trying to get downhill,” said Dowtin Jr. “My teammates did a great job of spacing the court and getting me open looks and open driving lanes. I just took advantage of those.”

It wasn’t just the stat sheet where Dowtin Jr. contributed, as the sixth-year pro was visibly taking on more of a leadership role by being vocal with his teammates on the floor, an area that he’s been trying to improve whenever the two-way player is with Delaware.

“I need to do a better job of that actually,” said Dowtin Jr. “Being more vocal, communicating a lot more, so I took that initiative today. Even during warmups, just talking to the guys, telling them what we need to do to win. Keep being vocal, keep getting guys into spots, and just keep being that leader and taking that up an extra notch.”

On the other hand, JD Davison of the Celtics was equally as dominant. His athleticism was on full display during the first half en route to 10 points, but the third-year pro took it to another level in the back end of the game to the tune of 24 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter while he led the charge for Maine’s comeback attempt. But despite the high point total, Longabardi is optimistic about the way his guys guarded Davison.

“JD Davison’s a handful, and I know he had 34, but I feel like he earned his points,” said Longabardi. “Give credit to JC [Jarron Cumberland], Pat [McCaw], Aminu [Mohammaed] guarded him some, even Baze [Darius Bazley] was on him some, they did a really, really good job.”

Despite a late fourth-quarter push where Maine had an opportunity to tie the game down three with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Coats locked up defensively against a Davison three-pointer and took home their third victory of the season.

“Tonight was similar to the Atlanta [Skyhawks] game, where we put it together for almost 48 minutes. That’s very hard to do,” said Longabardi. “It felt like we never let it get out of hand, so kudos to the guys. We did a lot of good things.”

This one felt particularly good, as the Coats went 1-4 against the Celtics last season including a loss in the second round of the playoffs. Delaware also dropped their first game against Maine this year back on Nov. 11.

“The one thing about the G League that’s interesting is, I know what happened last year, but there’s really no carry-over,” said Longabardi. “They do have a few guys back, but there’s so much change. That’s why it’s just ‘let’s attack each game, get better each game, and build on it.’ That’s our mentality.”

Up next for the Blue Coats is a road matchup with the Long Island Nets on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m.

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