In a season filled with lows, the Delaware Blue Coats experienced a high on Sunday, March 9, defeating the Indiana Mad Ants by a final score of 108-106 at Chase Fieldhouse to snap their three-game losing streak.

Delaware started the game slow, converting on just three of their first nine shots and trailing by as many as nine throughout the first quarter. Overall, the Coats shot 40% from the field and went just 1-9 from three-point range in the opening frame to enter the second trailing by five.

A bounce back was in order, as Delaware massively improved their shooting in the second, converting on over 50% of their field goal attempts in the frame in addition to over 46% of their shots from long-range. Those numbers didn’t translate positively to the scoreboard though, as the Coats found themselves in an even bigger hole compared to the end of the first, entering halftime down by 12.

Despite the lackluster results on the scoreboard, Delaware did a fantastic job containing Jahlil Okafar, a former top-three pick in the NBA draft who has been a force inside the paint this season. Although he grabbed 14 rebounds, Okafor scored just six points and was guarded heavily from the opening tip.

“We did a good job,” head coach Mike Longabardi said. “He still killed us on the glass, he still creates shots for others, but you’re not gonna stop him individually, we’ve got to do it as a team, and we did a good job.”

“We did a great job double-teaming him,” said Thierry Darlan, who grabbed eight rebounds and recorded a +9 on the court. “The plan for tonight was to double-team him, make him score less. We were aggressive.”

The Coats made sizable inroads to their deficit coming out of halftime, as the duo of Justin Lewis and Jared Brownridge scored 10 and eight points respectively to give Delaware the lead heading into the final frame. In the eyes of Darlan, the energy surrounding the team completely shifted in the second half.

“The main difference was the energy and chemistry we had as a team,” Darlan said. “We just decided to play together and go out there and give everything we got.”

Lewis finished with a team-high 21 points and Brownridge totaled 16, but perhaps the biggest headline in the box score was two-way player Jalen Hood-Schifino scoring 18 points in his Blue Coats’ debut while looking fast, elusive, and dominant in the process.

Lewis is also a recent newcomer to Delaware, and Longabardi was thrilled with the way the team’s new acquisitions stepped up to the challenge of carrying a heavy offensive burden on Sunday.

“We haven’t had a lot of time with them,” Longabardi said. “Justin I’m really proud of because he didn’t play the last game, so he came in and really did a good job. And then Jalen, he’s just coming back so he gave us a huge lift. He was big today for us, so we’ll take those contributions and we need them.”

Delaware extended their lead to as many as 11 in the final quarter, but Indiana was able to make things interesting by putting together an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to two with a minute and a half to go. The Mad Ants then found themselves down six just a minute later but tied the game with back-to-back threes. The Coats were able to escape disaster on their final possession of the game, as Marcus Bagley converted a tip-shot in the lane with five seconds remaining, securing the victory.

“I thought we stayed together, that was a big thing for us,” Longabardi said. “We hung in there at the end. JC [Jarron Cumberland] had a nice drive, Marcus tipped it in. We’ll take it.”

With the victory, the Blue Coats advanced to 10-18 on the season with six games remaining. Despite being dead last in the Eastern Conference standings, Longabardi is looking forward to coaching his guys until the end.

“I’m gonna coach these guys until the last game, we’re taking it one game at a time,” Longabardi said.

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