After a five-month journey that featured plenty of highs and lows, the Delaware Blue Coats (14-20) season came to a close with a 122-111 win over the Raptors 905 (13-21) in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 29. This marks just the second time the team has missed the playoffs since they rebranded from the 87ers to the Blue Coats in 2018.

“Obviously, we didn’t achieve the goals that we wanted to,” head coach Mike Longabardi said. “But we did have some victories within the season, and I’m just proud of our guys to come in and play every night and just give me all that they have.”

Despite being eliminated from the playoffs two weeks prior, the Blue Coats looked like a team that was pushing for a postseason spot. The 905 had no answer for the Coats’ offense in the early stages, as Delaware scored the first seven points of the game and 14 of the first 18 on 6-7 shooting from the field. But, the 905 didn’t lie down, and outscored the Coats 17-9 through the final four minutes of the first quarter to trim the Coats’ lead from 14 to just five. 

“We got off to a good start, which is almost sometimes dangerous in the G League,” Longabardi said. 

That danger that Longabardi referenced showed during the second quarter, as the 905 came all the way back to tie the game at 37 within the first minute of the frame. Then, the two teams found themselves knotted up four more times throughout the quarter, before Delaware regained control and outscored the Raptors 23-13 to hold a 70-60 lead at the break. 

After shooting 71.4 percent in the first quarter, the Coats’ offense hovered above the 70 percent mark entering the break, which helped them produce their second-best half of the season, as it was just the second time all season Delaware scored 70 or more points in the first half, with the other time also coming against the 905 back in December.

“My thing is to stay the course and our guys did that,” Longabardi said. “We’re pleased, and obviously it’s always good to get a win.”

But, the third quarter was a carbon copy of the second, as the 905 brought the score to 74 a piece, and eventually took their first lead of the game after a scoop layup from Jared Rhoden to give the Raptors a 78-77 advantage. Rhoden later put the 905 back in front with his fourth made triple of the day, and finished with a career-high 40 points. 

In all three games against the Blue Coats this season, Rhoden served as a Blue Coats’ killer, putting up 30 or more points in each game against the Coats.

“He got hot,” Mobley said. “I feel like we might have messed up on some of our coverages, but he’s a good player, so you just got to guard us honest.”

From there, the 905 appeared to have control of the game, holding a four-point advantage with 2:41 left to go in the third, but the Coats dominated the final two minutes and took a 93-87 lead into the final quarter. A pair of threes from the Blue Coats propped the score up to 99-90, but once again, the 905 didn’t back down. Instead, they went on a 10-2 run to make it a 101-100 game in favor of the Coats. 

But that was the last comeback that Raptors had in them, as Delaware went on an 18-5 run that spanned for nearly five minutes to lead by as many as 14, and outscored the 905 21-11 from that point on to ice the game.

Although they didn’t sneak into the postseason this year, it was still a big year when it came to the development of players. The Blue Coats saw guys like Justin Edwards, Ricky Council IV, Alex Reese, Jeff Dowtin Jr., Jalen Hood-Schifino, Pete Nance, and Marcus Bagley all get extended minutes with the 76ers this season.

“When I got offered the job, I knew that was something that they had an excellent reputation on,” Longabardi said. “Our No. 1 goal is to reach our potential, get our guys better opportunities… we want to win, and it’s hand-in-hand, win and develop. And we’ve had a good track record of that, and it’s a testament to our whole entire staff; our coaching staff, our training staff, weight room. Everyone in the building contributes, and it’s just a good sight to see.”

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