NONLEAGUE HOOPS … Delta’s John Brasher starts a drive to the bucket during the Panthers 56-25 win over Hilltop.
PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
HILLTOP CADET … Drew Bailey puts up baseline floater while two Delta defenders close in. VIEW ALL PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (December 14, 2024) – This one was in the win column almost as fast as it started as Delta scored the first 21 points of the game to roll to a 56-25 victory over winless Hilltop. The Panthers won their third straight and are 3-2 on the year.
Tyson Bower was the main man in the first quarter blast, scoring three times on forays down the key, two more on mid-range jumpers, and topped off a 13-point quarter with a triple from the left of the top of the key.
Brady Morr helped with a putback and a pair of free throws as Delta shot 9-17 while the Cadets were guilty of eight turnovers, five coming in a row.
“That’s what we wanted to do, especially on a back-to-back,” Delta coach Matt Brighton said regarding the Panthers good start after a win over Northwood the night before.
“Sometimes it’s easy to come out flat, I don’t think we did that tonight. We took care of business like when we talked in walk through earlier.”
“We wanted to come out and start the right way, we wanted to put them away early, and I think we accomplished that.” “We got the ball moving, created turnovers and played solid and most importantly stayed healthy.”
Hilltop (0-4) finally got on the board nine minutes into the game on Carson Crossgrove’s baby hook, but Delta ran off 12 more points as the Cadets had nine more turnovers in the second quarter.
Alex York had three baskets, Bower added on four more points and Walter Hallett IV drove for a score to make it 33-2 with 1:51 to go in the half.
Austin Verdin’s three-pointer broke the Panther run but the Cadets trailed 35-7 going into the locker room.
Micah Rossman scored seven third quarter points for Hilltop, however Bower countered with eight, Wyatt Gibbons had a putback and Vinnie Martinez’ second bucket of the quarter made it 51-16 with 1:31 left and instituted the basketball running clock rule.
Delta shot 53 percent from the field in the first three quarters before the Panthers unloaded the bench the last 10 minutes of the game.
Delta had just three turnovers in the first three quarters, and seven for the game. Hilltop had 23 turnovers on the night and was 11/28 from the floor.
Bower was the only double figure scorer with 27.
HILLTOP (25) – Grubbs 4; Verdin 3; Schlosser 0; Shimp 4; Dempsey 2; Rossman 7; Bailey 3; Crossgrove 2; B. Guillen 0; Bowers 0; Totals: 10-1-2 – 25
DELTA (56) – Martinez 4; Alig 2; Bower 27; Gibbons 4; Morr 4; Huffman 1; York 8; Lintermoot 0; Hallett 6; Friess 0; Brasher 0; Totals: 21-2-8 – 56
HHS 0 7 9 9 – 25
DHS 21 14 17 4 – 56