Last week the Delhi Raiders made a decision. Playing in front of a packed house of screaming students that had bought their way out of class, the Raiders were downed by the top seeded Simcoe Sabres by a single point.
That game, that atmosphere and that close score gave the Raiders the fuel, experience and know-how so that when they returned to face the Sabres in the NSSAA championship Thursday, they'd be ready.
And ready they were.
The school usually known for their stout defence on the football field brought that same effort to the court. On offence, the Raiders had one of their best shooting performances of the season, leading to an eventual 50-32 win.
The championship was Delhi's first since the 03-04 campaign.
"We just wanted to not play their game," said Delhi's Donte Richardson. "We wanted to keep the tempo slow because the last two times we played them, we just kept giving up the ball. We didn't want to do that this time.
"We wanted to take control and that's what we did."
With a perfect 11-0 record heading into the game, the Sabres appeared ready to exercise the demons of past finals defeats that came both last season and in 2009. With just six points in the first quarter and 13 in the entire first half, Simcoe suffered its first severe power outage of the season at the absolute wrong time.
"Their defence was just really good," Simcoe captain Connor Pettersen said. "They changed it up throughout the year and I thought their size was the biggest problem. They're aggressive and their defence is great -- that's the biggest thing, we just couldn't get any easy baskets."
The good news for the Sabres is that they'll still get a chance to represent Norfolk at the AAA CWOSSA Championships in Kitchener next week. Probably a good thing the tournament doesn't begin sooner -- the Sabres will need a few days to get past Thursday's loss.
"It got frustrating," admitted Pettersen. "It's obviously the high-pressure situation where the frustration is even higher, so that's basically what happened. They played a very good game.
"I think CWOSSA, we should just go out and play it like it's our last game and have fun."
Seven Raiders hit the scoresheet in the contest, five scoring at least six points. Johann Jenkins, who replaced Delhi scoring machine Justin Lichach in the second when the Raiders centre was in foul trouble, came through big. Jenkins filled the void nicely by scoring eight, while Lichach eventually returned to the game and got nine. Carter Small led DDSS in scoring with 15.
The key for the blue and gold now is to bring a similar effort to Waterford and the CWOSAA Single-A Championships next Wednesday.
"We're really glad that we made it this far," said Richardson.
David Teichroeb and Tommy Tran paced the Sabres with 11 points each.
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