The Delaware Blue Coats won in relatively comfortable fashion over the Motor City Cruise on Saturday night from the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington, DE. After a rough first quarter, Jeff Dowtin Jr. and co. imposed their will on the Cruise, forcing 22 turnovers and proving their superiority over the course of the evening.
Blue Coats vs Cruise recap
It was the Motor City Cruise that came out of the gates… cruising. Everything seemed easy for them, and they made life very tough for the Blue Coats early on. Following a very balanced offensive attack, all starters for the Cruise had logged points just four and a half minutes into the game, allowing them to jump out to a double-digit lead.
Alondes Williams and Tolu Smith III set the tone early for the Cruise, and their strong play continued throughout the entire game. The duo combined for 40 points, 22 rebounds, and 10 assists. Without their individual contributions, this game would have never been a contest. But if they had also not combined for 10 of the Cruise’s 22 turnovers, they would have given their team a much better chance at keeping it close in crunch time.
Jeff Dowtin Jr. and newcomer Pete Nance, brother of Atlanta Hawks forward Larry Nance Jr., were back with the team after being with the main roster on their West Coast road trip. They were the only bright spots for the Blue Coats in the first quarter. When Motor City called timeout with 5 minutes remaining in the opening frame, all 14 of the Blue Coats points had been scored by those two.
When asked what he has been most impressed with in Pete Nance’s short time in the organization, head coach Mike Longabardi said, “He probably has not played in over a week, right? And now he flies across the country, now he comes in, but his professionalism is what is really standing out. And if you are a professional, when you are not making shots to start the game, you stay with it, obviously they fall in the second half and he had a huge second half for us.”
Once Judah Mintz checked into the game for the first time, the rest of the Blue Coats- finally- showed up with him. With Dowtin and Nance off the floor, Delaware was able to manufacture more offense working as a team, and thus were able to cut into the deficit and only trail by 3 points after the first.
Finding a rhythm
With the Blue Coats finally having settled into the game, the second quarter was much more of a back-and-forth affair. Jared Brownridge and Marcus Bagley each hit long-range shots to hold the team over until Dowtin and Nance checked back in with 9 minutes remaining in the half. But for all the good work they had done in the first quarter to keep the Blue Coats in it, they deserve just as much blame for not allowing the Blue Coats to run away with it after they took their first lead of the game at 39-38.
The two combined to shoot just 36.3 percent in the second quarter, but that does not even begin to describe the issues that plagued them. Dowtin forced up an ugly shot from the left corner, air-balled a mid-range attempt, got blocked at the rim, and had the ball stolen, leading directly to a Cruise alley-oop in transition. Nance also had the ball ripped away from him late in the quarter when the Blue Coats were threatening and only managed to get 2 shots up in 9 minutes of play in the quarter.
The Motor City Cruise had the advantage on points in the paint, second-chance points, and fast break points when the teams departed for the locker rooms. If it were not for the complete effort and stabilizing play of Judah Mintz, who played basically the entire second quarter, the Blue Coats would have trailed by more than just 6 points at halftime.
The good Dowtin and Nance vibes from the first quarter were back to start the third, but more importantly, the bad team vibes from the first quarter were gone. Dowtin and Nance combined to hit 3 shots from three-point range early in the quarter, which led to a one-point lead. The good fortunes would continue from there.
Picking up speed
Jeff Dowtin Jr. had the scorching hot hand for the entire second half. He dropped 14 of the Blue Coats’ 35 points in the third quarter. For as bad as the second quarter was for him when the team needed him the most, he was there. Dowtin scored all four of the Blue Coats’ buckets to take the lead throughout this game.
The Blue Coats rode a 21-4 run in less than 5 minutes of game time, spanning the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. A beautiful Max Fiedler assisted Marcus Bagley in transition, which put the home team up by 13 points and forced the Cruise to call a timeout to regroup. News flash: they did not.
If the theme of the game was not already clear, this was Jeff Dowtin’s show. He shot the lights out at Chase Fieldhouse as the clock dwindled down and simultaneously shot the hearts out of the Motor City Cruise. Dowtin would hit his first 3 shots from behind the arc in the quarter en route to his season-high of 36 points as the Blue Coats… cruised to a comfortable victory by a final score of 114-99.
Up next for the Blue Coats
This marks the Blue Coats’ third straight win and brings their regular season record to 4-1. Their next matchup is on Tuesday, January 7th, in Los Angeles, when they face Bronny James and the South Bay Lakers.
