After a very close first three quarters, the Delaware Blue Coats (5-5) were able to pull away from the Raptors 905 (4-5) for a 127-117 victory on Thursday, Dec. 1, their third win in four games.
The Blue Coats would be led by guard Skylar Mays, who played starter minutes off of the bench after guard Patrick McCaw left the game in the first quarter with an apparent leg injury.
“Pat [McCaw] is one of our leaders,” Blue Coats’ guard Roddy Peters added. “He’s one of the guys who keeps everyone together and he makes plays all over the floor… he’s one of those people where the stat sheet doesn’t even show how important he is.”
Mays would rack up 26 points on 8-16 shooting, but he was not alone. Three players for the Coats would score 20+ points, including Julian Champagnie and Mac McClung who tallied his first triple-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
“We’re gelling,” Mays said. “We’re building our team confidence and I think that just comes with logging more and more minutes together and getting the feel for each other’s game.”
Peters would also provide a spark off the bench, scoring nine points and providing the team with energy late in the third quarter.
“It’s crazy because coach actually came to me before the game and he asked me to do that, to bring that energy off the bench,” Peters said. “That’s kind of what we need is that spark and someone just to pick up the pace and play defense so I just came in and tried to do that for them.”
This win comes off the back of a comeback win against the Maine Celtics on Tuesday night that has given this team some identity and resilience.
“We’re resilient,” Mays said. “We’re low on bodies, there have been a couple of shakeups in our team but we’re consistent, we come to work every day and we’re competing more and more… there’s a lot of potential with this team.”
Peters emphasized how important it is to play for the team instead of the numbers on the stat sheet.
“I feel like that’s the formula for winning,” Peters said. “You have to have guys that are willing to take the sacrifices and do all the other things… For me, I know on this team we got a lot of scorers, we got a lot of guys that do a lot of things and I felt like I bring that toughness to the team and just play gritty basketball.”
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