St. Thomas More’s Elias Revelle (35) steals the ball from Dover’s Jordan Allen (5) in their second round game of the DIAA State Tournament at Dover High School.
St. Thomas More’s Gregory Bloodsworth (2) goes in for a basket in their second round game of the DIAA State Tournament against Dover at Dover High School.
Dover’s Michael Douglas (11) dives for a loose ball in their second round game of the DIAA State Tournament against St. Thomas More at Dover High School.
St. Thomas More’s Aaron Scott (20) recovers the ball under the hoop in their second round game of the DIAA State Tournament against Dover at Dover High School.
DOVER – St. Thomas More boys basketball coach Cheston Boyd said his school has only 170 students, and the gymnasium at the new Dover High is as big as his entire school building.
But the Ravens played like behemoths on Friday night, seizing the momentum in the fourth quarter and shocking third-seeded Dover 59-55 in the second round of the DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.
After edging St. Mark’s in overtime Wednesday for the first playoff victory in school history, St. Thomas More extended its run all the way to the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center. That’s where the 14th-seeded Ravens (17-5) will play No. 6 St. Georges in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“Right now, I don’t even know what’s next,” an exhausted Boyd said. “I forgot to tell the boys what time is practice. I’m just so excited.”
Dover (17-4) started five seniors, with two more coming off the bench. St. Thomas More countered with five juniors and three sophomores, but the young Ravens were more poised in the biggest moments.
“We made history at this school,” said junior center Aaron Scott, who bulled his way to 21 points and 13 rebounds. “Everyone came out to see us. Everyone doubted us, and we proved them wrong. That’s what we came here to do.”
The first three quarters were close all the way, with nine ties, five lead changes and neither team leading by more than four points. It was tied at 31 going into the fourth quarter, when the tempo picked up.
Corey Gordon scored off his own miss and turned a long defensive rebound into a fast-break score to push St. Thomas More to a 36-32 lead. But the Senators stayed within striking distance, and a tip-in by Steven Justice pulled Dover within 47-45 with 2:24 to play.
Then Scott, a 6-foot-5 widebody, picked up a loose ball underneath, laid it in and was fouled. He hit the free throw for his seventh straight Ravens point and a 50-45 lead with 2:05 to go.
“I may be biased, but I feel Aaron Scott is the best big man in the state of Delaware,” Boyd said. “… There’s no way we’re going to go home without at least attempting to get him the ball and let him carry us where we need to go.”
Suddenly, the Senators were in catch-up mode. They missed a couple of 3-point attempts, and Elias Revelle and Alvin West combined to hit 3 of 4 free throws to push St. Thomas More’s advantage to 53-45 with 1:05 remaining.
Dover played the rest of the way at a feverish pace, pulling within 55-53 on Justice’s steal and layup and two Jordan Allen free throws with 28.7 seconds to go.
But the Ravens made 12 of 18 free throws over the final 3:51 to keep the Senators from getting any closer.
“We stayed calm, got it out of our head, had a next-play mentality,” Scott said. “We came out here, knocked down our free throws in the clutch when we needed them and got some stops.”
Allen, a sharpshooter headed for Rider University, led Dover with 23 points but made just 1 of 8 3-point attempts. Justice scored 12 and 6-7 center Terrence Woodlin had seven points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
Revelle added 16 points and Gordon scored 10 for St. Thomas More, which kept its dream alive.
“We were the underdogs. Everybody thought we were going to lose to Dover,” Revelle said. “But I fight with my brothers every day, practice, go to work. I thought we could do it.”
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ
BOYS TOURNEY SCORES
Sanford 74, Woodbridge 48
Milford 63, St. Elizabeth 46
Mount Pleasant 53, Newark 39
Smyrna 64, Appoquinimink 51
William Penn 45, Middletown 31
Delcastle 62, Salesianum 52
St. Thomas More 59, Dover 55
St. Georges 68, Concord 63 – F/2OT