Make that two state champions: Sanford boys follow girls with basketball title win

The Sanford Warriors (24-1) defeated the Dover Senators (19-4) 55-45 in the championship game of the Delaware boys’ basketball state tournament on Saturday, March 13 at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center.

The victory came less than 24 hours after the Sanford girls’ team had clinched the state championship with a 51-36 victory over the Smyrna Eagles, making Sanford the first school in state history to claim both the boys and girls titles in the same season.

“This is the best feeling in the world, winning a state championship,” junior forward Deon Jones said. “We just stayed calm and ran our stuff. We wanted this championship so bad. We wanted to make history with the girls.”

But the history making didn’t end there. The title was the fifth for the Sanford boys, matching the all-time record held by Wilmington High School. The title was also the third for boys coach Stan Waterman, tying the state record previously held by Wilmington’s Gene Thompson and Newark’s Jim Doody.

“Those guys are legendary,” Waterman said of Thompson and Doody. “I have great admiration and respect for them. Just to be mentioned with those guys is an honor and a privilege.”

In the final against Dover, the Warriors shot just 36.4 percent from the field, but they compensated by playing stifling defense and by sinking 22-of-27 free throws. After making only two of their first seven foul shots, they sank their final 20.

Sanford junior Trevor Cooney finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, sophomore Khalid Hart had 17 points, and Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Senior guard Stephen Poarch scored just two points, but his defensive play was pivotal. Poarch drew the toughest assignment, matching up with Dover shooting-star Corey Crawford. Crawford managed a game-high 18 points, but he was just 5-for-17 from the field and 1-for-9 from 3-point range.

“Outstanding,” Waterman said of Poarch. “I’ve said all along that he’s the best defensive player in the state. [Crawford] hit six threes in the semi-final game and five in the quarterfinal game. I just challenged Stephen to do what he’s done all year long and shut down the top gun. He did a great job tonight.”

Senior forward Alex Carroll also turned in a key defensive effort, holding Dover’s 6-foot-10 Pieter Prinsloo to just four points, despite giving up seven inches to Prinsloo in the height department.

“I just boxed him out and tried to keep him off the glass,” Carroll said. “He got a couple of over the back calls, which took him out of the game relatively early. I had great help behind me too.”

Dover took a 12-5 lead at the end of the first quarter after reeling off a 10-0 run that featured back-to-back 3-pointers from guards Crawford and Kendal Williams. But Sanford regained the lead in the second quarter when Hart scored five consecutive points for a 16-14 advantage. Less than two minutes later, Carroll scored on a nifty up-and-under move to give Sanford an 18-16 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game.

Dover refused to go away though, even after falling behind 41-32 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Senators responded with a 7-0 run, pulling within two points with five minutes remaining. Sanford failed to score a field goal from that point on, but they sealed the victory by making 14 straight free throws, with Cooney sinking eight.

Cooney scored just two points in the first half, but he recovered to score 15 of the Warriors’ 35 second-half points.

At halftime, Cooney received some good advice from his brother, Sanford assistant coach Matt Cooney.

 “Matt told me to put it behind me,” he said. “The second-half was a new beginning. I couldn’t get anything going in the first half, but then I was able to knock down a three and get going.

“In the first half I didn’t shoot well and the team didn’t shoot very well, but it shows the kind of heart that we have and what kind of determination to win that we have. Then we were able to make those foul shots that counted at the end. It was really big for us.”

The Warriors will enter next season as the favorite to win another state championship. Carroll and Poarch will be key losses, but the Warriors return their three leading scorers in Jones, Cooney and Hart.

“For me and the other seniors it was the culmination of four years of hard work,” Carroll said. “Everybody played great today and it was an amazing way to end a season like ours. This is also a great way to end my career. It’s been a great four years.”