Oracles lose to Titans, 52-33
Offense sputters in opener
By Michael Denton

First year Delphi Community High School Coach Brian Tonsoni was proud of his squad's defensive intensity in the season opener against the visiting Taylor Titans (1-0). But a terribly slow start on the Oracle (0- 1) offensive end allowed Taylor to gain a 25-8 halftime lead, en route to a 52-33 Titan win.

Led by senior Kyle Dillon and junior Tyler Gotshall, the visitors jumped out to a 15-3 first quarter advantage. The Oracles' 3 points all came via 1 of 2 foul shooting from Kyle Bender, Michael Myers and Dustin Oliver. Those three, along with fellow starters Matt Lewis and Andrew Cebulla, are all juniors.

In the second quarter, Delphi tried to get back into the game on the strength of a scrappy man-to-man defense. Myers finally hit the first Oracle field goal of the season... a trey... at the 4:25 mark to make it 15-6. But four Oracle turnovers, all of which the Titans took advantage, led to the 25-8 score at the break.

The two teams played virtually even the second half. Oliver got untracked and showed a nice shooting touch that resulted in a team leading 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting, including both of his attempts from beyond the arc.

But Dillon's 19 points (8 of 12 from the field) and Gotshall's presence in the middle (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) were too much for the Oracles to overcome.

"Inexperience reared its head," Coach Tonsoni remarked after the game. "We are a young team with no seniors on the team. It will take some time, but the offense will get going."

"I am proud of the defensive intensity," he continued. "Numerous

times on the floor (scrapping for loose balls) and drawing 2 offensive fouls are examples of how they played extra hard. We met our goal of keeping the opponent to 54 points or less. So as we continue to play defense like that, our offense will come around and we will be competitive."

Myers joined Oliver in double figures with 11. Bender's 5 and Kyle Stonebraker's 2 off the bench rounded out the Oracle scoring.

Delphi hosts the Tipton Blue Devils on Friday and the Frontier Falcons on Saturday. JV starts both evenings with a 6:30 tip Friday and 6 on Saturday.

Oracle JV also lose

Coach Rob Roth's JV Oracles (0-1) opened the evening with a 49-26 loss to the Titans. Quinton Pearson and A. J. Beckett led the way for Delphi with 8 and 7 points respectively.