Coming off a hard-fought battle at Carroll Wednesday night, head coach Brian Tonsoni's third Delphi boys' basketball team knew that they were in for another struggle in the 2008-09 season home opener against Taylor Saturday night, but no-one could have anticipated the shooting display that the Titans would bring with them en route to a 79-53 victory over the host team.

Taylor was scorching the nets early and often in its season opener, including 5-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first quarter, along with a three-point play the oldfashioned way in its first possession to open the contest, to jump in front 26-11 at the break.

With that tone set, the normal expectation is that a team cannot keep up that torrid of a shooting pace for the entire game, but the Titans would prove to be an exception to the conventional basketball wisdom on this night.

Taylor never really cooled off during the contest, finishing at .646 percent (31-of-48) overall from the field and an amazing .636 percent (7-of- 11) from 3-point range to defeat Delphi for the fifth consecutive time.

That tempo is difficult for any team to keep up with ¯ especially a young Oracle team that lost five seniors to graduation and returns only two players from last year's squad that have significant varsity experience.

The Titans never trailed, but the Oracles did play virtually even against the Taylor offensive onslaught during both the 2nd and 3rd periods, losing each by only two points to trail 45-28 at the half and 61-42 after three quarters, before both teams closed the final stanza substituting freely to account for the final margin.

"Taylor played extremely well and will be a team to reckon with all season," Tonsoni said. "We played poorly on the defensive end and need to concentrate more on defensive assignments in order to compete."

The Oracles are aware that they will be out-sized in most contests with only two players on the roster standing taller than 6'1", the tallest of which is just 6'3'', but hope to be able to compete on most nights with effort, hustle, hard work and a better display of teamwork this season.

What was not anticipated embarking upon the season was for Delphi to be without the services of one of its two veteran players in junior guard Justin Snider, who will miss a handful of early season games due to injury, leaving the Oracles shy on experience.

"Our inexperience is hurting us right now," Tonsoni added. "We must work hard to help our young players understand the intensity and focus that is needed at the varsity level. This team cares and will work hard to improve."

Sophomore Austin Hawn tied for game-high scoring honors with 18 points, followed by fellow classmate Dustin Salyer with 12 and junior Kris Bender 10 to lead a balanced Oracle attack. Sophomore Jordan Wagner chipped in seven points off the bench, while junior Tanner Cripe finished with six.

Taylor received a doubledouble effort from Tyler Simmons, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Reomey Northington added 18 to assist the Titan effort.

Junior Varsity beats Taylor

Tyler Smith led Delphi with 16 points and Jordan Wagner added 15 to lead first-year Oracle JV coach Michael Lewis' squad to a 41-34 victory over Taylor.

Matt Brown scored seven and Clay Maxfield three to help improve the Delphi JV record to 1-1 on the season.

Wagner led the Oracles with seven points during their 43-26 season-opening loss to Carroll last Tuesday night at Delphi. Brown and Zach Condon added six points apiece in the contest, while Corby Hawn scored four and Smith three.

Delphi will be at home this weekend, hosting Class 2A's #3-ranked team from Tipton (ranked #12 overall in the state for all schools in the coaches poll) on Friday night in its conference opener with the JV starting at 6:30 p.m. The Blue Devils finished 21- 3 and won their Sectional last season and have a very tall front-line that features 6'8" Indiana University-recruit Derek Elston.

The Oracles will then host Frontier on Saturday night with the JV tip-off at 6 p.m.