If not for the fortunes of the second quarter, Delphi boys might have experienced a different outcome in both weekend contests with home losses to Class 2A's #3- ranked (12th overall in the state coaches poll) Tipton 75- 32 on Friday and in a muchcloser game to Frontier 63-49 on Saturday.

The young and injury-depleted Oracles trailed by four at 15-11 after the first period on Friday night against the much taller Blue Devil team. They were ahead of the Falcons by the same score on Saturday.

If not for the second quarter Saturday night, Delphi defeated Frontier by four, 42-38 the rest of the game.

But that second quarter….

Tipton used it to extend a 27-0 run that started with the Oracles leading 11-10 after a Dustin Salyer basket with 1:10 to play in the first quarter to take a commanding 37- 11 lead with 1:07 left in the half. Freshman Matt Brown scored Delphi's only points in the second period with :40 seconds remaining.

Indiana University-recruit Derek Elston then finished off the quarter with a threepointer to put the Blue Devils in front 40-13 at the half, outscoring the Oracles 25-2 in the second quarter.

On Saturday night, the Falcons (2-0) used the second quarter to manhandle Delphi, outscoring them 25-7 to turn a four-point deficit at the end of the first period into a 14- point halftime lead at 36-22.

After an Austin Hawn three-point field goal gave the Oracles a 15-9 lead over Frontier with :50 seconds left in the opening quarter, the Falcons went on a 33-7 overall run that ballooned the lead to their largest of the game at 20 points, 42-22. A Paul Zink bucket with 5:20 left in the third quarter finally stopped the onslaught.

Delphi's tenacity helped cut the lead to a manageable 10-point margin at 47-37 after a basket and two technical free throws from Hawn with :41 seconds to play in the third period. Delphi had the ball for what would be the final possession of the quarter and a chance to cut the deficit to within single digits to open the final period. But the Oracles could not convert, and Frontier connected on 13 of its final 17 free throws to close the game.

The only glaring statistic from the scorebook that told a difference in the contest and where the Oracles were a bit deficient was turnovers - Delphi (0-4) committed a season-high 25, compared to just 15 for the Falcons.

"Turnovers continue to plague us," Delphi head coach Brian Tonsoni said. "We must work on understanding and executing against trapping defenses."

But no-one can fault the effort exemplified by the team, a valuable attribute noted by the man in charge.

"The one constant thing is our effort," Tonsoni said. "I am extremely proud of how hard our guys are playing."

Hawn led all scores with a career-high 28 points, including 6 threes, while Salyer added 8 points and 6 rebounds, Zink 6 points, Brown 4 and Tanner Cripe 3 points, 6 boards and a game-high 6 assists.

Mack Lopp led the Falcons with 18 points, followed by Dylan Sterrett and Jon-Marc Ream with 14 apiece.

Friday night vs. Tipton

The Oracles knew going into Friday night's contest that they were facing a serious height mismatch against the Blue Devils (3-0), who featured a front-line that measured 6'8", 6'9" and 7'0" during parts of the game. To add to the shortcoming, Delphi was also playing without injured junior starting guards Justin Snider and Kris Bender, forcing them to start a very young and varsity inexperienced lineup that included three sophomores.

Despite the disadvantages, Delphi played an inspired first period before Tipton's overall talent and size took over behind a 32-point, 14- rebound effort from the highly-regarded Elston.

A disappointment came in the fourth quarter with Tipton ahead by 46 points at 70-24 and just over four minutes left, was still using its aggressive, trapping defense and had several starters still in the game.

The Blue Devils out rebounded Delphi 37-23 and forced 24 Oracle turnovers in proving that they are indeed a Class 2A state-title contender on the heels of last season's sectional-winning 21-3 team.

Tonsoni is anxious to get a healthy team back on the floor, but revealed a couple of areas that he would like to see his team improve upon for the remainder of the season.

"We need to shoot better as a team and take care of the ball in order to compete," he said.

Salyer led the Oracles with 9 points, followed by Brown with 8 points and a teamhigh tying 6 boards. Hawn scored 5 points early, with both Cripe and Zink adding 3 and Jordan Wagner and Quniton Pearson 2 apiece. Zink also had 6 boards to tie for team-lead.

JV beats Frontier

Cole Whitaker led a balanced attack with 10 points, followed by Wagner's 9 and Tyler Smith's 7 to lead the Delphi JV to a 35-24 victory over Frontier.

The Oracles (2-2) turned an 8-0 first quarter deficit into a 14-13 lead at halftime and outscored the Falcons 21-11 in the second half en route to the victory.

Brown added 6 points, Karson Bender finished with 2 points and Ethan Ross added a free throw for one. Ethan Zarse led the Falcons with 12 points and 7 rebounds.

Against Tipton, the Blue Devil JV also used a big second quarter, outscoring Delphi 27-2 in the period to take a 42-8 halftime lead, paving the way for a 63-15 victory.

Ross led the Oracles with 6 points, followed by Wagner with 4, Brown and Bender with 2 apiece and Gafford with one. Connor Rich nailed 7 three-pointers to lead Tipton with 21 points.

Delphi plays only one game this week at Benton Central on Friday night with the JV starting at 6:30 p.m.