For the second year in-arow, the Delphi boys' basketball team got to experience what it is like to enjoy a win before the Christmas break after defeating Tri-County in a hard-fought 52-50 road contest Saturday night.

The Oracles were able to bounce back from a 48-32 defeat at Clinton Prairie on Friday night to go home for the holidays with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of heading in the right direction. They have a full three weeks to savor the emotion before returning to the court for game action hosting Northwestern on Jan. 9.

After entering the weekend coming off of a brutal stretch in the schedule that saw three of Delphi's first five opponents now ranked in the top 15 in the state's most recent Class 2A poll, including the now #1- ranked and undefeated Tipton squad, the Oracles sensed an opportunity to finally achieve some measure of success as a reward for their efforts.

But it was not easy.

Delphi did again have to overcome what will be a season long deficiency - size - as well as being out rebounded by 25-17. They were also outshot from three-of-the-four statistical areas including beyond the three-point arc, (.714 percent to .333 percent), inside the three-point line (.571 percent to .481) and overall (.600 to .436).

But the Oracles did make 14-of-19 free throws (.737 percent) to just three of 12 (.250 percent) by the Cavaliers. They committed just nine turnovers (tying the season low set the night before at Clinton Prairie), while forcing 15 from the home team which led to a season-high 10 steals compared to just two for Tri- County.

"We're really happy to get a win," head coach Brian Tonsoni said. "The kids really earned this one and I couldn't be any prouder of them."

The game got off to a backand forth start, led by Austin Hawn who scored 11 of Delphi's 13 first quarter points to keep the game close at 15-13 at the first break.

The Oracles then outscored TC 9-2 during the second quarter, capped by a Paul Zink trey at the buzzer as Delphi worked the clock to perfection for the final shot to take a 26- 17 at halftime.

But the Cavs (0-4) would fight back, scoring 12 points surrounding only a Hawn three-pointer and several empty Oracle possessions over the first 6:30 of the third quarter to tie game at 29 with 1:50 left in the period. Dustin Salyer drove to the hoop for an old-fashioned three-point play and Kris Bender added back-to-back buckets for a quick 7-0 spurt over the next minute that led to a 36-31 Delphi lead at quarter-break.

The Oracles (1-6) opened their biggest lead of the game at 45-35 to force a Tri-County timeout with 3:20 remaining in the game. The Cavaliers then went on a 7-0 run to close to within 45-42 with 1:30 left when Hawn added his own old-fashioned three-point play to add the cushion to 48-42 with 1:14 left.

After a series of strategic timeouts from both teams, Tanner Cripe and Bender would hit two foul shots apiece to seal the win, despite a TC three at the buzzer that narrowed the final margin of victory to two.

Hawn led all scorers with 19 points, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, while Salyer added 14 points, a game-high five assists and a team-high four rebounds.

Bender and Cripe chipped in with seven points apiece, while Zink added five. Trenton Kyburz led TC with 16.

Vs. Clinton Prairie

Despite ice-cold shooting (12-of-43 .279 percent from the field, 3-of-8 .375 from the foul-line) matched only by the frigid temperatures outside, Delphi stayed close throughout its loss to the Gophers, trailing by only three at 21-18 at halftime and by just five points, 33-28 at the end of three periods.

In fact, the Oracles held the Gophers scoreless over a fiveminute stretch that began with 2:18 left at the end of the third quarter all the way until 5:20 remained in the game. After Salyer hit the back-end of a two-shot foul to close to within 33-29 to start the final quarter, Delphi could not capitalize on the CP scoring drought and was finally outscored 15-3 down the stretch to produce a final that was not indicative of the closeness of the contest.

Despite committing a season low nine turnovers, the Oracles were out rebounded 30-21 by the Gophers, who also shot .739 percent (17-of- 23) inside of the three-point line and had just seven turnovers of their own.

Hawn again led in scoring with a game-high 18 points, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc, followed by Salyer's seven points, game-high-tying seven boards and team-high tying three assists.

Cripe added five points, and Zink had two, while Bender finished with three assists as well. Dustin Rusk led Clinton Prairie (2-5) with 14 points.

Junior Varsity splits pair

Matt Brown made the most of his only JV quarter of action, scoring 13 of Delphi's 15 second quarter points and snared a team-high four rebounds to rally the Oracles (3- 4) from an 11-8 first quarter deficit into a 23-13 halftime lead that they were able to hold onto to squeak out a 35- 34 victory over Tri-County.

Ethan Ross nailed a pair of key third quarter treys en route to eight points to help keep Delphi ahead. Cole Whitaker added four, Karson Bender three points and a team-high three steals, Jordan Wagner, Tyler Smith and Clay Maxfield had two points apiece and Zach Condon one, with Smith dishing out a team-high five assists.

At Clinton Prairie, Smith had team-highs of 10 points, four steals and three assists in the Oracles 49-32 loss to the Gophers, with Brown adding eight points and Wagner seven in their limited JV action.

Karson Bender, Ross and Whitaker finished with two points apiece and Maxfield had one, while Whitaker pulled down a team-high seven boards.

After the holidays, Delphi will return to action with home games against Northwestern on Jan. 9 with the JV starting at 6:30 p.m. and Rossville on Jan. 10 with the JV tip-off at 6 p.m.