Cold-shooting dooms Oracles
By John J. Dunn Contributing sportswriter

Most high school basketball coaches would feel pretty good about their team's defensive efforts and chances of winning when holding an opponent to less than 50 points in a game.

That is just what head coach Brian Tonsoni's Delphi team has done to its last three opponents.

But what does not help parlay those efforts into victory is when your own team scores less than 40 points in each of those three contests.

The Oracles (5-10) apparently brought the frigid outside temperatures from over the weekend into the gym for an adverse affect on their shooting touches in losses to West Lafayette 46-39 on Friday and to Maconaquah 48-39 on Saturday.

Delphi had some high expectations on Saturday night, closing out a six-game home stand against a Maconaquah team that entered the game with a 5-7 record on the season.

But a closer look at the Class 3A Braves showed that this was a dangerous team that had played a tough schedule to date and entered the contest with more impressive credentials than they were given credit for.

Maconaquah had won 5-ofits last-7 games coming in, including an impressive 45-41 victory over Cass (ranked #16 in Class 2A) on Friday night, a team that had beaten the Oracles 46-33 just last Saturday.

The Braves opened the season with five straight losses, but played teams who now have a combined overall record of 59-10, including Class 3A's #1-ranked Northwestern (12- 1), Class 4A's #7-ranked Marion (14-2), Class 2A's #9-ranked Oak Hill (11-3) and two losses to Class 2A's North Miami (11-2) who certainly will break into the rankings after handing Northwestern its only loss of the season last Tuesday, 70-61.

But what was most disappointing about Saturday night's loss was that it was a game that the Oracles seemingly had in control most of the way, including a 9-point lead at halftime, taking advantage of an excellent defensive effort to hold Maconaquah to just 12 first half points en route to the 21-12 margin.

However, the Braves would then score 18 points in each of the third and fourth quarters, while turning the tables defensively and holding Delphi to 18 total points in the 2nd half.

Almost without explanation, the Oracles have suddenly reverted to last year's bugaboo and have gone stone-cold shooting from the field in their last three outings, including .363 percent (12-of-33) vs. Cass, .378 (17-of-45) vs. West Lafayette and .341 (15-of-44) vs. Maconaquah.

The shooting woes have also extended to beyond the threepoint arch in the last three games - .125 percent (1-of-8) vs. Cass, .250 (4-of-16) vs. WL and .231 (3-of-13) against the Braves - all in their home gymnasium.

Recognizing the importance of shooting to this year's team, Delphi is 5-2 on the season when shooting at least .432 from the field and 0-8 otherwise, Tonsoni is searching for answers.

"Defensively we are playing well enough to win," Tonsoni said. "We need to be more aggressive on offense and not settle for outside shots only."

"We have a tendency to sit back on our heels against tough defenses. We just need to hit a few shots and make a few key plays in order to win!!" he said.

Despite a tough 3rd quarter for the Oracles, Dustin Oliver's three-point play the old-fashioned way at the end of the period tied the score at 30 to start the final stanza. But this time, it was the Braves who would convert 9-of-13 freebies in the 4th quarter to seal the road victory.

After Austin Hawn's bucket with 2:26 to play tied the score for the final time at 39, Maconaquah would hold Delphi scoreless the rest of the way, scoring the game's final nine points.

Oliver and Michael Myers paced the Oracles with 13 points apiece, followed by Kory Banes with five, Kyle Bender with four and Hawn and Justin Snider with two apiece. Myers and Banes had seven rebounds each.

Vs. West Lafayette

West Lafayette (8-6) brought a rugged-style of play into its conference match-up with the Oracles and a resume' that included season losses only to Class 4A's (Lafayette Jeff and McCutcheon), Class 3A's (Frankfort twice and Benton Central), and to Class 2A's top-ranked Tipton (now 14-0 overall).

With its victory over Delphi, the Red Devils assured themselves of sole possession of second place in the Hoosier Conference with a record of 5- 1, trailing only Tipton with its perfect 6-0 conference record.

Again, cold-shooting and allowing too many offensive rebounds were key factors, but unlike Saturday's game, West Lafayette was in control, leading from the onset and allowing only one tie after tip-off.

The Red Devils scored first and led 8-2 after a defensiveoriented 1st quarter, which saw the Oracles held scoreless until a Myers jumper in the lane with 2:38 remaining.

A Bender lay-up with 4:40 left in the 2nd quarter would tie the game for the only time at 11, but after a quick 5-0 WL spurt to counter, the Oracles would get no closer than three the rest of the way, trailing 23- 19 at half.

After the Red Devils opened their biggest lead of 14 points at 37-23 at the end of the 3rd quarter, Delphi again put forth a furious rally in the final period to get within four points at 43-39 after a trey from Matt Lewis and an Oliver bucket with 48.6 seconds left, but that would be it as WL closed it with three unanswered foul shots.

The Oracles have now lost four-in-a-row and 9 of their last 12 to WL, with their last win coming at home Jan. 30, 2004.

Myers posted the team's first double-double of the season, leading the Delphi with 14 points and 10 rebounds, followed Bender, Lewis and Snider with six points apiece. Oliver added four points and Hawn had three.

JV wins improves to 10-5

The Delphi JV team has now won 5-of-its-last-6 games with a weekend sweep of West Lafayette 45-34 and Maconaquah 44-34.

Paul Zink led the way against WL with game-highs of 15 points and eight rebounds, while Kris Bender added 12 points. Tanner Cripe and Dustin Salyer added seven points apiece and A.J. Erskin finished with four.

Against the Braves, Zink again led all scorers with 17 points, followed by Salyer's 13, Bender's six and Erskin and Jo Britt with four apiece. Salyer led the Oracles with six rebounds.

Delphi will next travel across the county to face rival Carroll on Friday with the JV contest starting at 6:30 p.m., before heading to Rensselaer on Saturday with the JV game scheduled for tip-off at 7 p.m.