Oracles lose to conference rival
By John J. Dunn Contributing sportswriter

Sometimes the game of basketball can be a difficult one to figure out.

A lot of Delphi faithful are sharing that sentiment following the Oracles' closely-played 52- 48 loss at Twin Lakes last Thursday night.

The fact that the game featured nine ties and 12 lead changes and neither team led by more than five points at any time during the contest may not have been much of a surprise, after all it was a match-up of long-time Hoosier Conference rivals. What was more puzzling was the way the game was lost.

Considering that the Oracles shot an impressive .500 percent (16-of-32) from the field and an even more impressive .846 percent (11-of-13) from the free throw line, compared to the Indians' .408 percent (20-of-49) overall and .600 percent (9-of- 15) from the foul line might have most feeling pretty good about earning a win.

Especially when considering that coming into the contest, Delphi had a perfect 4-0 record in games in which it shot at least .500 percent from the field, and was 6-2 in games when it shot .432 percent or better.

The Oracles are 0-8 on the season when shooting less than .432 percent from the field.

In this game, there were other statistics that told a different tale.

Not only did Twin Lakes appear to be the "scrappier" team on the floor, other vital game statistics from the final stats sheet support this observation.

The Indians were able to take hold of 17 offensive rebounds, compared to just five for Delphi, on the way to out rebounding the Oracles overall 26-20.

Delphi, which started an all senior line-up for only the second time this season, also committed 19 turnovers versus just 13 for TL, leading to 11 steals for the Indians to just one for the Oracles in another glaring discrepancy.

Combine those facets of the game, and it produces an extra 18 possessions for the Indians over the course of the contest (+12 offensive rebounds and a +6 turnover margin).

The game was extremely close throughout, tied at 13 at the end of the first quarter and with TL clinging onto a narrow 25-23 lead at the half.

Delphi's biggest lead of the game came early, at 9-4 with 4:08 remaining in the first period after a Justin Snider threepoint play.

The Oracles would use a strong third quarter to outscore TL 17-11 and lead 40-36 at the break, led by Michael Myers, who scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the period, including three treys.

Another late-game scoring drought secured Delphi's fate. The Indians outscored the Oracles 11-2 to open the final quarter to take their biggest lead of the game at 47-42 with 2:55 remaining.

Delphi made only one basket in the fourth quarter against TL, a Myers jumper in the lane with 5:35 to play.

The Oracles did make all six of their foul shots in the final quarter to keep the game close, but the Indians converted 7-of-9 freebies to account for their final seven points, sealing the victory.

Delphi (6-12) has lost five of its last six games after a midseason stretch where it won 5- of-7 after opening the year with five straight losses. The Oracles finish with a conference record of 1-5.

On the bright side, the season trend points to the start of a win streak as the Oracles embark upon the close of regular season and enter postseason play.

Twin Lakes (10-7 overall, 2-2 in conference) has now defeated Delphi six straight times, dating to the Oracles' last win on Feb. 7, 2002, and in 11 of the last 13 contests since the 1995-96 season.

Snider was the only other Oracle in double-figures with 10 points, followed by Kyle Bender and Kory Banes with six apiece, Dustin Oliver had five and Matt Lewis and Austin Hawn had three apiece. Myers led with 6 boards.

JV just keeps winning

The Delphi JV team also had a see-saw battle against the Indians, coming back from several deficits to pull out a 53-52 squeaker, improving its season record to 13-5.

The Oracles trailed 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and by 11 points at 28-17 at the halftime intermission.

But the feisty Delphi group narrowed the gap to 40-37 by the end of the third quarter and outscored TL 16-12 during the final period to come away with the one-point victory.

The Oracle JV has now won 8 of its last 9 games.

Tanner Cripe led Delphi with 20 points, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and six steals. Paul Zink added 15 points and five steals, while Kris Bender had nine points and a team-high six assists. Dustin Salyer finished with five points and A.J Erskin had four points and a team-high five rebounds.

Delphi will play only one game again this week, traveling to South Newton on Friday for a 6:30 pm JV tip-off.