For the first time in over 20 years Delphi defeated Benton Central. The Bison, a Hoosier Conference nemesis, has dominated the Oracles like no other team on their schedule, dating to the 1988-89 season,

Friday night’s 57-45 win broke a 17-game losing streak to the traditionally-mighty Class 3A Bison and is only the fourth Delphi win over Benton Central in the 40th matchup between the two teams since the 1968-69 season.

The win improved the Oracles record to 2-1 on the season, the first time since the program’s last winning season during the 2003-04 campaign that Delphi has started that well, which also was the last time it won a Sectional championship, finishing with a 17-8 record after losing to Jimtown in the Regional championship.

In this contest, the BC coaching staff decided to implement a familiar gimmick defensive scheme that was used in several late-season games last year, one which face-guarded Delphi’s Austin Hawn from the first possession off the opening tip in an effort to keep the Oracles’ leading-scorer from touching the ball at the offensive end.

But similar to the results last season when team’s tried this rarely-seen defensive gameplan, it back-fired and provided an opportunity to help other Oracles in getting openlooks at the basket, and they did not disappoint, racing out to a 15-7 lead at the end of the 1st quarter with each of the five starters making a mark in scorebook.

The 2nd quarter was a bit of different story, however, as Delphi’s offense sputtered a bit, allowing the Bison to outscore the Oracles 17-11 and narrow the halftime margin to 26-24.

But order restored in the 3rd period, as Delphi went on a 10-2 run to close quarter, increasing a 30-28 lead with 3:48 to play to a 40-31 margin at quarter end.

Benton Central scored the first basket of the 4th period to pull within seven points at the 6:38 mark, but would get no closer as the Oracles began to pull away, taking their biggest lead of the game of 17 as Kris Bender and Jordan Wagner provided the offense for an 11-1 spurt that put the lead at 51-34 with 3:39 remaining.

Wagner and Bender combined for the first 13 of Delphi’s 17 final quarter points, with Hawn adding fast break layup and Matt Brown a pair of free throws to close the game and seal the 12-point margin of victory.

“We had a nice effort from everyone, and our patience on offense was the key,” Oracle head coach Brian Tonsoni said. “We took what they gave us and expanded the lead in the 2nd half.”

“The guys really executed the adjustments made at halftime. We rebounded well and shared the ball well on offense. We are playing as a team, and we had great floor games from Wagner and Tanner Cripe,” he added.

Wagner led a balanced attack with 14 points, with Bender adding 11 and a game-high 7 rebounds, Hawn and Brown 9 points apiece, Cripe 8 and a game-high 7 assists and Dustin Salyer finished with 6 points.

Benton Central’s Aaron Kult led all scorers with 23 points, as the Bison fell to 0- 6 on the season.

JV picks up first victory

Cole Whitaker led the Delphi JV (1-2) with a careerhigh of 25 points in its 50-33 win over Benton Central.

Point guard Erik Carpenter added 9 points and led the team in assists, with the hustle play of both Codey Sattler and Karson Bender resulting in each leading the team in rebounding and steals respectively, with official JV stats unavailable at press time.

Delphi will play its final two games before Christmas break at home this weekend ¯ against Clinton Prairie on Friday night with the JV starting at 6:30 pm and vs. Tri- County on Saturday with the JV tip-off at 6 pm.