Halfway through a brutal stretch of the schedule with six games in 10 days to close the regular season, Delphi returned home Saturday night after five-in-a-row on the road. The Oracles lost four straight, including two nailbiters in overtime and a heartbreaking 54-51 contest at Frontier on Friday, but responded with a 60-51 win over Pioneer.

The Oracles placed three in double-figures against a defensive oriented Panther team, led by Austin Hawn with 25 points, Kris Bender with 19 and Jordan Wagner 12.

Delphi benefited from a fast start getting six from Hawn to take an 8-2 lead in the first 3 1/2 minutes, before trading baskets the rest of the period with a hoop from Wagner and a pair from Bender to hold onto a 14-8 lead.

After Bender opened the 2nd quarter with another bucket, Pioneer went on a 21- 5 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes to take a 29-21 lead before a Hawn three-pointer with :43 seconds finally ended the surge. A pair of Tanner Cripe free throws narrowed the margin to 29-26 at halftime.

Bender again opened the 3rd period with consecutive baskets to keep it close at 35- 30 at the 5:10 mark, before Delphi used a 10-1 run fueled by six from Hawn and four from Wagner to close the quarter with a 40-36 lead.

After the Panthers (9-10) hit only 1-of-4 foul shots to start the final period, the Oracles answered by hitting 5-of- 6 of their own along with a basket from Hawn for a 7-0 spurt and a 47-37 lead with 5:39 remaining.

Delphi (8-9) would extend the lead to as many as 14 points four times in the final 3 1/2 minutes before settling for the nine point margin at the end.

“We were very efficient on offense and worked hard to get our shooters open,” head coach Brian Tonsoni said.

Cripe and Matt Brown added 2 points apiece, with Wagner posting team-highs with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Vs. Frontier

In the rematch against the Falcons, Delphi came out firing with threes from Hawn, Dustin Salyer and Cripe for a quick 9-0 lead, which was extended to 13-2 just 3 minutes in on successive scores from Hawn and Salyer.

But Delphi would then not score for over 8 1/2 minutes as Frontier went on a 23-3 run to take a 25-16 lead before Cole Murray drained a trey with 4:38 left in the half to make it 25-19.

Bender scored next to pull the Oracles within four, but another 7-2 mini-spurt allowed the Falcons to take a 32-23 lead into the halftime intermission.

With stingy defense keeping it close throughout the contest, Delphi benefitted from a shot at the buzzer from behind the mid-court line by Hawn to stay within nine at 44-35 to end an even 3rd period to set up a final rally.

With a pair of scores from Bender and Hawn and one from Salyer, the Oracles whittled away at the lead, until a game-changing layup off of a steal by Bender made it 52-47 with 2:03 left, but the tail-end of the play was marred with a serious injury to Falcon leading-scorer Jon- Marc Ream, who was trying to block the shot.

Ream was attended to on the court for several minutes before being removed by stretcher as his teammates looked on, with the challenge to regain their composure and momentum to finish the game.

Baskets from Bender and Wagner pulled Delphi to within one at 52-51 with :31 seconds left, but it would get no closer as the Falcons (15- 3) tacked on a couple free throws for the emotional 54- 51 victory.

“We handled the ball poorly all night and in a close game that does not help,” Tonsoni said in response to the Oracles season-high 22 turnovers.

Hawn led Delphi with 17 points, with Bender adding 10, Salyer 9, Cripe 7, Wagner 5 and Murray 3.

The Oracles play Carroll in the opening round of the Delphi Sectional March 2 at 7 p.m.

JV wins three-in-a-row

The Oracle JV team has a three-game winning streak after defeating Carroll 45-38, Frontier 52-44 and Pioneer 50-43 to improve to 9-8 on the season.

Delphi hosted Clinton Central Tuesday night (too late for print), before visiting Central Catholic Thursday for a rescheduled contest and North White Friday, both scheduled for a 6 p.m. JV tipoff.