The Delaware Blue Coats (19-14) host the Stockton Kings (18-5) for the last game before their all-star break in Wilmington, DE at the 76ers Field House in front of 1,645 fans. The game ultimately was very disappointing to the team as they looked to make a two-game winning streak before the break.
Throughout the whole game, particularly the first half was back and forth with each team gaining the lead then losing it. During the first quarter, the Blue Coats’ main point scorer was Marial Shayok who would grab 10 points. But Robert Franks for the Kings would match Shayok with 12 points in the same quarter. By the end of the first quarter, the Blue Coats would trail the Kings 32-31.
The Blue Coats would then turn up the pressure in the second quarter. Three players on the Blue Coats would finish the half with double digits. Shayok would go into the second half with 15 points. Justin Robinson would match Shayok with 15 points too. Michael Bryson would come off the bench and score 13 points too. Doral Moore will help the Blue Coats on defense in the first half with 3 blocked shots and 1 defensive rebound too. Haywood Highsmith will lead the team with 4 rebounds all coming in defensive. On the Kings side, Franks would continue leading the team in points with 19 while Kyle Guy racked up 13 points. By the end of the first half, the Blue Coats would lead the game 68-64.
The third quarter is when things start to go bad for the Blue Coats. Halfway through the third, the Blue Coats lead would diminish and they would end up being down by 10 points. By the end of the third quarter, the Kings would have 6 different play score double-digit points. With Robert Franks leading the way for them. The Blue Coats would have 5 players with double-digit points but on defense, they were just absent. By the end of the third quarter, the Kings lead would stay the same but the score would be 99-89.
The Kings will continue to extend their lead in the fourth quarter by making it 112-97 around midway and eventually finish the game-winning it 128-117. By the end of the night, their leading scorer would be Isaiah Canaan with 24 points. Their other top two scorers would be Robert Franks with 22 points and Eric Mika with 21 points. Mika would also lead the team with 15 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. For the Blue Coats, Shayok would lead the team with 25 points with Jason Brownridge complimenting with 20 points off of the bench. Highsmith would lead the team in rebounds with 11. And Moore would lead the team with 9 blocked shots.
Both teams will have a record of 19-15 heading into the all-star break. The Blue Coats will use this time for rest and hopefully be at full strength as some players were missing because of injury.
Eric Williamson is the host of the Union podcast Full Time Philly and also contrinutes to many of the Union coverage. He is a huge fan of all the 4 major Philly teams on top of music too.
