For The Dialog
Two worlds collide when Salesianum and St. Georges meet for the boys’ state basketball championship Saturday at the Bob Carpenter Center. For the Sals, basketball is the last sport in which the school has not won a championship. St. Georges, which opened in the 2006-07 school year, is looking for its first title in any sport.
Top-seeded Salesianum and No. 10 St. Georges tip off Saturday at 1 p.m. The game is sold out.
St. Georges is red-hot this postseason, having defeated higher seeds Sussex Tech (No. 7) and Sanford (No. 2) before knocking No. 14 Cape Henlopen out of the tournament on Thursday. Sophomore Lamar Hamrick has turned heads in the playoffs. He followed his 39-point, 15-rebound performance against Sanford with 22 points against Cape. Hamrick has a reliable pair of senior teammates in Jordan Eldridge and Zaire Jacobs-Beazer who can knock down double digits at any time.
The Hawks made just six of 17 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter against Cape Henlopen in the semifinals, a figure they will need to improve to stay with the Sals.
Salesianum opened the tournament with a victory over Middletown before St. Elizabeth gave them all they could handle in the quarterfinal round. The Sals righted the ship Thursday against Concord and never trailed.
Senior Joe McCusker has been playing his best ball lately, and coach Brendan Haley said the other night, “I think he is the best defender in the state.” He will have his hands full with Hamrick.
Junior guard Donte DiVincenzo struggled vs. St. Elizabeth but was back on his game against Concord. Senior forward Brian O’Neill hopes his last game ends on top of a ladder cutting down a net.
