By Chris Stevens, Editor
It wasn’t just the fact that the Delaware Technical and Community College men’s basketball team won the NJCAA Division II Region 19 title last year that might be a sore spot for their opponents coming into the 2022-23 season, but it was how they overcame adversity – and an unscheduled layoff – to do it.
“The campus shut everything down for about a month,” head coach Richard Rago said as DTCC prepares to host Rutgers College of South Jersey – Gloucester this coming Thursday night on the Stanton Campus at 6 pm.
“We played a very tough schedule and started out slow, but then started to come on, then we were off for another month. We couldn’t practice or play, then January 25th we got word we could practice, had one week of practice, then played 9 games in 17 days. We qualified for the tournament and winning the region, just because the hard work and dedication of the players.”
”Once we had that long break, we had to just find out what role each of us was going to play on the team,” explained sophomore co-captain Syed Myles, a Caesar Rodney graduate. “We asked each other what we could do to help the team and once we saw the potential we could reach, we had momentum on our side.”
Del Tech finished their shortened ’21-22 regular season 9-12 overall, but thanks to a sterling home record (8-1) and an 8-4 finish in Region 19 games, Del Tech hosted their first playoff game since 2014 and defeated Morris County College before stunning Raritan Valley Community College 86-78 on their home floor in the championship game. Delaware Tech gave Niagara Community College a battle before losing 87-73 in the East District A&B semifinals, which serves as motivation to get back to the same place again this year.
“It was really exciting to be a part of the playoffs, playing with my teammates and getting the experience to win a championship,” said co-captain Cole Matthews, who played in the state finals in 2018 in Smyrna. “We just each found our role and instead of being superstars, we wanted each other to succeed. We played well together as a team.”
Matthews and Myles are the lead returners along with sophomores Noah Tran, Shawn Ysaguirre (Appoquinimink) and Joey Donnelly (Newark Charter). The newcomers include Jaelin Joyner (CR), Nia-Gere Wright (Brandywine), Keyon Scott (Dover), Jabree Pitts (Middletown) and Jordan Moore (William Penn). With such a huge roster turnover, Rago has explained to the team that they’ll have to be ready from the start if they plan on defending the region title successfully.
“First day of practice, we told the guys that we snuck up on everybody last year, but they know us now,” he says. “We only have players from last year back with us. We’ve got a lot of talent, but the new guys know they’re out of high school now and these guys from other schools can play.”
“We’re going to get everybody’s best shot, they’re going to feel like playing us is their championship game,” Myles said.
“It’s important that we keep the energy high, whether we’re on a 20-0 run or the other team is on a 20-0 run,” Matthews adds. “We’ve got a lot of talent this year so we’ve got to learn to play together, build our chemistry and then we can get back to the playoffs and have home court advantage.”
Whatever the outcome of this season is, Rago, who coached many years at St. Elizabeth High School before taking the Del Tech job, is pleased that local kids are getting a chance to show what they can do on a larger stage.
“I had some very good players in HS, but every time we were trying to get college recruiters, I’d hear the same thing – Your player is good, but we don’t trust the competition in Delaware,” Rago said. “We played in districts against rosters who were loaded with kids from across the country. Our roster, except for two kids, were all from Delaware. That was the most satisfying thing about last year.”
