COLUMBUS, Ohio - - A spot in the regional finals was on the line in the most talent heavy matchup of the night, the Delaware Hayes Pacers continued their magical season and came away with the 56-40 win, advancing to play in the finals on Saturday night.
The first quarter and a half were dominated by lead changes, with six total in the opening 16 minutes of action.
Both sides were physical and locked in on both sides of the ball, giving way to a defensive battle of a first quarter. Everytime Hayes looked to have early control of the game, Hilliard Bradley superstar Cade Norris hit a shot to quell the momentum. A thunderous dunk from Hayes junior Landon Vanderwarker got Hayes ahead early, but Norris went to the hoop, scored and hit the subsequent layup to get one of those three first quarter ties. One point separated the two teams on the scoreboard after the opening quarter buzzer sounded, the Pacers led the Jags 10-9.
“Defensively, definitely we were locked in,” Delaware Hayes head coach Adam Vincenzo said after the game. “We preach it all the time, got to dance to different tunes, we’re going fast, we love it, but we also can grind it out and slow it down too,” referring to their ability to score 90 like they did in the district finals and 56 tonight.