WILMINGTON — The St. Elizabeth boys basketball team was in unfamiliar territory on Jan. 20, when Dover visited for a Saturday matinee. The Vikings, undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state by Delaware Live, spent much of the day playing catch-up with the third-ranked Senators.
The managed their final lead at the right time. Steven Nixon Jr. hit a baseline floater with 19 seconds remaining, and the Senators missed two opportunities in the closing seconds as St. Elizabeth eked out a 61-60 thriller in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the St. E Center.
A lot happened, however, before Nixon played the hero.
After taking an 11-9 lead midway through the first quarter on a conventional three-point play from Steven Nixon Jr., Dover answered, with high-scoring senior Dorell Little leading the way. Little had 11 points in the first, helping the Senators to a one-point advantage after one.
The Senators used their hounding defense and rebounding to quickly build that lead in the second. The lead grew to nine points, 26-17, on a follow shot by Dover’s Tarrance Williams before Aiden Tobiason nailed a three-pointer to slow down the run-and-gun Senators.
Dover maintained an eight-point advantage as Williams kept getting open underneath, but St. Elizabeth heated up from the field. Julius Wright scored after a steal, and Tobiason grabbed an offensive rebound and scored off glass to cut the Dover lead to 32-29 with 2:25 to go in the half. Dover’s shooting cooled in the final 90 seconds, and the Vikings were able to tie the score at the buzzer on a coast-to-coast layup by Tobias Reese following a rebound.
The game was tied twice in the third quarter, but the Senators went back into the lead each time St. E’s leveled the score. Little was the big gun again for the Senators, scoring 12 points, including a three-pointer to put them ahead, 41-37. That also put him over the 1,000-point mark for his high school career, and the game was stopped briefly in his honor.
After Kiyen Alexander sliced through the lane to tie the game at 43, Little struck again, racing downcourt and hitting his own layup while being bumped. He completed the three-point play. Dover took a 51-47 lead into the fourth.
Denim Perkins hit a 13-footer to open the fourth, stretching the lead to six, but St. Elizabeth fought back again. Wright drained a corner triple to get them started. Nixon grabbed a defensive rebound and scored a one-on-three layup, cutting the Dover lead to a point, but Little raced the other way and scored again.
With 4:30 left, Nixon spun a ball off the glass to tie the game at 56. The pace never slowed, but the teams went a minute and a half without scoring until Little followed his own miss with a putback, and again, Dover was in the lead.
St. E’s coach Mike Cassidy called a timeout, and his message got through. Out of the timeout, Caden Harris swished a three-pointer — his only points of the day — to give the Vikings a 59-58 lead with 2:20 to go. St. Elizabeth missed on a chance to add to the lead, and the Senators took advantage. Istavan Norwood hit a leaner from 12 feet with 1:27 left, and Dover was back up by one.
A steal with 46 seconds to go set the Vikings on the path to victory. Dover had fouls to give, and they fouled twice as the Vikings used 20 of those seconds. After the next restart, Tobiason handed off to Nixon, who drove around a defender and put up the game-winning shot.
Wright led St. Elizabeth with 19 points, while Tobiason had 17 and Nixon 12. The Vikings (10-0) head to Newark Charter on Jan. 25 at 6:15 p.m.
For Dover, Little finished with 31 points. Williams added 8. The Senators fell to 8-2 — with both losses by a single point ‑ and are at Polytech on Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
