Delta rallies late for 83-79 victory over St. Vincent

PERRYVILLE — Delta boys’ basketball has not had a winning season in four years.

Head coach Toby Heeb believes this season’s Bobcats are good enough to break that streak.

Junior Isaiah Berry scored a team-high 27 points as Delta used a late rally to pull off a huge road win over St. Vincent 83-79 on Monday night at St. Vincent High School.

Paxton Hornbuckle added 21 points and junior Bryce Cox tacked on 17 for the Bobcats (9-8), who have now won three of their last four.

"I just told the boys, 'we're a different team right now than we were even two weeks ago,'" Heeb said. "They're starting to show a lot of toughness and grit when things are getting hard or not going our way. We just kind of stick together and keep playing basketball instead of folding. And that's a sign of a good team. So, hopefully we keep doing that."

Max Wheeler dropped a game-high 31 points and Parker Ellis added 23 for St. Vincent (4-8), which was aiming to earn just its second home win of the season.

On a night when Delta was hampered by turnovers and a lack of rebounding on both ends of the court, the Bobcats shot 11-for-17 from 3-point land and used crisp free throw shooting late in the game to make up for their deficiencies.

"I think early on, that kept us in at first half," Heeb said on the long-range shooting. "We shot really well. We hit some big 3s to keep us in there and bail us out. And then the second half, we started attacking the basket a little bit more to try to get to the foul line as much as we could."

Backed by 15 first-half points, including three 3-pointers, from the junior Wheeler, the home Indians led 44-37 at halftime.

The momentum shifted when Delta began to take control with a 17-7 run in the third quarter as the Bobcats grabbed a 54-51 lead after junior Ryan Jeffries buried a triple.

While St. Vincent maintained its lead, Hornbuckle kept the Bobcats within reach behind a trio of 3s in fourth, including a corner triple that made it a 71-73 ball game with 3:13 left.

It appeared as if the Indians had just about sealed it with 2:38 remaining when Wheeler scored a three-point play on a second chance layup to push the St. Vincent lead to 79-73.

But then, with 35 seconds remaining and the game deadlocked at 79-79, Delta sophomore Skylar Vandeven scored a clutch go-ahead layup to give the Bobcats the lead to stay.

Cox put on the finishing touches with a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining after getting fouled in the paint.

"Just proud of the boys," Heeb said. "It was mental toughness. We kept coming back and coming back, and every time we'd get it close or tie it up. St Vincent made good plays and got the lead back on them, and they'd stretch it out six or seven points. So, I'm just proud that we stuck in there and kept playing."

Delta gets a few days off before the Bobcats travel to East Prairie (12-3) on Thursday, Jan. 30, for a 7:30 p.m. contest. St. Vincent returns to its home court tomorrow night when the Indians host Ste. Genevieve (8-8) at 7:30 p.m.