If you ask Darrian Freeman what Cape Henry Collegiate’s state of mind was when Damiane Ryans, the Dolphins’ leading scorer, went down with a knee injury in the second quarter of Friday night’s TCIS showdown with Norfolk College, he’ll tell you it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“He’s a good player, but we’re a whole team,” said Freeman, a senior guard. “We practice every day with different combinations in the lineup.”
Freeman might be expected to say something like that, him being the son of former Norfolk State coach Dwight Freeman and all. He probably even believed it.
Cape Henry coach Larry Ward thinks the other Dolphins might have seen it differently.
“This is a very close team and right after Damiane got hurt, we turned the ball over four straight times and didn’t score a basket in the second period,” he said. “So don’t tell me we weren’t affected by it.”
Fortunately, Freeman, the true believer, took charge. He saved 14 of his 17 points for the fourth quarter as the 10th-ranked Dolphins held off the sixth-ranked Oaks 53-44 before a packed house at Cape Henry to remain perfect in the TCIS.
Norfolk Collegiate (11-8 overall, 3-2 TCIS) which trailed by 10 points after the first quarter, roared back behind Dante Hill (19 points) and Keith Wright (15 points) to make a game of it after Ryans departed in an ambulance with 5:17 left in the second period.
The Oaks drew even at 23-23 on a basket by Hill in the closing seconds of the first half and were knotted with Cape Henry (17-5, 5-0) with 4:48 left in in the game.
That’s when Freeman nailed a three-pointer for a 38-35 lead that shifted the momentum for good. A shot from the corner by Terrell Allen (16 points, 12 rebounds) and a timely tip-in by Dylan Shiflett (11 points, 10 boards) put the Dolphins up by 45-39 and Freeman protected the lead from there, connecting on eight free throws in the last minute.
“Darrian just took us on his shoulders and carried us,” said Ward. “He hit that three coming out of a time out and made those free throws. He wouldn’t let us lose.”
“You have to trust your teammates,” said Freeman, who made 11 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and also had six assists. “A lot of our offense goes through Damaine, but tonight it came through me. I wasn’t forcing anything.”
At the final buzzer, hundreds of Cape Henry fans stormed the floor, an exclamation point to an outstanding effort by the Dolphins.
“There was a lot of excitement around school all day,” said Shiflett. “Everyone knew it was a big game and the fans did their part.
“Norfolk Collegiate is big and has all this talent. We have a lot of guys under the radar and we have a great coach. We think we have a pretty good team.”
Ward won’t argue that assessment.
“We started the season 1-3,” he said. “We just weren’t ready. But now the roles have been defined. Learning to accept those roles has been the key.”
Of course, with Ryans scheduled to have surgery on his split knee cap on Monday, some of those roles will have to change. Cape Henry is now missing 20.83 points per game.
“People will just have to step up,” said Ward.
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