Skipjacks Roll To 22-Point Victory Over Garrett To Open Postseason

The No. 12 nationally ranked Chesapeake Skipjacks men's basketball program began postseason play on Tuesday, March 7^th against Garrett's Lakers. Chesapeake entered the tournament as the #2 seed with a 9-2 record against region divisional opponents while Garrett held the #7 seed with a 4-7 mark.

The Skipjacks dominated the Lakers from start to finish as Chesapeake scored on the game's first possession with a pair of made free throws and never looked back as they remained in control the entirety of the contest. Using a balanced attack with 7 different scorers by halftime, coach Sachs and his squad grew their lead to as much as 20 in the first half before Garrett cut it down to 15 to enter halftime 43-28, Chesapeake. The Skipjacks Lamont Powell led all scorers at the break with 12 points on a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line while Justin DeMaria was second with 9 points scored with a perfect 3 for 3 from beyond the arc.

Garrett came out in the second half with a sense of urgency and was able to cut their deficit down to 11 points at the 16:08 mark with a layup from the Lakers Rob Smith. Chesapeake responded with a 12-0 run over the next 3 and a half minutes to go up by 22 before securing the largest lead of the game (29) with 7:13 left to play.

Chesapeake refused to let Garrett create any type of comeback attempt down the stretch before the final horn signaled the 22-point win for the Skipjacks. DeMaria capped off the scoring with a dunk to bring the crowd in Skipjack Arena to their feet with under a minute left to send the Skipjacks into the region semi-finals this weekend in Frederick, MD.

DeMaria finished as the Skipjacks leading scorer with 18 points off the bench. Powell was just behind with 17 while fellow starters DJ Earl and Izaiah Credle finished with 16 and 15, respectively.

Chesapeake will now face the winner between the 3^rd seeded Cecil Seahawks and 6^th seeded Beaver County Titans in the region semi-finals on Friday, March 10^th at Frederick Community College for a chance to advance to the region title game with a trip to the National Championship on the line.