Odessa pulls away from Smyrna for senior night win

 

The Odessa Ducks strengthened their tournament resume by outscoring Smyrna 35-23 in the second half in a 53-39 win on senior night. Odessa went on a 12-4 run in the final 4:00 of the third quarter to take a 10 point lead into the fourth. The run was fueled by Jaylen Bernikow with a slam, a contested long jumper, and a corner three. The lead was seven points when Jordan Earl banked a shot beyond the arc at the buzzer to put the Ducks ahead 37-27.

Smyrna battled in the final 8:00 but could not cut into the double-digit deficit. The Eagles have now lost 6 straight games and hold a record of 9-8 with three games left on their schedule. Head coach Andrew Mears has done a nice job this season, improving the win total by six games over last year. However, Smyrna is a “bubble” team with games left against Sussex Tech, No. 2 Dover, and Saint George’s Tech. The Eagles were led by O-B Coleman with 13 points, Maurice Kilgoe with 12, and Chase Sullivan with 10 points.

Odessa was in front 18-16 at halftime but came out in a “2-3 zone” in the second half which proved to be quite successful. Head coach Andre Wilburn said, “we watched a lot of film and we noticed the team that comes out in the second half with more energy, wins games. We turned up the energy in the second half.” Coach went on to say, “Earlier in the season we had success with our zone, and then we switched to “man”. “We kind of got away from our bread-and-butter. I just wanted to do a better job coaching. I got on the kids, but I needed to do a better job myself. As a coach I’m learning too, so we decided to go back to the zone.” 

Odessa began the season with 10 consecutive wins and now have a 13-5 record that should be enough to qualify for the first state tournament in the school’s brief history. This is the first season for the Ducks with a senior class, as four players were honored Tuesday night before a huge crowd. Senior Jordan Earl scored all 8 of his points in the pivotal 3rd quarter, including the made-three at the buzzer. The other seniors are Zion Dunn, Amare Whittington, and Devin Wyche.  Three Ducks scored in double figures as Henry Nyasagare led the way with 14, teammate Jaylen Bernikow poured in 13, and Tyshawn Wilborn added 12 points. The Ducks finish the regular season with road games at Wilmington Friends and Howard.