Celtics Overpower #1 Delaware In 4th To Win 5th Straight

WILMINGTON, DE – Drew Peterson notched his first-career triple-double and DJ Steward recorded his fifth-straight 20-point outing, powering the Maine Celtics to their fifth-straight victory with a 122-101 win over the Delaware Blue Coats. 

Peterson finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, shooting 7-14 from the field for his first triple-double and Maine’s (16-11) first of the season. DJ Steward dropped 27 points on 11-20 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists. Joe Wieskamp had 20 points and nine rebounds and Kylor Kelley tallied 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for his second double-double with the Celtics. Brandon Slater turned in 16 points and James Banks III scored 12 points. 

Terquavion Smith led Delaware (17-9) with 28 points. Rob Edwards added 20 points on 7-11 shooting and Melvin Frazier Jr. logged 21 and 10 rebounds. Ricky Council IV totaled 12 points. 

The game began with a 10-0 run from Maine, capped off by a 12-footer from Wieskamp that forced an early Blue Coats timeout. Steward and Kelley led the way for Maine as they build the lead to 21-9 before Delaware’s offense came alive late in the quarter. On the back of tremendous defense out of the gates and an overwhelming size advantage, the Celtics led 28-21 after the first quarter – the Blue Coats outscored Maine 12-7 over the final minutes of the quarter to pull within seven. 

Delaware opened the second quarter with a flurry of threes; a 12-2 run to open the quarter put them in front, 33-30, working themselves up to 50% from beyond the arc after a slow start offensively. Kelley got himself into double-digit scoring as the Celtics regained the lead soon after. Working the ball inside to its big men proved successful in the first half, with Kelley notching 10 points and eight rebounds and Banks adding eight points off the bench. Maine held a 38-8 advantage in points in the paint at halftime, though Delaware balanced it out by shooting 13-31 from deep over the first 24 minutes. After a back-and-forth close to the frame, the Celtics took a 58-53 lead into the locker room. 

Kelley drew a charge on Council then swatted his layup on the next trip, and the Celtics finished off the fast break both times to push the lead to nine within the opening minute of the second half. Maine’s run ballooned to 9-2 and pushed their lead into double digits, 67-55, by the nine-minute mark, but it wasn’t long before the Blue Coats got a spark. Edwards, the former Celtic, along with Frazier and Jared Brownridge each canned a triple in succession to make it a one-point game, 80-79. Delaware took a brief lead on an and-one from Frazier, but a deep three from Don Carey Jr. and then another one to beat the buzzer handed Maine an 88-84 lead with 12 minutes to play. 

In every quarter but the second, the Celtics dominated the start; a 9-0 run to kick off the final frame stretched the lead back to nine with less than nine minutes to play, 97-88. Maine’s lead went into double digits soon after, and after Delaware lost a critical coach’s challenge that gave Smith his fifth foul, all the momentum shifted to the Celtics. Back-to-back triples from Wieskamp and Tony Snell, then a deep three from Slater a few trips later effectively iced the game. Peterson notched his triple-double in the final minutes, and the Celtics coasted to the finish line, outscoring Delaware 34-17 in the fourth quarter. 

The Celtics and Blue Coats finish off a two-game set on Wednesday, March 13 before returning home for a pair of contests against the Greensboro Swarm on March 14 and 17.