MUNCIE, IND - On Saturday evening, the Delta Eagles (1-0) opened their 2024-25 campaign as they hosted the Connersville Spartans (1-1). Delta lost a plethora of seniors last season and a changing of the guard occurred in the off-season, allowing new faces to take the lead this season. Many of those new faces stepped up to lead the navy and gold to their first win of the season, downing the Spartans 48-36.

The navy and gold were slow out of the gate offensively, only bolstering nine points in the opening quarter. The Eagles struggled to attack the Spartans' zone defense and couldn’t get shots to fall.

Despite the slow offensive start, Delta was able to lean on their defense in large part thanks to senior forward Bronson Edwards roaming the paint and racking up two blocks early to contain the red and white in the post.

“[Bronson’s] a stat sheet stuffer,” Delta head coach Mark Detweiler said. “He impacts winning in so many different ways, and he doesn’t have to score to be the best player on the floor.”

To begin the second quarter, Delta continued to get contributions from everywhere on the court with five different players recording a basket. 

With the increase in offense came a small decline in defense and aggressiveness on the defensive glass. Delta began to allow multiple offensive rebounds by Connersville leading to second-chance points.

“We struggled at sliding our feet at times,” senior forward Jordan Furney said. “We’ve got to stop reaching in when we don’t need to and get better at moving our feet to keep them in front.”

Even with the seeming lack of energy Delta was able to do enough to keep the Spartans at arm's length going into the break with a 19-11 lead. 

Part of that offensive contribution to maintain the Eagles lead was freshman guard Ryan Lynch who hit two threes in the half to begin his Delta career.

“Ryan plays beyond his years,” Detweiler said. “He’s got such a high basketball IQ, plays with a good motor and he’s balanced and that’s a big key for a young point guard.”

Furney came out of the locker room looking for his shot very aggressively early on with eight quick points to jump-start the navy and golds offense in the second half.

“In the second half the coaches reminded me that I could get whatever I want,” Furney said. “I came out and knew I could create my own shot and that’s what I was able to do.”

The Spartans on the other hand could not find their footing offensively in the second half early on. Turnovers became routine for most of the third quarter which allowed the Eagles to push their lead to 26 by the end of the third by a score of 41-15.

Once the fourth quarter hit, Delta let off the gas pedal and started to allow the red and white to start to make things interesting late in the game.

“In the fourth quarter we got sloppy when we got up big, and started to get too handsy defensively,” Detweiler said. 

The Eagles were able to do enough to maintain their lead and had built enough of a cushion in the third to allow them to cruise to the end of the game defeating the Spartans to move to 1-0 on the season.

The Eagles will begin conference play in their next matchup against Mt. Vernon (2-0) Dec. 6. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.

Contact David Moore with comments at david.moore@bsu.edu or on X @gingninj63

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