St. Georges freshman Ayden Davis finished over the Dover defense. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
The St. Georges Hawks defeated the top-seeded Dover Senators, 63-57, and Howard defeated William Penn, 52-45, to move on to the 2026 DIAA state championship game. The state championship will be played at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
NEWARK — The Hawks and Wildcats won a pair of close matchups to advance on to the season’s final game. St. Georges will play in its first championship game since 2016 and Howard is making its first appearance in the championship since winning it all in 2013.
St. Georges defeats Dover, 63-57:
St. Georges’ senior Joshua Obiora backpedaled in the lane as Dover junior Kareem King drove toward the basket late in the fourth quarter. Obiora slid his feet and got between King and the hoop. King tried to create a little space by driving into the body of Obiora, but the length of the senior dismissed any advantage the move created. Obiora blocked King’s layup and the rejection hit off the junior while he laid out of bounds, giving the Hawks possession with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game.
St. Georges led by four at the time, but a couple of free throws by freshman Ayden Davis increased the lead to six.
“I just wanted to stay composed, you know, just had to hit the shots and seal the game. I knew we [were] going to win from there,” Davis said postgame.
Obiora knocked down two free throws on the Hawks’ next possession creating an eight point advantage that was too much for Dover to overcome with less than 30 seconds to play. Obiora grabbed the final rebound of the game and let out an excited scream while celebrating with Davis near the three point line, before hyping up the Hawks fans in attendance.
“It’s just crazy, like that’s what we practice for, that’s what the whole season’s about to make it here,” Obiora said about the Bob Carpenter Center atmosphere. “The environment was crazy, I had to get everybody riled up.”
The senior finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in addition to six blocks and four steals. Nine of his points came at the start of the fourth quarter, following a 3-pointer from Senator senior Kameron Jackson-Dickson that cut St. Georges’ lead to one early in the fourth.
St. Georges senior Joshua Obiora concentrates on knocking down his free throws against Dover in the semifinals. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
“He’s the only captain that we have. He’s a leader and he’s more vocal than ever and he brings it on and off the court,” St. Georges’ head coach Rod Griffin said postgame about Obiora. “He’s a stellar athlete and a stellar academic. I just can’t say enough about him.”
Dover kept the game close all night with key contributions from senior Chase Little who led the team with 24 points. The Senators only trailed by three points at halftime despite a ten point first quarter from St. Georges’ junior Jayden Reid and a scoring mix of Reid and Obiora in the second.
“I was chasing it,” Reid said about his first half performance. “I was ready, I was running, hustling, getting offensive boards. Pretty sure I was in the middle of every play.”
Hawks’ sophomore Elijah Coates took control of the game at the start of the second half creating multiple steals and turning them into six points on the offensive end.
Coates’ early scores put the Hawks ahead by seven, but the Senators responded forcing multiple turnovers that fueled their comeback. Dover scored eight of the final 12 points of the third quarter to cut the Hawks lead to four entering the final frame.
Little finished as the game’s leading scorer, knocking down 11 shots. King and senior JayVion Denis each contributed ten points to the Dover effort.
Reid finished the game with 16 points — all of which came in the first half. Davis and Coates combined for 25 points.
Howard defeats William Penn, 52-45:
Howard senior Nicholas Baysah finishes at the rim with his left hand. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
Howard junior Zi’Yon Henderson-Conkey played a little less than five minutes throughout the first half of the Wildcats’ semifinal game against the Colonials, but when senior Dominic Awahmukalah picked up his fourth foul with a little over six minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Henderson-Conkey was called back into action.
The junior wing checked in with Howard clinging to a one-point lead and took full advantage of his opportunity.
Henderson-Conkey scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help Howard advance past the semifinal round for the first time in over a decade.
“I don’t know it just came out of me, I just had to be that man,” Henderson-Conkey said postgame. “I just had to step up and it wasn’t really about the points, it was really about us going to the finals, you know, that’s what our main goal was.”
The first half of the game moved slowly with both teams struggling to get shots to fall. Neither team gave up much defensively and forced the opposition into tough layups or even tougher jump shots. The Colonials finished the first quarter down by one due to a long 3-point shot from sophomore Aaron Whitaker at the buzzer.
The time between Whitaker’s shot and the start of the second quarter lasted 22 minutes due to a power surge that caused a malfunction with the Bob Carpenter Center lights. Just seconds after Whitaker’s shot, the court went dark and the only lights on were those above the stands and the concourse. The teams’ went back to their locker rooms while event staff rushed around to fix the issue and play resumed at 8:43 p.m.
The Wildcats outscored the Colonials by eight points in the second quarter to go into halftime ahead by nine points. Senior Nicholas Baysah led the Wildcats with seven points at the break in addition to multiple assists. Baysah was a leader on the floor for head coach Rahsaan Matthews Sr., especially in a first half in which both offenses struggled.
“I mean he’s a true point guard. So when I need him to score, he scores. When I need him to facilitate, he does that. He never looked worried or out of his composure,” Matthews said postgame.
The Colonials started the second half strong — scoring ten of the first 12 points of the third quarter — to reduce Howard’s lead down to one. Matthews called a timeout when the lead fell to a single point and the team responded with seven straight, returning their lead back to multiple possessions.
William Penn finished the quarter scoring 17 points, and a step-back three from junior Chase Simmons sent the Colonials into the fourth quarter trailing by one score.
That’s when Henderson-Conkey took over.
The junior scored in the lane, in the mid-range and at the free throw line and contributed on the defensive end with a block on a potential William Penn 3-pointer that would’ve cut Howard’s lead to three late in the quarter. Henderson-Conkey finished the game as Howard’s leading scorer with 13 points in addition to four rebounds.
“I expected him to play hard. I expected him to be a key contributor, because he’s stepped his game up this whole tournament,” Matthews said. “But for a guy like that to get that opportunity, we talk about embracing your opportunities. So it might be five minutes, it might be ten minutes, he took advantage of all 13 or 14 he had, and really was the key to us winning this game.”
William Penn senior Mu’adh Ibn Jaabir-Johnson going up for a layup in the second semifinal game Wednesday night. Photo credit: Dave Reeder
Senior Mu’adh Ibn Jaabir-Johnson led the Colonials with a team-high 12 points. Junior Chase Simmons scored ten and Whitaker also finished the game with ten points for William Penn. Awahmukalah was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11 points.
The championship game between Howard and St. Georges will be on Saturday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m.
This post was originally published on Delaware LIVE
