Middletown never trails, beating Appo 60-51 in boys basketball

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Cavaliers scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed, beating cross-district rival Appoqunimink in a matchup of top-10 basketball programs Thursday night.

Middletown senior guard Kaleb Ra’lfa, who transferred from Appo before the start of the school year, led all scorers with 28 points, making seven shots from beyond the arc.

“It was great competing with my old teammates, Ra’lfa said. “My coach (Azeez Ali) drew up some plays to get me going early, and it paid off.” Coach Ali told us after the game, the plan was to get him in a rhythm early. “We knew what to expect from them (Jaguars) and we wanted to give Ra’lfa some early looks. I also wanted to see how the team would respond after losing Tuesday night.”

The Cavaliers lost to St George’s Vo Tech 67-42 earlier this week but did respond in a big way with the win Thursday.

The game was tied twice at 21-all near the end of the half and then at 33-33 midway through the third quarter. King Savior led the Cavaliers in rebounding and scored 12 points. Appo received double-digit scoring from Riley Buzby (23 points) and Dillon Griffith with 15.