Sanford spoils Howard’s celebration of Coach Joe Hussey in overtime, 62-54

WILMINGTON — Howard honored its late coach Joe Hussey, who passed away earlier this month, bringing in the 1985 state championship team he coached.

An inspired No. 5 Wildcats team held an early lead over top-ranked Sanford, but couldn’t hold on after halftime, falling 62-54 in overtime.

The Wildcats took a 32-26 lead into the half, where we caught up with Howard alum Stan Waterman, who coached Sanford for 29 years and now leads the Delaware State University program.

“There is so much going on today as they recognize and acknowledge coach Hussey and his legacy and what he has meant to Howard High School and this basketball program,” said Waterman, who played at Howard under Coach Hussey. “It’s exciting to be here to watch my alma mater where I played and to have them playing against the team I coached. So I am going to win anyway.”

 The Wildcats took their largest lead in the third quarter at 15, going up 41-26 with 3:30 left in the quarter, but the Warriors pulled to within 10 points by the end of the third quarter before completing a 36-13 run then led to a tie game at the end of regulation and forced overtime.

Sanford Center Jayden Taylor started the fourth-quarter run, saying “I just knew I had to be the aggressive player that I am. I just knew once I got to the basket and finished around the rim, we were gonna win this game.”

Sanford guard Khareem Hart said after the game, “We got steals and we got what we wanted on the offense and made buckets and we came away with the win.” 

Taylor led the Warriors 22 points, while Hart added 15 points in the victory. Howard was led by Nicholas Baysah, who scored 21 points in the loss.

Sanford (12-2) will play Salesianum at 8 pm Saturday night at the Chase Fieldhouse before hitting the road Tuesday and Thursday against St. Andrew’s and Middletown. Howard (11-3) will continue its five-game homestand next week with a Tuesday game against Salesianum followed by games against McKean on Thursday and William Penn on Saturday.