5-foot-9 Denim Perkins is 'heart and soul' of Dover's first championship basketball team

NEWARK – Tears welled in the eyes of Denim Perkins as he navigated the postgame celebration. They weren't the pouring-down-your-face type of tears. They built and just sat there below his eyes as he went from hug to handshake to hug.

Perkins eventually found his head coach Stephen Wilson near midcourt. Wilson was contending with tears of his own. They wrapped their arms around each other. They stayed there. The camera lenses that surrounded them couldn't penetrate the moment.

The game had a way of finding Perkins, Dover's 5-foot-9 point guard. Or maybe he has a way of imprinting on it.

Perkins stepped into a jumper after Dover failed to score on its first 16 possessions. He raced down the court for a layup near the end of the third quarter to give Dover its first lead of the game. In the final period, he poked the ball away twice, corralled three rebounds and dropped in two layups. His free throws with 2.7 ticks remaining put the game away.

"He's the heart and soul," said teammate Dorell Little.

Dover defeated Salesianum 56-53 Saturday night at the Carpenter Center to win the first boys basketball state championship in the school's 58-year history. The Senators (23-2) had reached this stage five times, twice under Wilson.

Talking to reporters after the game, his glasses fogged, Wilson said he had no words to describe the impact of Perkins. In his embrace of Perkins, he told him simply that he loved him and he is proud of him.

Perkins and Wilson retreated from the hug to opposite ends of the bench as the team waited to be called on to accept their trophy. Wilson burrowed his face in a white towel. Perkins used his white jersey. Then he met his mother, Roslyn, at the bottom of the stands.

Later, before he spoke of himself or his teammates, Perkins thought of her.

"I'm just so happy for her that she got to experience this," he said.

"I had him when I was 17. Being a teen mom, this is not what you expect," she said. "He's always been just naturally gifted. He doesn't have to work hard, but he does. He puts the work in because he wants to be better."

"Me and him have been through so much this year. He's been here through the ups and the downs.… It's been a very long time for Dover. I'm glad that he was able to bring it home for us."

GIRLS FINAL: Freshman star leads Ursuline past Caravel for DIAA girls basketball title

The start was not promising for the Senators. They didn't score until Perkins' jumper more than six minutes into the game and trailed 13-6 after the first quarter.

Dover stayed in touch in the second quarter by establishing an advantage on the glass and luring Salesianum into foul trouble. But the offense was still inefficient, converting at a 22% clip. Little started 1-12, then hit four of his next five to close the half. Perkins ended the half 1-7 with four points.

Perkins and Little huddled. The duo that first played together in elementary school on the AAU team 6th Man Warriors have contrasting styles. Little is a bruising 6-foot-5 wing who bullies his way to the basket and stays there to collect his own misses. Perkins, the smallest player on the floor Saturday by multiple inches, finishes around and underneath his defenders.

They agreed that to get Dover back in the game they needed to be more aggressive and enter their own versions of take over mode. Neither were deterred by the early struggle.

"We can't wait for everybody else to get involved," Perkins said, recalling the conversation. "We have to go ourselves. Go back to the old days."

In the second half, Salesianum couldn't keep Little from the basket. He scored 20 points, making nine of his 12 attempts mostly around the rim.

"I just calmed down and got to my spots," said Little, who transferred from Polytech to Dover for his senior year.

Perkins had 12 of his 16 points in the second half. For the game, he tallied eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals, playing all 32 minutes. Little and Perkins combined for 47 of Dover's 56 points.

After a back and forth sequence, Little's push shot from the right side gave Dover a 52-50 lead with 1:17 to play. A Salesianum foul on the next possession returned the ball to Dover. After a series of Salesianum fouls, Tarrance Williams hit one of two free throws.

Trailing 53-50 with 17.5 seconds remaining, Salesianum had a sideline inbounds out of a timeout. They tried to open up a shooter in the opposite corner for a three. Little blocked the shot.

Salesianum (15-9) was looking to become Delaware's first back-to-back champion since they won in 2014 and 2015 with Donte DiVincenzo. They are the first school to play in the boys championship game in three straight seasons since Sanford from 2010-2013.

After Little's block, he split a pair of free throws to put Dover ahead by four. Salesianum then missed a layup. Perkins secured the loose ball and was fouled.

He ran from one end of the court to the other with the ball tucked under his right arm. With two hands, he placed it on the court under the basket into which moments later he'd sink two free throws, Dover's 55th and 56th points.

He raised his hands to chest level and rubbed his thumbs against his fingers. Little later described it as the "let's get money" sign. Fans called him "Moneyline Perk." At this juncture, the gesture told the Dover crowd that the celebration could begin.

Screams and chants poured out of the blue and white as Perkins turned to Little at half court. Little hugged Perkins with such force that he briefly picked him up. They had taken down the defending champions and etched a mark in the state capital's sports history.

Brandon Holveck is a high school sports reporter. Contact him at bholveck@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Dover wins first boys basketball state title in school history over Salesianum