Final Score: Cameron Young’s 37 points lead the Cleveland Charge to 147-137 victory over the Delaware Blue Coats

The Cleveland Charge dug themselves a hole in the first quarter on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76er affiliated Delaware Blue Coats thanks to 12 first quarter turnovers. The Charge fell behind 38-20 in the first quarter on Tuesday and were never able to recover.

The Charge flipped the script entirely during Wednesday’s rematch. Twelve first quarter turnovers turned into just four. Unsurprisingly, the results were slightly different.

Tacko Fall got the Charge started with 6 quick points in the first 3 minutes. Cameron Young picked up the scoring from there contributing 11 first quarter points of his own. The Charge led 35-25 after the first.

Things started to get a little chippy in the second quarter after the Charge extended the lead to 21. Young and Delaware’s Demarcus Holland picked up double technicals after a brief back and forth following a Young driving layup.

“That was just me trying to fire my team up a little bit,” said Young afterwards. “Some of their guys were talking a little trash. They were jawwing a little bit yesterday so I gave some of that back.”

Despite Young’s best attempts to keep his team motivated, the momentum seemed to change after the technical as Delaware went on a 20-9 run shortly afterwards cutting the lead to 66-60. Four straight Charge turnovers didn’t help things either.

The Charge responded with three pointers on four straight possessions from Young, two straight from Wes Iwundu, and another from Justin James. The Charge used this take a 79-65 lead into the half.

This response proved to be the turning point in the game. “We didn’t waver,” said Young. “Some of the games we played this year we were down and were able to comeback. We’ve already been there before. We had the lead and we kind of lost it. We knew what we did to get the lead and we just had to do the same thing to keep it.”

Cameron Young carried that mindset into the second half. He scored 10 points in a five minute span capped off by a steal and breakaway dunk that pushed the Charge lead to 19. The Charge coasted to a 114-92 lead at the end of the third.

Delaware was able to cut the lead to 8 with under 4 minutes to play in the fourth but were never able to get closer thanks to timely baskets from Wes Iwundu and Young.

The Charge and Blue Coats played Wednesday without their leading scorers from Tuesday’s contest. Jaden Springs spearheaded the Blue Coats defense on Tuesday night with 7 steals which led to 30 points.

Conversely the Charge were without Malik Newman who missed Wednesday’s game with a wrist injury. Brandon Goodwin, Dylan Windler, and RJ Nembhard were also out due to not being with the Cleveland Cavaliers for their Wednesday game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Charge’s remaining guards stepped up in a big way. Cameron Young was the story of the night as he led the Charge with 37 points, five assists and five boards on 14 of 23 shooting including six of eight shooting from deep. Justin James stepped into the primary point guard duties and finished with 28 points and eight assists. Backup point guard Juwan Evans contributed to the win with 22 points and five assists off the bench.

Up next: The Charge will look to make it two straight wins as they travel to Greensboro to take on the Charlotte Hornets affiliated Swarm. The Charge will be back home on Sunday to take on Atlanta Hawks affiliate College Park Skyhawks.