The Delaware Blue Coats welcomed the New Orleans Pelicans' G League affiliate, Birmingham Squadron, to the Chase Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon for their first game of 2026. After falling behind early, the Blue Coats found themselves in an uphill battle all game long, but couldn't get over the hump in the end.
The majority of the first quarter was a very tightly contested affair with neither team willing to give an inch early on. Back-and-forth flashes of offensive brilliance and timely playmaking on defense were the story for both teams.
Johni Broome and the visiting Josh Oduro would match each other's production around the rim in the first quarter: Broome with finesse and Oduro with force. Keion Brooks Jr. was also difficult for the Blue Coats to maintain on the interior, using his size and strength advantage to bully his way to seven first-quarter points.
The Blue Coats got sloppy in their process down the stretch of the first, and that allowed Birmingham to take a lead they refused to give up for most of the game. DeAndre Williams airballed an ugly shot from the foul line and missed a wide-open three-pointer, and back-to-back turnovers that went for points put Delaware in the hole. A bad miss from Aminu Mohammed and a shot clock violation from MarJon Beauchamp did not help the matter as the Squadron controlled the back half of the quarter and led 32-24 going into the second.
The Blue Coats began their workmanlike comeback attempt ahead of halftime by slowly chipping away at the Squadron's lead. Jaylen Martin scored seven points in the first half of the second quarter to draw the Blue Coats to within four points.
The home team would then get stuck in deja vu. Josh Oduro and Keion Brooks Jr. would again make their presence felt, appearing out of thin air several times for key offensive rebounds and put-backs, and really just big-manning the Blue Coats with their physicality. Birmingham's D.J. Carton and Johnny O'Neil would combine for 19 points, and Carton had eight assists in the first half, as well.
A little more sloppiness from Delaware allowed Birmingham to balloon the lead back to 14 points, and so the comeback cycle started again. This time, it was MarJon Beauchamp—sporting the new number, 16—who would help the Blue Coats draw close before the halftime buzzer.
Beauchamp would score eight points in the final few minutes of the half while playing some pretty stout defense along the perimeter. He nailed a long-range shot with three seconds left to bring the Blue Coats within five, trailing 56-51 at halftime.
The third quarter was more of the same for both squads, but if Aminu Mohammed had not realized he was the best vertical athlete on the floor, the Blue Coats may have gone down and out much earlier. He scored 11 straight points for the Blue Coats in the period, cashing in on three and-ones and a poster dunk during the run.
"Coach told me he needed my energy out there," said Aminu Mohammed about the spark he provided in the third quarter. "My teammates were finding me when I cut. Just team basketball, we were connected in that run and I was just the man who was able to put the ball in the basket."
The main characters from the first half for Birmingham would continue their strong collective play in the third. Brooks Jr, Oduro, Carton, and O'Neil would combine for 22 points in the quarter to offset Mohammed's explosion and Beauchamp's consistency. The Squadron kept the stiff arm on the Blue Coats headed into the fourth, leading 82-77.
The fourth quarter was where Birmingham finally leaned into their obvious size advantage, which would ultimately be the deciding factor in this game. Hunter Dickinson, who had put together a solid outing for himself to this point, could not be stopped in the final frame. He looked like a dominant college center who combined aspects of irresistible force and immovable object. Given how easy he made it look when they started feeding him, it is surprising they did not try to feature him more earlier on.
Dickinson would score 12 points and bring down five rebounds in the fourth. He was a brick wall on the defensive interior as well. But Delaware kept fighting and refused to die, and on the backs of Beauchamp and Broome, even briefly took a lead at 101-99.
D.J. Carton would cash in on a couple of timely threes, including one that broke a tie at 101, and that kept the Squadron's lead just large enough to withstand one final Blue Coats flurry.
With under four seconds to play and only trailing by two points, JP Clark drew up an ATO play to Kennedy Chandler going to the baseline. Chandler unceremoniously fumbled the pass out of bounds, spelling the end of the Blue Coats' game-long comeback attempt, falling just short by a final score of 110-108. The loss brings their regular season record to 3-3.
"I thought we fought. I thought our legs were a little heavy today, maybe a little bit from the break. But you have to give them credit," said Blue Coats head coach JP Clark. "They fought, they battled, they're physical, they have two big bigs that gave us problems in the post and on the glass. We have to clean that up, watch some film, and see what we can do to adjust to win the next one."
The Blue Coats will have a chance for immediate revenge tomorrow afternoon when they get another crack at the Birmingham Squadron. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
