The Dorman Cavaliers have become the gold standard for high school basketball. We all know they have a strong athletic tradition in general. When you walk into their arena, the first thing you notice is it is filled with state championship banners spanning from one end of the court all the way to the other side of the building. But, you don’t need to look any further than the corner closest to the home bench to see why they’re the gold standard. Four straight state titles in boy’s basketball from 2017-2020. Past championships aside, it is hard to argue that Thomas Ryan’s 2022-2023 team is not one of the best in 5A based on what they have done so far.
The Cavs are off to a blazing hot start. They came into Friday night at 6-1 on the season, with that loss coming to Christ School, who is one of the top programs in North Carolina. Dorman was outscoring opponents by an average of over 22 points per game, consistently putting up around 75 points.
The roster is loaded with senior guards such as their leading scorers Sean Linsay and Terry Leonard, who combined for over 180 points in the first 7 games. They keep 4 of the 9 guards that are all capable of doing it all on the floor at all times along with 1 forward. If that isn’t impressive enough, the Cavaliers have honestly dominated in every facet of the game all season long.
They were shooting nearly 50% from the field. They rebound well, with 230 of them on the season before Friday night. 142 of those were defensive boards. In short, this is just the typical team that we expect from Dorman.
It didn’t take long for the Cavaliers to salt away the Wade Hampton Generals on Friday night, opening with a 10-0 run. After a Wade Hampton timeout around 2:00 into the game, they only continued to pour it on, forcing several turnovers and taking full advantage of them. They jumped out to a near 20 point advantage before the Generals finally found the hoop. After a quarter, the Cavaliers lead was 27-6.
Dorman cooled off a bit in the 2nd quarter, with both teams hanging 16 points in the stanza, making for a 43-22 game at the half. The Dorman starters played one more quarter, hanging another 28 behind 4 three pointers (3 from Sean Linsay and 1 from Jordan Miller) and a 6 point showing from Terry Leonard. Ultimately, Dorman won comfortably, knocking off the Generals 79-48 to improve to 7-1 on the season.
The Cavaliers were led by Sean Linsay with 23 points. Terry Leonard was also in double figures with 12 points. Jordan Miller logged 10.
According to Thomas Ryan, the Cavaliers did not practice Wednesday because 6 players were out sick, which makes the dominance they showed even more impressive. That is one thing Ryan likes about his team – they are versatile and they are shooting with confidence right now. They expect to make shots whether it be a long jumper for 2 or a deep three ball, and it shows.
Dorman’s next test comes Saturday at the “Coaches Classic” at Spartanburg’s Viking Arena – when they will face the WJ Keenan Raiders. Asked about it postgame and on Fouled Out, Thomas Ryan stated that he fully expects Keenan will play tough and physical defense, and that it will be a much lower scoring affair than we have seen from the Cavaliers so far this season.
Nonetheless, I have to say that with Dorman’s depth as an advantage, based on what I saw tonight, if they play just as strong in the 2nd half, they should have no trouble pulling away. They just cannot afford to get in a hole early or have an extended period of time where they go cold shooting.
The Cavaliers have the nightcap in the Coaches Classic, with tipoff against Keenan set for 8:30PM.
