Southampton baller Nick Doyle signs with Delaware State

Published 9:08 am Saturday, April 28, 2012

COURTLAND—Southampton High School senior Nick Doyle has signed a partial scholarship to play basketball at Delaware State University.

“Today makes everything I’ve done worth it,” Doyle said Wednesday during the signing at the high school.

The son of Keith and Cheryl Doyle, he said he loves the school’s atmosphere, noting the team’s personality meshed with his.

“It’s not a selfish team,” Nick Doyle said. “They just want to win.”

The academic and athletic scholarship will cover at least half of his tuition.

Doyle has led the Indians in scoring the past three years. He shot 47 percent from the field the past season and scored 16.9 points per game.

“I couldn’t be happier for him,” said SHS Basketball Coach Will Melbye said. “It’s a testament to all the work he’s put in.”

Todd Cales, coach of the AAU Western Tidewater Hurricanes who Doyle played for before high school, described the future Hornet as a “coach on the court.”

“He wouldn’t leave until you turned the lights off in the gym,” Cales said. “I couldn’t be happier, and no one has worked harder.”

With Doyle playing in Dover and his older brother, Will, playing for Penn State Harrisburg, Keith Doyle expects to do a lot of traveling.

“I think we’ll be running through Philadelphia a lot,” he said.

The Doyles are proud of Nick’s hard work and accomplishments.

“I’m happy for Nick because of everything he’s done for himself,” Keith Doyle said. “Everybody’s really happy because he’s put all the work in.”

Nick Doyle, who said he’d like to study business and one day own an athletic facility, said he’d miss his friends and teammates next year.

“I always took pride in pulling on an Indians jersey,” he said.