University of Delaware Athletics
Backcourt Leads the Way as Delaware Downs Hofstra 69-54 (Jan. 9, 2013)
1/9/2013 3:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Blue Hen Backcourt Leads the Way as Delaware Cruises to Fourth Straight Win, 69-54 Over Hofstra
January 9, 2013
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell
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NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware men's basketball backcourt duo of junior Devon Saddler (at right) and sophomore Jarvis Threatt led the way Wednesday night as the Blue Hens cruised to their fourth straight victory with a 69-54 Colonial Athletic Association victory over Hofstra at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Saddler, the CAA's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game, knocked down 23 points and Threatt recorded his second straight 19-point effort and recorded six steals as the Blue Hens (7-8, 2-0 CAA) broke away from a narrow halftime lead with a strong second half start and never looked back.
Saddler, who has now scored in double figures every game this season, recorded his sixth 20-point effort of the season and surpassed the 1,300-point mark for his career, moving him into 10th place all-time in UD history. Threatt posted his fifth straight double figure scoring effort and matched his season-high for the second straight game.
Another Delaware guard, sophomore Kyle Anderson, chipped in with 11 points while Josh Brinkley and Carl Baptiste each added eight points and six rebounds.
Delaware has now won nine straight CAA regular season games since last season and is off to a 2-0 start in league play for just the third time since joining the league in 2001-02.
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Delaware senior forward Jamelle Hagins, who entered the game with the school record for career rebounds and the 1,000-point mark both in reach, was held scoreless but pulled six rebounds and posted three blocks. The nation's leading rebounder at 12.7 per game, Hagins needs just eight boards to reach the school record of 916 by Spencer Dunkley (1989-92) and will go for the mark Saturday at Georgia State.
Hofstra (4-11, 1-1 CAA), which lost for the ninth time in the last 10 games and fell to Delaware for the third straight time, had just one player reach double figures as Daquan Brown came off the bench to notch a season-high 13 points. Stephen Nwaukoni contributed seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Stevie Mejia added nine points.
Pride leading scorer, guard Taran Buie, entered the game averaging 14.8 points per game but was held to just two points on 1 of 11 shooting. As a team, Hofstra hit just 20 of 52 shots from the field (38.5 percent), went 1 for 10 from the three-point line, and managed to hit just 13 of 23 free throws.
"It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing game, but we got what we came to get," said Delaware head coach Monté Ross, whose team won its ninth straight CAA regular season game dating back to last season. "Devon's defense on (Taran Buie) was outstanding, and in the second half we gave a good team defensive effort. When your best big guy (Hagins) can go scoreless and you still win by double figures, that is a good sign."
Delaware converted half of its shots from the field (27 of 54) for the game, including draining 14 of 26 second half field goal attempts. The Hens committed just nine turnovers.
After a sluggish start, the Hens pulled things together midway through the opening half and built an eight-point lead at 24-16 with 7:13 remaining after four straight points from Saddler.
Hofstra eventually narrowed the gap to 28-26 on a jumper by David Imes with 2:18 left, but Anderson answered with a three-pointer to push the lead back to five. Two free throws by Hofstra's Brown pulled the Pride to within 31-28 at the break.
Delaware took control early in the second half to put the game away as the Hens outscored Hofstra 10-3 over the first five minutes and used an overall 16-5 run to go up 47-33 seven minutes into the stanza.
Hofstra never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way as Delaware built the lead to as many as 20 points at 61-41 on a Threatt jumper with 7:42 left.
