University of Delaware Athletics
University of Delaware
St. Bonaventure
Hens Earn First Win With 82-77 Triumph Over St. Bonaventure
12/30/2014 9:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
• Boxscore
NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware men's basketball squad picked up its first victory of the season in thrilling fashion Tuesday night as the Blue Hens, led by freshman point guard Kory Holden, rallied from a 11-point second half deficit and knocked off St. Bonaventure 82-77 at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Delaware (1-10), which entered the game as one of just three teams in NCAA Division I without a victory, scratched its name off the list and snapped an 11-game losing streak thanks to a gutsy 
performance from Holden, who scored a career-high 27 points before leaving the game with a leg injury with two minutes left.
The Hens picked him up by knocking down six straight free throws over the final 23 seconds to secure the victory.
The Blue Hens recorded season-highs for points (82) and field goal shooting (.537 on 29 of 54 accuracy), fell one short of the school record with 11 blocked shots, and put five scorers in double figures for the first time this season. Marvin King-Davis (at left) contributed 14 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks, Chivarsky Corbett had 12 points and six rebounds, Kyle Anderson added 11 points, and Cazmon Hayes put up 10 points.
Maurice Jeffers also added six points, five rebounds, and a career-high four blocks.
“It's important that our players got a reward for all of their hard work,” said Blue Hen head coach Monté Ross. “Saturday is the start of a new season, and we're rounding into shape. Our toughness tonight was phenomenal, both physically and mentally. Kory (Holden) was really aggressive tonight; I thought he was tremendous and controlled the entire game.”
St. Bonaventure (7-4), which lost for the third time in its last four outings, got a team-high 22 points from Marcus Posley while Dion Wright added 16 points and eight rebounds, Andell Cumberbatch contributed 15 points, and Youssou Ndoye added six points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. Posley recorded his sixth 20-point game of the season.
The Bonnies took a 40-38 halftime lead and stayed in front for the first 13 minutes of the second half, going up by as much as 11 points with 13:18 left to play. They still held a 61-51 advantage with 10:27 
remaining on a dunk by Cumberbatch before the Hens rallied with a 15-2 run to take the lead.
A jumper by King-Davis with 6:27 left put the Hens up for good at 64-63 and Delaware increased the lead to 73-67 on a Holden three-pointer with 3:18 left before holding off the Bonnies.
Corbett (at right) hit four straight free throws in a span of seven seconds over the final 23 seconds and backup point guard Anthony Mosley, who replaced Holden, iced the win with two more free throws with one second left for his only points of the night.
Mosley was fouled after corralling the rebound on a potential game-tying three-point attempt by Posley with four seconds left to play.
“Coach Ross kept telling us to stay together and to keep fighting,” Holden said. “We want to keep improving this year, and this gives us some momentum heading into Northeastern."
HEN SCRATCHINGS:
• Delaware avenged an 80-73 loss at St. Bonaventure last season
• The game closed out the non-conference slate for the Blue Hens, who will open defense of their 2014 Colonial Athletic Association title by hosting preseason favorite Northeastern in the CAA opener Saturday, Jan. 3, at 2 p.m.
• Holden, whose previous career-high was 15 points, posted the fourth highest single game scoring total by a freshman in UD history while also dishing out five assists. He is expected to be ready for the Northeastern game Saturday
• Anderson, who was honored before the game for scoring his 1,000th career point last week vs. Robert Morris, hit on 3 of 7 three-pointers to up his career total to 226, just two shy of the UD career-record held by Mike Ames (2000-04)
