Second Half Surge Lifts Delaware Past Oakland, 56-53, at Sunshine Slam

Friday, November 8

Kissimmee, FL

5:00 PM

University of Delaware

2-0

Oakland

1-1

Oakland

Delaware

Photo by: Michelle Stojkov

Second Half Surge Lifts Delaware Past Oakland, 56-53, at Sunshine Slam

11/8/2019 8:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Delaware erupted for a 25-2 run in the second half and held on down the stretch as the Blue Hens posted a 56-53 win over Oakland in the first game of the Sunshine Slam tournament Friday night at Silver Spurs Arena.

Delaware trailed 28-20 at the break, and the Golden Grizzlies quickly scored the first two buckets of the second half to take a 12-point advantage. However the Blue Hens exploded for a 16-0 run while holding Oakland scoreless for the next eight minutes, going in front 36-32 on a Nate Darling basket at the 10:56 mark.

The Golden Grizzlies finally ended the run with a layup, but Delaware countered with another nine-point spurt to go up 45-34 on consecutive triples by Ryan Allen and Darling.

The Blue Hens were still up seven at 53-46 with 3:21 on the clock, before Oakland scored six consecutive points to close within 53-52 with a minute to play. But Allen then drove to the lane and fed Collin Goss for a layup, and after each team hit one free throw, Oakland's Xavier Hill-Mais missed a three-pointer just before the final buzzer.

Darling, making his Blue Hen debut, finished with a game-high 22 points and went 5 of 9 from three-point range. Allen contributed 12 points and five assists, while Goss collected a game-best 10 rebounds.

Delaware shot just 35.1 percent from the field for the game, but did improve to 44.4 percent shooting in the second half. The Blue Hens were excellent on the defensive end of the floor, holding Oakland to 37.3 percent shooting on the night.

Head Coach Martin Ingelsby
"I'm really proud of this group, we hung in there and got a quality win over a good team. I'm really happy with our defensive effort, and this is a heck of a win on a neutral court. We showed a lot of character battling through the ebbs and flows of the game. I thought our shot selection improved in the second half, we were more patient on the offensive end and were able to get stops and get out in transition."

Nate Darling
"It was a long time coming (making his UD debut.). It feels good to get our first win down here against a solid team. We were locked in on the defensive end, and in the second half were able to feed off each other offensively."