Anderson’s Two Late Buckets Lift Blue Hens Over Southern Illinois, 56-54

Saturday, November 9

Kissimmee, FL

3:00 PM

University of Delaware

3-0,0-0CAA

Southern Illinois

2-1,0-0MVC

Delaware

Southern Ill.

Photo by: Michelle Stojkov

Anderson’s Two Late Buckets Lift Blue Hens Over Southern Illinois, 56-54

11/9/2019 5:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Kevin Anderson converted two driving layups in the final 64 seconds as Delaware remained unbeaten by edging Southern Illinois, 56-54, Saturday afternoon at Silver Spurs Arena on the second day of the Sunshine Slam tournament.

Delaware, which pulled out a 56-53 win over Oakland on Friday, improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

The Blue Hens took a 34-24 lead into the break, and were still up nine at 48-39 following a Nate Darling three-pointer with 10:12 remaining. The Salukis answered with eight consecutive points to pull within one, before Ryan Allen connected on a baseline jumper to make it a 50-47 game at the 7:10 mark.

After the teams then both sent scoreless for over four minutes, Southern Illinois scored the next six points to go in front 53-50. However Anderson converted a driving layup with 1:04 left, and following a Salukis miss, the junior point guard again hit a layup to put Delaware back ahead with 30 seconds on the clock.

Allen later added two clutch foul shots, and after an SIU free throw, Darling missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Salukis a final shot. SIU got the ball to midcourt with 0.9 seconds left, but Barrett Benson's desperation three-pointer was off the mark.

Darling led the Blue Hens for the second consecutive game with 18 points, while Allen added 17 on the afternoon. Johnny McCoy contributed seven points, while Justyn Mutts grabbed a game-high 12 points.

The teams were tied 15-15 midway through the first half but Delaware scored the next nine points, going in front 24-15 following a McCoy three-pointer and layup. The Blue Hens went up 29-17 on a Mutts layup at the 4:25 mark, and after the Salukis pulled within seven, Darling buried a three-pointer just before the halftime horn to give Delaware a 34-24 advantage at the break.

Head Coach Martin Ingelsby
"We just keep finding ways to win. We practice late game situations all the time, and got two great drives from Kevin Anderson to give us the lead. I'm really proud of our defensive effort; Justyn Mutts have been fabulous defensively along with Collin Goss inside. We've already gotten wins over a solid Oakland team and a good team from the Missouri Valley Conference, and it would be huge for our program to come away with three wins down here."