Late Surge Comes Up Short as Blue Hens Fall To William & Mary, 77-68

Thursday, January 16

Newark, DE

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

12-7,2-4CAA

William & Mary

14-5,6-0CAA

William & Mary

Delaware

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Late Surge Comes Up Short as Blue Hens Fall To William & Mary, 77-68

1/16/2020 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – A career night from junior guard Kevin Anderson and a big second half from classmate Ryan Allen highlighted a late surge by the University of Delaware men's basketball team against CAA-leading William & Mary on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, that surge came up just short as the Blue Hens fell, 77-68, to the red-hot Tribe, the league's only undefeated team who has won six in a row.

Anderson finished with a game-high 25 points including a career-high five three-pointers, while also dishing out four assists. Allen scored all but one of his 17 points in the second half, while Nate Darling was the third Blue Hen in double figures with 13 points to go with a career-high eight rebounds.

The first 12 minutes of the game featured a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than four points. Consecutive buckets by Dylan Painter evened the game at 20-20 with 7:30 to play in the first half.

William & Mary would then use an 11-2 run to take control and head to the locker room with a 39-33 lead after Anderson drilled a long-range three as time expired.

Delaware would jump out of the gate in the second half with five straight points from Allen to make it a one-point game at 39-38. However the Tribe responded once again with perennial All-CAA big man Nathan Knight scoring 15 of his 25 points in the second half.

With William & Mary leading 73-62 with under three minutes to play, Anderson drove the lane and ignited a run that featured six straight points, including an alley-oop dunk from Anderson to Jacob Cushing that make it 73-68 with 1:04 remaining.

But Cushing then missed a three-pointer, before the Tribe hit four free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Martin Ingelsby
"Nathan Knight has a strong skill set and was a tough matchup for us. William & Mary is well-coached and they have a good inside-outside attack. We got it to one early in the second half, but couldn't get enough stops in a row. We're struggling a little, and I need to get this group a little more confident. Our perimeter scored the basketball, but we didn't get as much from the front line. We need to look at everything to help this group improve; we've had some adversity and need to respond."

Ryan Allen
"They have two very good physical bigs and can hit three-point shots, so they're hard to guard. And the end of the day it comes down to stops, and we didn't get the stops we needed. We fought and didn't roll over, so no matter the outcome as long as we give it all we've got, that's all we can ask for."