Blue Hens Win Seventh Straight, Move into Second Place in CAA with 81-75 Victory at Elon

Thursday, February 13

Elon, NC

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

19-7, 9-4CAA

Elon

9-18, 5-9CAA

DELAWARE

Elon

Blue Hens Win Seventh Straight, Move into Second Place in CAA with 81-75 Victory at Elon

2/13/2020 9:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ELON, N.C. – Nate Darling hit a huge go-ahead three-pointer with 21 seconds left and the Blue Hens made two steals late as Delaware won its seventh consecutive game with an 81-75 victory over Elon Thursday night at the Schar Center.

The Blue Hens, who closed the game with a 9-0 run, moved into second place in the CAA standings and are just a game behind league-leading Hofstra.

UD trailed 75-72 following a layup by Elon's Chuck Hannah with 1:20 remaining, but Dylan Painter converted a layup before Darling buried a clutch three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Blue Hens in front for good. Johnny McCoy then made a steal and hit one of two free throws, before Kevin Anderson made a steal of his own and also buried one foul shot.

Delaware was awarded the offensive rebound following Anderson's miss on the second shot, before Ryan Allen added two from the stripe to close the scoring.

Darling again led Delaware with 24 points including five triples, while Painter contributed 13 points and a team-best six rebounds. Allen and Anderson also had 13 points for the Blue Hens, who shot 55.8 percent from the field.

Marcus Sheffield II scored 24 points for Elon, which shot 50.0 percent and buried 15 three-pointers on the night.

Elon hit its first five shots from the field while jumping out to an early 12-6 lead, but Delaware responded with a 17-2 run to go in front 23-14 following a Collin Goss layup at the 11:42 mark.

McCoy buried a three-pointer to put the Blue Hens up double figures at 31-20, before UD settled for a 43-38 advantage at the break.

Elon pulled even at 53-53 six minutes into the second half but Delaware quickly answered by scoring nine of the next 10 points, going back up 63-54 on an Anderson jumper with 10:12 to play.

The Blue Hens were still up seven a minute later, but the Phoenix scored eight consecutive points and the game went down to the wire from there.

Martin Ingelsby
"Most games in the CAA come down to the wire. We stayed poised and made some big plays late, especially on the defensive end, to come away with the win. Both of our meetings were back and forth games featuring two evenly matched teams. Nate made a tough shot; it was pretty good defense but he can hit the step-back jumper. We want the ball in our key players' hands late in games, and he made a huge shot. Then we got a couple of stops and made some free throws down the stretch. We've won a lot of close games, and our group has a great belief and spirit."

Dylan Painter
"No matter what the score is, we play the same way and are confident we'll pull these games out. We're playing with a lot of confidence right now. Justyn got going in the first half, and I was able to get touches and score during the second half. I finished some plays inside, and when they double down I can kick it out to our shooters."