Delaware Cruises Past Northeastern, 70-48, To Win 20th Game of Season

Thursday, February 20

Newark, DE

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

20-8,10-5CAA

Northeastern

13-14,7-8CAA

Northeastern

Delaware

Photo by: Sarah Boekholder

Delaware Cruises Past Northeastern, 70-48, To Win 20th Game of Season

2/20/2020 9:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – Delaware jumped out to a big early lead and cruised from there as the Blue Hens earned their 20th win of the season with a 70-48 victory over Northeastern Thursday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Nate Darling scored 14 of Delaware's first 16 points of the game and the Blue Hens used a 13-point run to take a commanding 24-4 lead seven minutes into the contest. Less than two minutes later Kevin Anderson found Johnny McCoy for a layup to make it a 29-6 game, before Northeastern finally answered with an eight-point spurt.

The Blue Hens extended the lead back to 24 late in the first half, before the Huskies scored the final basket to cut Delaware's margin to 43-21 at the break.

UD increased its advantage to 51-23 on a Ryan Allen three-pointer with 17 minutes remaining, and the Blue Hens' lead never went under 20 from there.

Darling finished with a game-high 17 points, all coming in the first 8:13 of the contest, for Delaware while Justyn Mutts added 13 points to go with team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists. Allen contributed 10 points on the night, while Anderson chipped in with nine.

Delaware shot over 50 percent in both halves, and finished the game with a 54.0 field goal percentage. Meanwhile the Blue Hens were stellar on the defensive end, allowing their fewest points to a Division I opponent since a 70-47 win over Bradley on Dec. 1, 2015.

Martin Ingelsby
"I thought our defensive effort was fabulous, I challenged our guys that we needed to get back to our defensive identity and they were locked in tonight. To hold a talented team like Northeastern to 48 points, I'm really proud of our effort on that end of the court. This was the most focused we're been for all 40 minutes, and we were the tougher team tonight. Nate Darling is such a confident guy, and when he gets it going early, it opens things up for the rest of the guys. Twenty wins is a nice feather in our cap and a testament to our group, but hopefully it's 20 and counting."

Justyn Mutts
"We've had our ups and downs this season, but we're getting hot at the right time. We're creating a team identity and hopefully we can carry that into the postseason. Nate is a big-time shot maker and he got it rolling early. We've had a lot of close games lately, so it feels good to get ahead of a really good team like that."