Freshmen Lead Blue Hens To 70-67 Win over Charleston in CAA Opener

Saturday, January 2

Newark, DE

2:00 PM

University of Delaware

3-3,1-0CAA

Charleston

2-6,0-1CAA

Col. of Charleston

Delaware

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Freshmen Lead Blue Hens To 70-67 Win over Charleston in CAA Opener

1/2/2021 5:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

NEWARK, Del. – Blue Hen freshman Gianmarco Arletti scored a career-high 21 points and fellow rookie Andrew Carr added 15 as Delaware opened its Colonial Athletic Association schedule with a 70-67 win over the College of Charleston Saturday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Arletti, who did not score during the first five games of the year, finished 8 of 13 from the field and knocked down three triples while playing 31 minutes. Carr also set his career-high with 15 points, as he also buried three three-pointers, and added five rebounds in 36 minutes on the floor. Dylan Painter chipped in 16 points and six boards, Ryan Allen scored all nine of his points in the second half, and Anthony Ochefu grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.

The short-handed Blue Hens played without Aleks Novakovich, who missed the game with a foot injury, and lost Kevin Anderson to an ankle injury two minutes into the contest.

Delaware, which snapped a four-game home losing streak to the Cougars, scored the first eight points of the contest and never trailed. The Blue Hens took a 33-23 lead into the half, and extended the margin to 45-32 with 15:27 to play.

The Cougars pulled within 62-61 with less than two minutes to play, but Arletti answered with a tough layup at the 1:22 mark.

Charleston's Payton Willis converted a layup to make it a 68-67 game with eight seconds left, but Allen hit two clutch free throws before Willis's last second three-point attempt was off the mark.

Martin Ingelsby
"This is a great win for our program. I really challenged our toughness over the break, and the guys responded. Our freshmen were really good; they worked hard in the preseason and I'm proud of their effort today. Ryan Allen did a great job managing the end of the game and hit some big free throws. We dug it out against a good basketball team."

Gianmarco Arletti
"I've put the work in, and when the opportunity came, I did what I was supposed to do to help the team win. I was aggressive and hit some open shots which helped my confidence."