Delaware Tops Fordham, 81-71, To Advance to Gulf Coast Showcase Final

Tuesday, November 23

Estero, FL

7:30 PM

University of Delaware

4-1,0-0CAA

Fordham

3-3,0-0Atlantic 10

Delaware

Fordham

Delaware Tops Fordham, 81-71, To Advance to Gulf Coast Showcase Final

11/23/2021 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ESTERO, Fla. – Delaware used another efficient offensive performance as the Blue Hens defeated Fordham, 81-71, Tuesday night in a Gulf Coast Showcase semifinal at Hertz Arena.

Delaware, which won its fourth straight game, advances to the tournament final against Oakland Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

The Blue Hens featured a balanced effort and shot 60 percent for the second consecutive night by going 24 of 40 from the floor. Dylan Painter led the way with 17 points, while Jameer Nelson, Jr. added 15 and Kevin Anderson chipped in with 11. Andrew Carr contributed nine points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Ryan Allen also scored nine, Jyare Davis had eight and Gianmarco Arletti recorded seven.

Delaware also continued to shoot well from the foul line in the early season, finishing 28 of 36 from the charity stripe.

Fordham put four players in double figures but shot just 35.8 percent from the field, including 9 of 32 from three-point range.

Fordham scored the first eight points of the game, but Delaware later answered with a 10-point run to go up 19-13 on a Davis dunk with 11:39 left in the opening half.

After the Rams hit consecutive three-pointers to pull even at 23-23, the Blue Hens went on an eight-point spurt and led the rest of the way. Carr buried a three-pointer to put Delaware up 12 before Chuba Ohams converted a layup to bring Fordham within 39-29 at the break.

Delaware hit five of its first six shots from the field in the second half, opening up a 52-36 cushion on a Painter jumper with 15:12 remaining. However Fordham countered with eight consecutive points to pull within 52-44 and force a UD timeout with 12:35 to play.

But Painter answered with a dunk, and after Davis hit a jumper, Arletti threw down a dunk to make it a 58-44 game at the 9:48 mark. Three minutes later Anderson converted back to back layups to give the Blue Hens their largest lead of the night at 67-51.

The Rams trimmed the margin to eight points three times down the stretch, but would not get closer.

Martin Ingelsby
"This was a great team win. We had great balance, and got important contributions off our bench. Jyare Davis gave us some valuable minutes, and Gianmarco Arletti was fantastic and gave us another ballhandler on the court. It was an up-tempo, physical game. Their pressure sped us up in the second half, but we found a way to get it done."

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