Blue Hens’ Rally Falls Just Short in 99-96 Loss To Charleston

Thursday, February 24

Newark, DE

7:00 PM

University of Delaware

Charleston

Photo by: Jeff Fannon

Blue Hens’ Rally Falls Just Short in 99-96 Loss To Charleston

2/24/2022 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – Ryan Allen's last second three-point attempt was off the mark as Delaware's frenetic comeback attempt fell just short in the Blue Hens' 99-96 loss to Charleston Thursday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Charleston's Reyne Smith buried a three-pointer with 1:19 left to put the Cougars up 93-81, but Delaware roared back by scoring the next 11 points during a 44-second stretch.

Jyare Davis scored inside, and after a Cougars turnover, Ebby Asamoah buried a triple with 50 seconds on the clock. Jameer Nelson Jr. then made a steal, which led to an Allen trey to that made it a 93-89 game with 34 seconds left.

Charleston's Brendan Tucker then missed the front end of a one-and-one, before Kevin Anderson drilled a three to bring the Blue Hens within a point at the 19-second mark.

Tucker connected on a pair of free throws for the Cougars, but Davis converted a layup to again make it a one-point game. After Smith went two of two from the line, Allen answered with a pair of free throws with four seconds to play. Smith again nailed two foul shots for Charleston, before Allen's last second three-point attempt from the left wing was off the mark.

Allen finished with a game-high 28 points on the night, while Nelson Jr. added 23 points and tied Taurence Chisholm's school single game record with eight steals. Davis contributed 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting, while Andrew Carr chipped in 10 points and four blocks.

Smith scored 22 points for Charleston, which shot 57.6 percent from the field. The Cougars hit 11 of 20 shots from behind the arc and were 20 of 25 from the foul line. Charleston also held a 34-23 rebounding advantage, including 14 offensive boards. The 99 points allowed are the most by Delaware since giving up 108 at UNCW on Feb. 4, 2017.

The Blue Hens shot 55.2 percent from the floor and recorded their highest point total against a Division I opponent since also scoring 96 vs. UNCW on Jan. 7, 2018.

Charleston, which never trailed during the game, shot 68 percent in the opening half while building a 49-32 lead at the break. The Cougars used a seven-point run to go up 40-25 with 4:39 remaining in the stanza, and after Allen answered with two free throws and a triple, Charleston closed the half with a 9-2 run to make it a 17-point game at intermission.

Tucker opened the second half with a trey but Delaware then scored 10 straight points, pulling within 52-42 on a Carr layup with 16:12 left. The Blue Hens closed within 60-54 at the 11:21 mark, but Smith answered with two triples and UD didn't threaten again until the final minute.

Martin Ingelsby
"You're not going to beat a team at home allowing them to shoot that well from the field. I give our guys credit for battling back in the second half to give ourselves a chance, but giving up 99 points is not good enough. Our physicality and toughness were not there on that end of the floor. We got down and it snowballed a bit, and we couldn't put enough segments together defensively."

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