Men's #CAAHoops Recap: Feb. 20
Bill Potter
Delaware 70, Northeastern 48
Nate Darling scored all of his game-high 17 points in the first half as Delaware raced out to a big lead and rolled past Northeastern, 70-48, at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Delaware (20-8, 10-5) collected its 20
th win and 10
th victory in CAA play, both for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The Blue Hens shot 55.6-percent in the first half, outscoring Northeastern, 43-21.
Darling was 5-of-8 from the field in the game’s first 20 minutes, hitting four 3-pointers. The nation’s leader in minutes per game entering the night, Darling played just 28 as the Blue Hens led by as many as 28 points in the second half.
Justyn Mutts and Ryan Allen joined Darling in double figures, with Mutts posting 13 points and eight rebounds and Allen finishing with 10.
Northeastern (13-14, 7-8 CAA) was led by Jordan Roland’s 16 points. Tyson Walker finished with 10 for the Huskies.
William & Mary 61, Towson 51
William & Mary held Towson to 27.4-percent shooting in collecting its ninth road win of the season with a 61-51 victory at SECU Arena.
William & Mary (19-10, 11-5 CAA) held on to its grip on second place in the CAA standings with the win. Towson (16-12, 9-6 CAA) slipped into a tie for fourth and would be the No. 5 seed in the CAA Tournament should it start today.
The Tribe took control of the game over the final 5:58 of the first half and first 5:10 of the second half, outscoring Towson, 24-8, over the 11:08 stretch.
Nathan Knight got the run started with a 3-point play to snap a 17-17 tie, and Miguel Ayesa and Quinn Blair added 3-pointers to help the Tribe take a nine-point lead into the locker room, 32-23.
Luke Loewe had six of the Tribe’s nine points to open the second half, while Andy Van Vliet’s 3-pointer gave W&M a 41-25 lead with 14:50 to play.
Towson would close within six, 49-43, on a Nicolas Timberlake 3-pointer with 7:48 to play, but the Tigers could not come any closer the remainder of the game.
Knight posted his NCAA-leading 22
nd double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Loewe led the Tribe with 15 points.
With 15 points, Brian Fobbs led the Tigers while also joining the program’s 1,000-point club, moving to 1,004 for his career.
Hofstra 81, Drexel 74
Hofstra pulled away late to take a taut 81-74 contest at Drexel on Thursday night.
Hofstra (21-7, 12-3 CAA) won its seventh straight game and 10
th road contest of the season. With three games remaining in the CAA regular season, the Pride own a 1.5-game lead atop the CAA standings.
Trailing 67-65 with 4:56 remaining, Hofstra used a 13-2 run over the next 2:10 to take control of the game. Eli Pemberton started the run with a traditional 3-point play to give the Pride a lead it would not relinquish.
With the Pride holding a 70-69 lead, Pemberton would drain a 3-pointer before a Desure Buie steal and layup on the next possession to push the edge to 75-69, with 2:59 remaining.
Isaac Kante would hit four free throws down the stretch to help the Pride hold off Drexel (13-15, 6-9 CAA), which fell at home for just the third time in conference play.
James Butler flirted with a triple-double for Drexel, finishing with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting while adding 14 rebounds and nine assists. Zach Walton had 21 points before fouling out, while Cam Wynter added 16 points and seven assists.
Buie led all scorers with 26 points and was one of four Hofstra starters in double figures. Kante added 20 points, while Pemberton finished with 19 and Jalen Ray 10.
Elon 70, James Madison 62
Hunter McIntosh posted a career-high 27 points as Elon collected its fifth win in its last six games, 70-62, at James Madison.
Elon (11-18, 7-9 CAA) moved within a half-game of sixth place in the CAA with two games remaining in its regular season. James Madison (9-17, 2-13 CAA) dropped its fourth straight game.
With the game tied at 34-34 at the half, Elon limited James Madison to 30.8-percent shooting in the second half as the Phoenix earned its third road win in conference play.
Holding a 48-46 lead with 8:17 to play, Elon used a 12-3 burst over the next 4:20 to take control of the game. Simon Wright started the run with a turnaround jumper before McIntosh buried a 3-pointer on the left wing to move the lead to seven, 53-46.
On Elon’s next possession, it was Kris Wooten draining a 3-pointer. Chuck Hannah would covert back-to-back layups for the Phoenix to push the lead to 11, 60-49, with 3:57 remaining.
A Darius Banks 3-pointer cut the JMU deficit to 62-58 with 70 seconds to play, but McIntosh hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six and the Dukes would come no closer than four points the remainder of the game.
McIntosh was 8-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-7 from 3-point range in setting his career high. Marcus Sheffield II added 15 points for Elon.
Matt Lewis led all scorers with 23 points for JMU, while Banks, Dwight Wilson and Zach Jacobs all had 11 points for the Dukes, who will close the Convocation Center on Saturday.