Darling Shoots Delaware Past Charleston, 79-67
Rob Washburn
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 8, 2020) – Junior guard Nate Darling poured in a team-high 25 points to lead 5
th-seeded Delaware past #4 Charleston, 79-67, in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Hercules Tires CAA Men’s Basketball Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
The Blue Hens (22-10) advance to play top-seeded Hofstra in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Monday. Charleston dropped to 17-14 overall with the setback. It was Delaware’s first win over Charleston since 2016 and ended a nine-game losing streak to the Cougars.
Darling knocked down 5-of-8 from 3-point range for the hot-shooting Blue Hens, who connected on 50.9% of their shots from the floor, including 8-of-16 from beyond the arc. Junior forward Dylan Painter added 14 points on 5-of-5 FG shooting, Ryan Allen netted 12 points and forward Justyn Mutts recorded his 11
th double-double with 12 points and a team-best 11 rebounds.
Charleston got a game-high 26 points from senior guard Grant Riller. Backcourt mate Brevin Galloway hit 4-of-7 treys and chipped in 14 points while Zep Jasper had 13 points.
Gallery: (3/8/2020) 2020 MBB Champ Game 4: CofC vs Delaware
Three-pointers from Galloway and Riller helped Charleston jump out to a quick 8-0 advantage. However, Delaware battled back behind Darling, who went 3-for-3 from 3-point range and scored 11 points over an 11-minute span, putting the Blue Hens ahead 22-17 on a trey with 7:39 left in the half. UD maintained its five-point cushion heading into intermission as Allen scored the final four points of the period to make it 32-27. Darling (15) and Allen (11) combined for 26 of the Blue Hens’ 32 first-half points.
Delaware maintained its momentum early in the second half, extending the lead to 11 (43-32) on a Mutts layup with 15:32 remaining. Charleston trimmed the deficit to four, 47-43, on a Riller trey from the right wing with 12:18 to go.
The Blue Hens regained control with an 11-4 run that featured 3-pointers from Johnny McCoy, Darling and Kevin Anderson that upped the UD lead to 58-47 with 8:45 on the clock. The Cougars got as close as six (62-56) on a Riller layup at the 6:05 mark, but Darling answered with his fifth trey of the game to make it 65-56 with 5:06 left. Charleston wouldn’t get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.