Dover, Del. (Jan. 9, 2010) --- A dramatic layup from freshman guard
Alibaba Odd layup with 0.9 seconds to go for his only basket of the night was the game winner as the Delaware State Hornets beat the Winston-Salem State Rams 49-48 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Hall on the campus of Delaware State.
With starting forward leading rebounder, and second leading scorer Frisco Sandidge sidelined by injury, the Hornets (5-7, 0-1 MEAC) needed other players to step up, and got standout performances and career highs at multiple positions. Senior guard Marcus Neal had a career high 20 points, including 6-13 from 3 point range, and freshman Terron Stowe picked up career highs with 12 points, 10 rebounds for the first double-double by a Hornet that wasn't Sandidge this season.
"That says a lot about our character," said head coach Greg Jackson, who picked up his 145th win as the leader of the Hornets. "I tell our team all the time when you fight to the end, you give yourself a chance to win ball games like this. I thought our kids did an excellent job in not giving up."
The first half saw the Rams (3-9) jump out early behind the play of guard Brian Fisher, who had nine points on 3-5 shooting in the opening stanza. The Rams were more efficient on the glass and from the floor, outrebounding DSU 18-12 and shooting 11 of 22 from the floor to just 7 of 23 for the Hornets. The 27-18 advantage for the Rams made it seem like the absence of Sandidge might be too much for the Hornets to overcome.
But with a charged up Memorial Hall crowd behind them, Greg Jackson's charges would not go down quietly. Down 37-30 with 10 minutes to go, DSU would cut the advantage to one behind four straight points from freshman point guard Jay Threatt and a jumper from Marcus Neal. But a mini run from the Rams extended their advantage back to six. The Hornets finally pulled even for the first time all day with a Neal three pointer with 2:43 remaining. It appeared to be for naught however when WSSU's Paul Davis found the right end of a wild tip-in with 35 seconds left off a missed perimeter jumper for a four point Ram advantage.
Following a Winston-Salem timeout and down 48-44, point guard Chad Wilson, playing double digit minutes for the first time all season, fired up a three pointer for his first points of 2009-10 and to cut the lead to one with 28.4 to go. With DSU forced to foul, Andrew Jackson stepped to the line and missed the front end of a one and one to give DSU the ball back with 9.6 to go, and 94 feet from victory.
Wilson brought the ball up and used his speed to get to the lane off the left wing, and found Alibaba Odd cutting baseline for an almost uncontested layup with 0.9 to go. The last second heave from the Rams would go wanting, giving DSU their first victory since beating Delaware on Dec. 1st.
On Monday at 7:30 p.m. the Hornets will take on the South Carolina State Bulldogs, the first of their final 15 games, all being MEAC Conference contests. Live stats and all the coverage will be available on DSUHornets.com, and radio coverage will be through the Hornets Radio Network on both 1290 The Ticket and 1410 WDOV.
