Dover, Del. (Jan. 25, 2016) --- The Delaware State men's basketball team led as many as 22 points second half, but had to survive a furious rally by North Carolina A&T to notch its first MEAC win of the season 57-55 in Memorial Hall this evening.
The Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 2-17 overall and 1-4 in the MEAC this season. The Aggies dropped their eighth in a row to fall to 5-16 and 2-5.
DSU led 32-19 at the break, and scored the first nine points of the second half to open up its biggest lead. Scott Sill capped off the run with a three-pointer to give the Hornets a 41-19 advantage at the 15:51 mark of the second half.
North Carolina A&T chipped away at the deficit throughout the half, and pulled to within 56-54 after an old-fashioned three-old play by Denzel Keyes with 2:04 left to play.
The Aggies had four chances to tie the game or take the lead over the next minute-and-a-half, but missed three shots and committed a turnover during the span.
After Devin Morgan hit one-of-two free throws to give the Hornets a 57-54 lead, NCA&T had the ball with 26 seconds left.
Delaware State's Todd Hughes was whistled for a foul with 2.5 seconds left. NCA&T guard Sam Hunt hit the first free throw to cut DSU's lead to 57-55. Hunt missed the second shot on purpose, and the Aggies got a break when the ball went out of bounds off a DSU player with 1.6 seconds on the clock. North Carolina A&T failed to take advantage of the opportunity when it committed a turnover on the inbounds play as time expired.
Dana Raysor was high scorer for Delaware State with 16 points, while Morgan added 12 points and a career-high eight assists for the Hornets.
Hunt was high man for the Aggies with a game-high 19 points, highlighted by 13-of-14 shooting at the line.
Martin Jones came off the bench to add 10 points, while Keyes had 17 rebounds to lead all players for the Aggies.
Each team struggled with its shooting from the field and the free throw line.
Delaware State was 20-for-58 from the field (34.5%), including eight-of-25 from on three-point shots (32%). The Hornets missed 10 of their 19 free throws in the game (47.4%).
The Aggies shot 27.9% for the game, hitting 17 of their 61 shots from the floor and just seven-of-28 from beyond the arc (25%). NCA&T missed nine of its 23 from the line (60.9%). Keyes was the only other Aggie besides Hunt to shoot free throws, connecting on just one-of-nine at the stripe.
North Carolina A&T won the rebound battle 50-42.
Delaware State will be back in action on Wednesday at home against defending MEAC regular season champ North Carolina Central. Game time is 7 p.m. in Memorial Hall, following the DSU/NCCU women's contest.
STINGERS
DeAndre Haywood had a career-high five steals for the Hornets, giving him nine in the last two games … Morgan had three three-point field goals in the contest, marking his 15th straight game with at least one … The Hornets led at the half for just the fourth time during the 2015-16 season…The win was Delaware State's first against a Division I opponent this season … NCA&T's 55 points are the fewest the Hornets have allowed to a Div. I team this year.
