Wilmington, Del. (Dec. 16, 2019) --- Villanova transfer Dylan Painter came off the bench in his season debut to lead four Delaware double-figure scorers with 19 points in the Blue Hen's 86-78 victory over Delaware State in the Route 1 Rivalry at 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington this evening. The Hens snapped a two-game losing streak and avenged a last-second loss to the Hornets a year ago to improve to 10-2 this season.
Delaware State dropped its third in a row to fall to 1-10.
Painter was eight-for-11 from the field, primarily taking advantage of the smaller Hornets in the post.
Nate Darling added 16 points, while Ryan Allen contributed 14 and Justyn Mutts 12 for the Hens.
Delaware State's John Crosby led all players with 30 points on 11-for-22 shooting from the field, including three-of-five on three-point attempts. Crosby has reached the 30-point mark in each of the last two contests, the first Hornet to achieve the feat since Amere May scored 39 against Coppin State and 30 vs. Hampton in consecutive games during the 2014-15 season.
Ameer Bennett recorded his second career double-double, and first against a Division I opponent, tallying 13 points and topping all players with 11 rebounds for DSU.
Lance Singh III was the only other Hornet in double figures with 11 points.
The Hornets trailed 11-10 in the early going before Delaware used a 12-2 run to take control. Mutts capped of the run with two free throws to give the Hens a 24-12 lead at the 7:37 mark of the first half.
DSU pulled to within 27-22 on a three-pointer by Bennett, but UD responded with an 11-2 spurt, and opened up its biggest lead 38-24 on a three-pointer by Darling with 2:54 to go before halftime.
The Hens led 43-34 at the break.
Crosby scored the first basket of the second half on a three-point shot to cut Delaware's lead to 43-37, but the Hens maintained a lead of eight –to-12 points throughout much of the final 20 minutes.
The Hornets pulled to within single-digits on 10 occasions in the second half, but Delaware had an answer each time.
"I thought we battled hard to keep Delaware from pulling too far ahead, but we couldn't get over the hump," said Delaware State second-year head coach Eric Skeeters, who is now 1-1 vs. the Hens. "I was pleased that we won the rebound battle (39-36) and committed fewer turnovers (12-16), but Delaware is 10-2 for a reason. The Hens play good defense and forced us to take tough shots, especially in the first half."
The Hornets shots 41.4% for the game (29-70), but only 37.8% in the first half (14-37). Delaware knocked down 29 of its 54 shots (53.7%), including 16 of 26 in the first half (61.5%).      
The Hornets will play their next two games on the road, visiting Jacksonville State (Ala.) on Wednesday (Dec. 18) and St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday (Dec. 22).
DSU begins a four-game home stand on Dec. 30 against Washington Adventist. The home stand includes contests against Morgan State in the MEAC opener on Jan. 4, No. Carolina Central (Jan. 11) and No. Carolina A&T on Jan. 13.
STINGERS
The Hornets were seeking back-to-back wins against the Hens for the first time in series history … Delaware holds a 15-5 lead in the series between the state's two NCAA Div. I men's basketball programs … The contest also marked the Hornet basketball debut of Delaware State's Trey Gross, also a wide receiver on the DSU football team the past three season … he is the first Hornet student-athlete to compete in football and basketball in the same season since Jeff Postell in 2007.