Dragons Comeback Bid Comes up Short at Delaware, 72-66

Thursday, January 11

Newark, Del.

7 p.m.

Drexel University

7-11, 1-4CAA

Delaware

10-8, 3-2CAA

Drexel

Delaware

Photo by: Kevin Rossi

Dragons Comeback Bid Comes up Short at Delaware, 72-66

1/11/2018 8:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Newark, Del. – Drexel rallied from a 16-point deficit, but came up just short on Thursday night at Delaware. The Dragons held the Blue Hens without a field goal for the final 5:26 but Delaware prevailed, 72-66 at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Delaware (10-8, 3-2 CAA) looked like they would cruise to a victory against its longtime rival after Darian Bryant's three-pointer with 7:07 to play put the Hens up 66-50. That would be the second to last field goal of the night for Delaware as the Dragons (7-11, 1-4 CAA) made a furious run to get back in the game. Tramaine Isabell's three-pointer with 1:19 to play capped a 16-3 run to make the score 69-66. After an Austin Williams blocked shot Drexel had the ball down by three. Isabell missed on a three-point attempt with 39 seconds to go and the Dragons immediately fouled Anthony Mosley. He made one of two to put the Blue Hens up by four. Kurk Lee missed a three-pointer on the next trip and the Dragons fouled Ryan Daly. The sophomore iced the game with a pair of free throws with just 15 ticks left on the clock.

Isabell led four Dragons in double figures with 14 points. The junior also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, 14 of them coming on the defensive end. Sammy Mojica and Alihan Demir each added 13 points. Demir was 4-for-5 from the floor. Lee chipped in with 12 points and four steals, while Williams snared 10 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Eric Carter had a big game inside for Delaware. He had 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Ryan Allen scored 14 points and made three three-pointers. Daly, the Blue Hens leading scorer, added 13, but was held to just 4-for-16 shooting by the Dragons' defense.

Delaware shot 48 percent on the night and was 6-for-14 from behind the three-point arc. The Dragons made just five three-pointers on 25 attempts, including a tough 1-for-10 performance in the first half. Overall, they shot 41 percent from the floor in the game.

Delaware opened up a nine-point lead midway through the first half, but the Dragons played better towards the end of the half, especially on the defensive end, to stay in the game. Mojica sandwiched five points around a taken charge as the Dragons cut Delaware's lead to just 31-27 at the half. Demir had eight of his points in the first half as he was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and 2-for-2 from the floor. Delaware's Allen also had eight points to lead the Hens.

The Dragons return home to face Hofstra on Saturday afternoon. Drexel and Hofstra tip at 4 p.m. at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.