Jan. 17, 2004
NEWARK, DE - Mike Ames buried a three-pointer from the left cornerwith just 1.8 seconds left to play to complete a wild comeback for theUniversity of Delaware as the Blue Hens handed Old Dominion its firstColonial Athletic Association men's basketball loss of the season with a64-62 victory Saturday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Four Monarchs ended with 11 points each. They were John Waller, Arnaud Dahi,Alex Loughton, and Troy Nance. The Monarchs made only five field goals in thesecond half (5-23.)
Ames, a senior guard who was coming off back-to-back efforts of 28points vs. James Madison Monday and 30 points vs. Drexel Thursday,completed the stellar week as he scored a game-high 18 points andrallied the Hens after trailing by 12 points with 12:28 left to play.His game-winning three-pointer was the 200th of his career.
Delaware, which hit on 11 of its final 16 shots from the field, improvedto 9-6, 3-3 CAA despite having just one player (Ames) score in doublefigures. Henry Olawoye and David Lunn (six rebounds) each scored sevenpoints off the bench while the Hens' other four starters each netted six points.
League-leading Old Dominion, which had a seven-game win streak snappedand lost its first conference game of the season to fall to 9-5 (4-1),had a chance to win the game but center Alex Loughton's 25-footer at thebuzzer bounced out. Loughton, ODU's leading scorer at 18.5 points pergame, sat out most of the second half due to foul trouble and finishedwith 11 points and pulled six rebounds.The Hens rallied back to win from a double-digit halftime deficit forthe second time this season but for just the fourth time since the1980-81 season. The Hens won their season opener over Mt. St. Mary's75-72 in overtime Nov. 21 despite trailing by 10 at the break.
Delaware shot just 29.2 percent from the field (7 of 24) and committed10 turnovers as Old Dominion jumped out to a 37-25 lead at halftime. TheMonarchs stayed in front by double digits for most of the second half,going up by as much as 12 points at 50-38 as Valdas Vasylius convertedfour straight free throws, the last two with 12:28 remaining.
But Old Dominion's offense went cold and Delaware responded. WithLoughton, and freshman forward Arnaud Dahi (Ivory Coast) on the bench with four fouls, the Monarchs went one stretch ofjust over 12 minutes without converting a field goal. After Nance hit athree-pointer with 14:25 left for a 46-34 lead, Old Dominion couldmanage just eight free throws until Dahi nailed a three-pointer with2:22 left to tie the score at 57-57. The Monarchs missed 12 straightshots during the drought.
Delaware took full advantage of the Monarchs' poor shooting. After ODUtook the 50-38 lead with 12:28 remaining, Delaware scored 16 of the next20 points to gain the first tie of the half at 54-54 with 4:50 left to play.
After Dahi's three-pointer tied the game again at 57-57 with 2:22 left,Ames answered with a three-pointer of his own to give Delaware a 60-57advantage with 1:46 left. But Nance came up big for ODU, hitting twofree throws and nailing a three-pointer from the top of the key in aspan of just 38 seconds to put the Monarchs back up 62-60 with 1:05remaining. Delaware's Lunn hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to62-61 and the Hens followed with a big stop when Dahi missed a jumperwith 20 seconds left. That set up the winning shot by Ames, who took afeed from Mike Slattery and nailed the game-winning three-pointer fromthe left corner.
ODU returns to action on Wednesday night when they host rival VCUat 7 p.m. in the Constant Center.