Jan. 26, 2005
NORFOLK, VA -Alex Loughton (Perth, Australia) and Isaiah Hunter (Charlotte, NC) each scored 16 points to lead the Old Dominion men's basketball team to a 71-62 victory over the University of Delaware Wednesday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The win was the seventh straight for ODU as the Monarchs improve to 18-2 and 8-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Delaware falls to 7-12 overall and 4-4 in the CAA.
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Delaware scored the first four points of the game before the Monarchs went on a 6-0 run to grab the 6-4 lead with just over 17 minutes remaining in the first half. ODU held a 10-8 lead at the 14:34 mark of the half before going on a 7-2 run to extend their lead to seven points, 17-10 with just over 10 minutes remaining. A jumper by Raphael Madera and a pair of free throws by Mike Slattery cut the lead to just three points, 17-14, with 9:05 left, but ODU ran off seven straight points to take a 10 point lead, 24-14, with 7:11 left. By the 3:48 mark, ODU held a 12-point edge, 30-18, but an 8-2 run by the Fighting Blue Hens cut the lead to six points, 32-26, going into halftime.
Kiah Thomas (Norfolk, VA/Granby) opened up the second half with a three-pointer to extend the Monarch lead to nine points, 35-26, and a fastbreak jumper by Drew Williamson (Burlington, NC) further extended the lead to 11 points, 37-26, with just over 18 minutes left in the game. ODU pulled out to a 14-point lead, 46-32, with 12:31 remaining, and by the 9:24 mark, the Monarchs held a 15-point lead, 54-39. A lay-up by Valdas Vasylius (Klaipeda, Lithuania) gave ODU a 16-point lead, 63-47, with just under five minutes left in the game. The Monarchs held a 15-point edge, 71-56, with 33 seconds left in the game, but Delaware scored the final six points of the game, to cut ODU's lead to 71-62 by the end of the game.
For the game, both Alex Loughton and Isaiah Hunter had 16 points each to lead the Monarch effort. Arnaud Dahi (Ivory Coast, Africa) had 10 points for ODU and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Delaware's Harding Nana had a team-high 16 points as well as a team-high 12 rebounds. Mike Slattery also scored 14 points for Delaware, and Andrew Washington added 12. As a team, the Monarchs out-shot the Blue Hens 44 % (26-59) to 36% (21-58).
ODU will return to action Saturday, January 29, when they travel to Richmond to take on Virginia Commonwealth University. Game-time is at 4:00 PM.