Jan. 16, 2010
NORFOLK, Va. - Junior Ben Finney tallied a season-high 19 points to push the Old Dominion men's basketball team to its fifth straight victory as the Monarchs bested conference rival Drexel, 71-48, in front of a season-high 7,628 fans at the Ted Constant Convocation Center Saturday evening.
Old Dominion (14-5, 6-1), which has won 18 straight games in Norfolk, now owns the nation's seventh longest home winning streak. Drexel (9-10, 4-3) is the eighth team ODU has held under 50 points this season.
Finney and senior Gerald Lee both shot 6-of-8 from the floor with Finney registering 19 points and Lee posting 15. Lee has now scored in double-figures in eight consecutive games and in 16 total contests this season.
Junior Frank Hassell added seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Hassell has pulled down 10 or more boards in each of his last three contests. The Monarchs, who rank in the Top-20 nationally in rebounding advantage per game, out-boarded the Dragons 44-34.
ODU's effort was also bolstered by phenomenal free throw shooting. After going 14-of-34 from the charity stripe in its last home game against Hofstra, Old Dominion went 19-of-23 in the win over the Drexel.
Unlike its last few outings, Old Dominion fell behind early as Gerald Colds and Jamie Harris hit back-to-back buckets for Drexel to give the Dragons a 4-0 lead. The Monarchs stormed back immediately, going on an 18-4 run which was capped by a Marquel De Lancey lay-up at the 11:23 mark.
After Drexel cut ODU's lead to six (29-23) with under three minutes remaining in the first half, the Monarchs scored the final six points of the stanza to go into the intermission with its largest lead, 35-23.
Old Dominion continued its stellar play to open the second half, scoring the first eight points to go up 20 (43-23) after Keyon Carter scored off a Kent Bazemore feed.
The Monarchs would take their largest lead of the game, 63-35, at the 6:17 mark of the second half and Drexel would get no closer than 22 the rest of the way.
The win over Drexel was ODU's 11th double-digit victory and seventh by 20 or more this season.
Old Dominion heads back on the road Wednesday, Jan.20 to take on the Blue Hens of Delaware in Newark. The Monarchs lead the all-time series 10-5 and picked up a 65-44 win over UD earlier this season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center. The contest will be televised live back to the Hampton Roads area on WSKYTV 4.
-ODU-