An undermanned and undersized men’s basketball team, dressing just six scholarship players by the time of the conference championship tournament, fought its way through a difficult 2006-07 season in the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Association.

Putting aside youth, injuries, suspensions and players opting to seek other opportunities elsewhere, Fightin’ Blue Hens first-year Head Coach Monté Ross put on the court a scrappy group that might have been short on wins but was long on heart.

The team won over UD fans with a gutsy 72-68 victory over Hofstra University, the preseason favorite to win the conference championship and a 2006 National Invitation Tournament semifinalist, on Jan. 29 at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Hofstra entered that game with 16 wins and a grip on second place in the CAA, and the team featured experienced preseason all-conference guards in Antoine Agudio and Loren Stokes. The game followed a familiar pattern early on, with the Hens hanging tough only to watch the Pride rip off 11 straight points to carry a 37-30 lead into the half. The Hens battled back in the second half, however, and kept the game close until clutch shots late sealed the victory.

UD was led in the game by freshman point guard Brian Johnson, who scored 25 points to go with four assists and two steals. He turned the ball over just once.

Junior forward Herb Courtney scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds in the game, continuing to be the most reliable player on the team. Throughout the season, Courtney was among the conference leaders in scoring, at press time averaging 18.6 points per game, and rebounding, with 7.4 per game.

Junior shooting guard turned forward 6-foot-5 Sam McMahon, sank a key three-point shot late in the victory.

The other members of the team were freshman guard Darrell Johnson, whose late free throws doomed Hofstra, senior guard Chris Prothro and junior forward Henry Olawoye, with 6-foot-7 Deon Goodman, a manager on last year’s team who walked on to the team this year.

Although the victory over Hofstra was just the fourth of the season, many fans saw in it the makings of a better 2007-08, when UD will add not only a new freshman recruiting class but also two transfers from top-level NCAA Division I programs.

Marc Egerson, a former Delaware All-State selection at Glasgow High School, has transferred from Georgetown University and will be eligible to compete for the Hens beginning after the end of the fall semester in December. Egerson is a 6-6, 237-pound forward who averaged 7.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for Georgetown before deciding to transfer.

Shortly after the announcement that Egerson would come to UD, another forward, 6-foot-9 Jim Ledsome of the University of Nebraska, announced that he would follow suit. He, too, will be eligible in December. Ledsome appeared in the first 14 games, starting four, for the Cornhuskers and averaged 2.4 points and 2.5 rebounds.