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Ames three-pointer lifts UD men’s basketball

4:33 p.m., Jan. 20, 2004--A clutch shot capped a wild rally as the University of Delaware men’s basketball team earned an important win over Colonial Athletic Association leader Old Dominion University 64-62 on Saturday night at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center.

UD senior guard Mike Ames buried a three-pointer from the left corner with just 1.8 seconds left to play to complete the comeback, which saw the Fightin’ Blue Hens scratch back from a 12-point deficit with 12:28 left to play.

UD, which improved to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in CAA play, will attempt to build on the victory when it hosts the College of William & Mary at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21, at the Bob Carpenter Center. Tickets cost $9 to $13, $5 for children, and are available at the UD box offices at the Bob Carpenter Center and the Trabant University Center or through Ticketmaster.

William & Mary is 4-11 overall and 1-5 in CAA, having lost its last five straight conference games.

On Saturday, Ames scored 18 points to lead the UD rally and his game-winning three point shot was the 200th of his career. Earlier in the week, he had scored 28 points against James Madison University and 30 against Drexel University.

Ames was the only Hen to score in double figures against Old Dominion. Henry Olawoye and David Lunn had seven points apiece.

League-leading Old Dominion, which had a seven-game wining streak snapped and lost its first conference game of the season, fell to 9-5 overall and 4-1 in CAA.

The Monarchs had a chance to win the game but center Alex Loughton's 25-footer at the buzzer bounced out of the basket. Loughton, Old Dominion's leading scorer averaging 18.5 points per game, sat out most of the second half due to foul trouble and finished with 11 points and six rebounds. John Waller, Arnaud Dahi and Troy Nance also scored 11 points each to pace Old Dominion.

The Hens rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to win for the second time this season and for just the fourth time since the 1980-81 season. UD won its season opener over Mount St. Mary's despite trailing by 10 at the break.

UD shot just 29.2 percent from the field and committed 10 turnovers as Old Dominion jumped out to a 37-25 lead at the half. The Monarchs stayed in front by double digits for most of the second half, going up 50-38 with 12:28 remaining.

From that point, Old Dominion's offense went cold and UD responded by mounting a comeback. The Hens scored 16 of the next 20 points to tie the game at 54-54 with 4:50 left to play.

After Dahi's three-pointer tied the game at 57-57 with 2:22 left, Ames answered with a three-pointer of his own to give UD a 60-57 advantage with 1:46 left. But Nance came up big for ODU, hitting two free throws and nailing a three-pointer from the top of the key in a span of just 38 seconds to put the Monarchs back up 62-60 with 1:05 remaining.

UD’s Lunn hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to 62-61 and the Hens followed with a big stop when Dahi missed a jumper with 20 seconds left.

That set up the winning shot by Ames, who took a feed from junior point guard Mike Slattery and nailed the game-winning three-pointer from the left corner.

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