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Hens’ men’s basketball wins 2 games at LaSalle
8:48 a.m., Jan. 2, 2007--The University of Delaware men's basketball team picked up its first two wins of the season during the holiday break, nearly sweeping the LaSalle Invitational tournament played Dec. 28-30 at the Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia. The Fightin' Blue Hens defeated Niagara University 71-53 to open the tournament, then held off host LaSalle University 58-56. The Hens fell 49-47 to the College of the Holy Cross in a hotly contested finale. UD is now 2-10 on the season as it prepared to begin the heart of its Colonial Athletic Association campaign. The Hens, who are 0-1 in conference play with a 79-60 loss at Virginia Commonwealth University last month, will be on the road for games at James Madison University at 7 p.m., Wednesday, and Hofstra University at 4 p.m., Saturday. James Madison is 3-8 while Hofstra is 8-4, including a 63-51 victory over St. John's University of the Big East Conference. UD will return home to face 6-5 Towson University at 7 p.m., Monday. In the victory over Niagara, the first for first-year UD Head Coach Monté Ross, junior forward Herb Courtney scored 22 points and junior Sam McMahon, making his first career start, had 20 points and eight rebounds. “We really played team basketball at its essence tonight,” Ross said. “We looked very good and we did an excellent job of moving without the ball and getting in spots where we were a threat. Our guys did an excellent job of making shots. I'm proud of them.” UD came right back with its second victory, topping LaSalle as Courtney scored a team-high 14 points, freshman guard Darrell Johnson scored 12 and freshman point guard Brian Johnson had 11 points and four assists. The game against Holy Cross was a defensive struggle, and the Hens nearly sent the contest into overtime but a last second lay-up by Brian Johnson rolled off the rim. Courtney again led the Hens, scoring 24 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Johnson had 11 points and four assists and Zaire Taylor had eight points and three assists. “We had some good looks that we didn't make tonight that we hit the last two games,” Ross said. “I'm very proud that we held a team like Holy Cross to 49 points. Our defense is getting better, and if there's a silver lining in this loss, that's it. I was also very happy with Herb Courtney's aggressiveness tonight.” |
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