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| Hen men's basketball defeats Old Dominion |
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1:45 p.m., Feb. 24, 2003--The University of Delaware men’s basketball team earned a key Colonial Athletic Association victory in defeating Old Dominion University 73-63 on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center.
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| Mike Ames |
The victory raised UD’s record to 13-12, 8-8 in CAA where the Fightin’ Blue Hens are now tied with ODU for fifth place in the 10-team conference. The top six teams avoid a preliminary game in the CAA tournament, which will be held March 7-10 at the Richmond (Va.) Coliseum.
UD has two games remaining in the regular season, both on the road. The Hens will take on Drexel University at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 26, then will travel to Towson University to close the season with a game at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 1.
In the victory over ODU, which was Senior Day, four Hens scored in double figures. Junior guard Mike Ames scored a team-high 19 points, senior Maurice Sessoms added 15 points and eight rebounds, and senior Ryan Iversen posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and added six steals.
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| Ryan Iversen |
Iversen, one of the top sixth-men in the CAA, started just his second game of the season and responded with his third double-double while scoring in double figures for the 12th straight game.
Sessoms, who also comes off the bench, started just his fourth game of the season and had his second straight big outing after netting 20 points against Hofstra University on Thursday night.
“This was a big win for us,” UD Head Coach David Henderson said. “There's never a night in this conference where you feel comfortable that you're going to get a win. We got the stops when we needed to get them and we held them off the offensive glass down the stretch. We are the kind of team that needs everyone to contribute and we got that today.”
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| Maurice Sessoms |
Delaware led for most of the first half before Old Dominion got a late bucket just before the halftime buzzer to send the game into intermission tied at 31-31. The tightly contested second half saw each team gain a lead but neither led by more than three points until the final minutes.
Ames broke the ninth tie of the game with a three-pointer with 4:49 remaining and David Lunn (11 points) added a driving lay-up a minute later to increase the lead to 61-56.
Old Dominion pulled back to within three points at 61-58 on two Loughton free throws with 3:14 remaining but the Monarchs would never get closer. Rasheed Wright hit a jumper to pull ODU within four at 65-61 with 39 seconds left, but Ames followed with two free throws and Calvin Smith hit two more nine seconds later to up the lead to 69-61 and preserve the victory.
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