Darling’s Last Second Layup Gives Delaware An 80-78 Win Vs James Madison

Photo: Mark Campbell

The University of Delaware men’s basketball team has now won six straight games as they defeated the James Madison University Dukes 80-78 on Saturday at the Bob Carpenter Center.

The leading scorer of the game for the Blue Hens was redshirt junior guard Nate Darling who had 27 points.

Redshirt sophomore forward Justyn Mutts recorded his eighth double-double of the season in the win, as he had 18 points and 14 rebounds.

Junior guard Kevin Anderson also scored in double-digits in the game as he had 21 points.

Delaware had the advantage in multiple categories in this game which included fast- break points (8-5), rebounds (36-35), blocks (5-2) and steals (7-5).

Related: Blue Hens Winning Streak Moves To Five After 84-78 Win Vs Towson

Hens Lead By One At The Half

The leading scorer for Delaware in the first half was Nate Darling who had 12 points. As a team, Delaware shot 41.38 % (12-29) in the first half and they also shot 54.55 % (6-11) at the free-throw line.

James Madison shot 40.74 % (11-27) in the first half and they also shot 90.00 % (9-10) at the free-throw line.

In the first 13 minutes of this game, the two Colonial Athletic Association rivals battled it out for the lead as there were four tied scored scores and 12 lead changes.

At the 4:45 minute mark, Delaware would go on a 12-6 run which would give them a 35-34 lead at the half. Darling would be the leader of that run as he scored six of the 12 points.

Blue Hens Trail Most Of Second Half, Darling’s Last-Second Shot Wins The Game

The leading scorer for Delaware in the second half was Nate Darling who had 15 points. As a team, the Blue Hens shot 46.43 % (13-28) in the second half and they also shot 90.00 % (18-20) at the free-throw line.

James Madison shot 47.22 % (17-36) in the second half and they also shot 100.00 % (6-6) at the free-throw line.

Starting at the 16:40 minute mark, The Dukes would outscore the Blue Hens 20-13 to give them a 56-54 lead with 9:12 left in the game.

The Dukes would continue to build their lead as the team went on a 7-2 run at the 7:28 minute mark which would push their lead to 66-59 with 6:21 left in the game.

The Blue Hens would use the foul line to get back in this game as the team hit six straight free throws around the 4:30 mark to cut James Madison’s lead to three ( 68-65).

Around the one minute mark, The Blue Hens would finally capture the lead again with Kevin Anderson hitting a layup to give his team a 77-76 lead. Hens Ryan Allen would hit a free throw with 27 seconds left in the game to give his team a 78-76 lead.

The Dukes were not laying down as with 14 seconds left on the clock,  Deshon Parker would hit a layup to tie the game up at 78.

The time was running down in the game but this was nothing new to the Hens as the team has hit several last-second game-winning shots this season.

Nate Darling would give the Blue Hens fans another last-second game-winning shot as he hit a layup with five seconds left to seal an 80-78 win.

Delaware heads to North Carolina to take on Elon on February 13th at 7 PM ET.

Stats:

FG%: UD43.9 %& JMU44.4 %
3P%: UD26.1 %& JMU33.3 %
FT%: UD77.4 %&JMU93.8 %
Rebs: UD 36&JMU35
Ast: UD12&JMU12
Stl: UD7 &JMU5
TO: UD12&JMU11
Blks: UD 5 &JMU2