Delaware vs Towson – CAA Rookie of the year, Jyare Davis got his first start for Delaware. He led The Hens to a 66-56 victory of Drexel. Delaware took advantage of Amari Williams foul trouble and Drexel’s poor shooting night to run out to a 13-point lead. They held off several Drexel runs to get the victory.
Towson fell behind a very well-prepared Northeastern team, but finally made enough shots to open up an 11-point lead. Northeastern chopped it to 1 with a little over a minute left, but a poor shooting night by them prevented the big upset.
Towson swept the season series. They held Delaware scoreless the final 4 minutes of the game to pull away from a back-and-forth affair game in Newark, 69-61. The rematch was finished on Monday. At the time of suspension, Towson trailed by 9 with 15 to go, but they were playing for first and Delaware was playing for, well, nothing. It did not take long for Towson to run away.
I expected Towson to perhaps struggle a bit in game one. I did not expect them to lead by only one late. Perhaps they are regressing toward a typical level, perhaps it was the Bill Coen affect, or more likely, some combination of both. Inglesby’s lineup change and Painter playing a few more minutes give Delaware a bit more oomph defensively. Towson will be about a five point favorite. Feel it is relevant that in both regular season games Delaware was able to grab a nine point lead. The new line up worked. Towson has played to an insanely high level all season. There is a chance that the slight crash vs Northeastern, continues today.
Delaware 65 Towson 63
Charleston vs Wilmington – Charleston got 28 from a now healthy John Meeks, dominated the boards, and also gave a freshman, Raekwon Horton, his first start to win fairly comfortably over Hofstra. Wilmington continued a fairy tale season, coming back from a double-digit deficit for the eleventh time this year to beat Elon.
Wilmington swept the season series with Charleston. Wilmington led the entire way at Charleston, hitting key shots whenever it got close. In Wilmington the home team shot the lights out and once again fought off every Charleston run.
Charleston continued their late season rush with another home run effort. Their dismantling of Hofstra was super impressive. They may now be entirely comfortable with Kelsey’s system. If so, they have a good chance to win the automatic bid. Wilmington continues to surprise but they have certainly hit their peak. Charleston finished the season strong, are entirely healthy and may just continue to get better under the guidance of Kelsey.
Charleston 80 Wilmington 71
