Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

Drexel survives rival Delaware 66-62

01/17/2015, 5:45pm EST

By Teddy Bailey

Teddy Bailey (@TheTeddyBailey)
—

When Austin Williams fouled out with 12:17 to play in the second half, things weren’t looking so great for the Drexel Dragons. With Bruiser Flint’s bunch entering Saturday’s CAA rivalry game against Delaware with just eight healthy players; Williams’ fifth foul cut that number to seven.

For Damion Lee, the CAA’s leading scorer, that number didn’t matter much.

Lee paced the Dragons down the stretch, knocking down all ten of his free throws in route to a game-high 17 points. Freshman forward Tyshawn Myles provided a spark, scoring 11 points and 11 rebounds as Drexel was able to hang on against CAA-rival Delaware 66-62 in a rowdy Bob Carpenter Center.

“With us, it’s not really about how many guys that we have,” Lee said. “Anybody can be hurt and anybody could foul out and we’d have to play with just five guys.”

Delaware’s Kory Holden missed a layup with 12 seconds remaining that would have cut the deficit to just one.

“That’s something that I could’ve and should’ve made,” Holden said. “I tried to draw the foul but it didn’t go in. I was thinking about drawing the foul rather than just finishing the layup.”

It was another poor first half offensively for the Blue Hens; Delaware shot just 7-23 (30;4 percent) and found themselves trailing by twelve at halftime – a deficit that was just enough for the Dragons to survive.

“I thought that the biggest part of the game was how bad we came out in the first half,” Delaware head coach Monte Ross said. “When you get down 12 points like that, I don’t know if you guys have noticed but we’re not a great offensive team, so when you get down like that, it’s kind of difficult to come back. We made a great run in the second half but it just put us in such a hole.”

For Delaware, Chivarsky Corbett led all Blue Hen scorers with 15 points and six rebounds., while Cazmon Hayes added ten points. Kyle Anderson and Kory Holden combined for a 5-of-16 shooting performance from the floor, including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc.

“We didn’t come out strong at all, that’s really what put us behind,” Holden said. “We didn’t have the energy that we brought out in the second half. Basically our defense was horrible in the first half. Some calls didn’t go our way, some shots didn’t fall.”

While Delaware entered Saturday’s game with back-to-back wins for the first time all season, Drexel was fresh off a humiliating 54-35 loss to James Madison at home on Thursday night. It was a game that the Dragons wished to forget – and with a meeting against their rival, that they did.

“We should score more than 35 points,” Drexel head coachBruiser Flint said. “I’ve never in my career held a team to 54 points and lose by 20. Today we were just better. Our guys came to play. You shouldn’t score 35 points in a game. Not in a college game.”

“Thursday’s game was tough for us and everyone watching,” Lee said. “It was basically a rockfight. Today we just put that game behind us, and we knew we were playing Delaware – whenever Drexel and Delaware play, the records are out the window. That’s our rival.”

Tyshawn Myles provided a spark that the Dragons desperately needed – with Rashann Londonand Damion Lee playing the entire game, and Tavon Allen and Sammy Mojica logging each 31 minutes, Myles’ effort was truly needed. The x-factor was a menace on the offensive boards, corralling six in route to 11 points and 11 total rebounds.

“When our big guys started picking up some fouls I was like “who in the world are we going to put in the game? Flint said.”

“Tyshawn played great today,” Lee said. “This was the best that I’ve seen him play. He dove on the floor, got some rebounds, defended well.”

Myles executed his career night under some circumstances that made his performance even more impressive.

“He’s had the flu week and hasn’t been able to do anything, just has showed up to the games,” Flint said. “I told him to go back and get the flu tomorrow.”

Saturday’s blueprint against Delaware is one that Drexel will need to duplicate. This injury and freshman-laden team will count on its grittiness and toughness to win games.

“We’ve been having problems scoring in games because our guys aren’t ready,” Flint said. “The young guys think they’re in high school and they can just drive into somebody and the ref is going to call a foul. Seriously, that’s what they think.”

“We’ve got the leading scorer in the league, the rest of you will be open,” Flint continued. “Be ready to score, be ready to shoot. “You’re going to be open on this team. We’re shooting 38 percent. That’s what happens when you have eight guys and four of them are freshman. Just be ready to shoot.”