Men's basketball ends home season on high note

After losing their previous five home games, the Delaware men's basketball team's seniors were not going to let their home careers end on a sour note.

Seniors Jawan Carter scored 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half, and Brian Johnson scored a season-high 14 points to reach 1,000 for his career as the Hens (13-15, 8-9 CAA) defeated Towson 80-70 (4-21, 0-17 CAA) on Wednesday night.

"It means a lot to the seniors," Johnson said. "Me personally, going out with the seniors and especially just getting a win."

Freshman Devon Saddler had 20 points and kept Delaware in the game early in the second half, scoring the first 7 points for the team, before Towson opened up an 11-point lead.

Hot 3-point shooting was the way back into the game for the Hens. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Carter and fellow senior D.J. Boney cut the lead to 5. A few minutes later, Saddler hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 4, before Johnson nailed one of his own to make it a 1-point Towson lead with 9:32 left.

However, it was the seniors who carried the team late, as Carter's free throws with 5:58 left gave the Hens the lead for good. Johnson hit another 3-pointer to put the Delaware up 69-65 with 4:06 remaining and made three of his four free-throw attempts late in the game.

"I'm really pleased to be able to send our seniors out with a victory," head coach Monte Ross said. "These seniors really step up and make big shots. We just kept hitting big shot after big shot."

The already short-handed Hens were forced to play without their starting forward, sophomore Jamelle Hagins, who was suffering from an infected pinky toe. Junior Hakim McCullar started in his place and added 11 points, including a bucket at the end of the first half.

Before the game, Carter, Johnson, Boney and Edwin Santiago were honored at center court and presented with framed jerseys in honor of their careers at Delaware. The Hens will play their final regular season game on Saturday at Hofstra, where a win would secure them the seventh seed for the CAA Tournament.