HEMPSTEAD, NY -- The University of Delaware suffered its fifth straight loss Saturday afternoon as Hofstra led wire-to-wire for a 79-65 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball victory at Hofstra Arena.

The Blue Hens (2-5, 0-2 CAA) overcame an 18-point halftime deficit andpulled to within eight points early in the second half but the Pride (4-1, 1-0 CAA) took over from there and cruised to the victory, their fourth straight over Delaware and their sixth straight over the Hens at Hofstra Arena. Delaware falls to 0-2 in league play for the first time since the Hens started out 0-2 in the America East conference in 1993-94.

Delaware All-American candidate Harding Nana led the Hens with 20 points and seven rebounds while Calvin Cannon (right) added a career-high 17 points and Andrew Washington chipped in with 13 points. The Hens shot just 36.1 percent from the field (22 of 61) for the game and hit on 7 of 25 three-point attempts.

Hofstra, which held a 45-27 advantage on the boards and outscored Delaware 50-24 in the paint, featured three scorers in double figures as Antoine Agudio posted a game-high 22 points, Aurimas Kieza added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Loren Stokes had 16 points. Adrian Uter also posted nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Hofstra also went 21 of 22 from the foul line for the game.

“We fought hard tonight in the second half but we just dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” said Delaware head coach David Henderson. “They were more physical than us today. We’ve been a good rebounding team so far this season but Hofstra beat us on the boards today.”

Hofstra held a modest 6-4 lead early in the contest but took off on a 16-0 run to take a 22- 4 advantage with 10:02 left to play and never looked back. The Pride eventually led 43-25 at the break.

Delaware came out with a spirited comeback attempt in the second half, outscoring Hofstra 16-6 to cut the lead to 49-41 after Washington hit two free throws and Cannon followed with two more from the charity stripe with 14:26 left to play. But Hofstra put the game away from there, speeding off on a 12-1 run to go up 61-42 with 10:16 remaining.

The Blue Hens will continue their season-opening eight-game road trip next Saturday, Dec. 10, when they travel to Rider for a 3 p.m. non-league game in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Boxscore