NEWARK, DE -- University of Delaware All-American candidate Harding Nana (right) exploded for a career-high 38 points and pulled 12 rebounds, but Towson proved to be too much as the Tigers posted a frantic 96-92 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball victory Saturday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Towson guard Gary Neal, who scored 70 points in his previous two outings, overcame a 6 for 21 performance from the field by connecting on 11 of 12 free throws and finished with a team-high 27 points, Dennard Abraham added 21 points and eight rebounds, Lawrence Hamm hit his first seven shots from the field and finished with 19 points, and Tim Crossin added nine assists as Towson (8-7, 4-2 CAA) won its third straight game and its fifth in the last six games. The Tigers won at Delaware for just the fourth time in 28 visits and for the third time in 16 games at the BCC.

Nana, who entered the game averaging 18.8 points per game to rank second in the CAA, scored a BCC-record 28 points in the first half on the way to his 38 points, the ninth highest total in school history and most since Mike Pegues scored 38 vs. Hartford on Jan. 6, 1999. Nana, who hit on 13 of 24 shots from the field and 9 of 14 from the line, also pulled 12 rebounds to post his ninth double-double of the season. Rulon Washington was the only other Blue Hen to reach double figures as he came off the bench to hit for 12 points, including three three-pointers.

Delaware (4-11, 0-6 CAA), which lost its fifth straight game and dropped to 0-6 in league play for the first time since 1980-81, played without senior guard Andrew Washington, the team’s second leading scorer (12.6 ppg) who was declared academically ineligible for an indefinite period earlier in the day.

The Tigers reached the 90-point mark for the third straight game as they connected on 35 of 65 shots from the field (53.8 percent), including 7 of 15 from beyond the three-point line. Towson, which committed just nine turnovers the entire game, shot 19 of 33 from the field in the opening half to take a 50-47 lead into halftime. Nana scored 28 of Delaware’s 47 points as he hit on 9 of 15 shots from the field and 8 of 12 free throws.

Towson led the entire contest before Delaware used a strong start in the second half to take the lead at 56-55 on a layup by Henry Olawoye with 15:56 remaining. But the Hens’ lead would last just 22 seconds as Abraham followed with two baskets and Hamm nailed a jumper to push the lead back to five. Delaware narrowed the TU lead to two points three more times, the last time at 67-65 with 9:17 remaining, but could never get closer.

But Neal answered with three straight three-pointers over the next two minutes and 20 seconds and the Towson lead was back to 11 points at 76-65 with 6:40 left. The Hens made it close by draining six three-pointers in the final two minutes, but Neal kept UD at bay by making nine straight free throws during the same period to ice the win.

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