NEWARK, DE – The University of Delaware grabbed the lead midway through the second half, but Cleveland State followed with a 8-0 run to take control and held on down the stretch for 59-53 non-league men’s basketball victory over the Blue Hens Sunday afternoon at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Cleveland State sophomore forward J’Nathan Bullock recorded a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds and guard Victor Morris added 11 points and seven rebounds and hit all three of his team’s three-pointers as the Vikings (4-3) won their second straight.

Delaware (0-4), which remained winless under first-year head coach Monté Ross, placed three scorers in double figures as freshman guard Brian Johnson (at right/Photo by Bob Burleigh) had 13 points and four assists and Herb Courtney and Calvin Cannon each added 12 points. Zaire Taylor added five points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Hens, who have lost five straight dating back to last season, are off to their first 0-4 start since the 1990-91 team opened the season 0-6 under Steve Steinwedel on the way to a 16-13 record. Delaware also extended its home losing streak to five games, the team’s longest since a five-game streak in 1985-86. Delaware will look for its first win Nov. 29 at Loyola (MD).

Delaware was hindered by 34.5 percent shooting from the field for the game (19 of 55) as the Hens hit just 11 of 31 field goals in the first half and 8 of 24 in the second half. The Hens also hit just 2 of 13 three-pointers for the contest. Cleveland State shot just 40 percent from the field (20 of 50), becoming the first UD opponent to shoot under 50 percent this season, but made up for it by converting 16 of 17 free throws for the game, including 11 of 12 in the second stanza.

The Blue Hens led by as much as seven points early in the game but Cleveland State fought back and took a 29-28 lead into intermission when Morris hit a layup just before the buzzer.

The Vikings stayed in front by a slim margin in the second half before a 9-2 Delaware run gave the Hens a 41-40 lead with 11:59 remaining on a Brian Johnson layup. Johnson scored four points during the run. But Cleveland State answered back as Bullock paced an 8-0 run with six points of his own to give the Vikings the lead back at 48-41 with 8:17 remaining.

Once again the Hens battled back as Cannon scored six straight points, including three free throws and a three-pointer, to cut the lead to 53-52 with 2:28 remaining.

Cleveland State took control from there as Patrick Tatham converted a layup, his only field goal of the game, to up the lead to 55-52 and Carlos English and Bullock iced the win with two free throws each in the final 26 seconds.

The Hens could never catch up as they missed their final five shots, including a three-pointer by Cannon with 1:20 left that could have tied the score.

Boxscore