Boxscore
Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- League-leading Northeastern got double figure scoring from four different players and led from start to finish in posting a 67-47 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball victory over the University of Delaware Thursday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

The Huskies (11-6, 6-0 CAA), who led by double-digits for the final nine minutes of the game, got 12 points each from Matt Janning and Nkem Ojougboh and 10 points apiece from Manny Adako and Chaisson Allen on the way to their fifth straight win and their eight straight victory over the Blue Hens in Newark.

Janning also added four assists and seven rebounds, Ojougboh pulled down nine caroms, and Adako chipped in with eight boards to complete a balance effort. The Huskies kept pace with CAA leader George Mason (6-0) with the victory.

Delaware (7-11, 1-5 CAA), which lost its fourth straight game since an 81-79 win over league power Virginia Commonwealth back on Jan. 3, got 10 points and nine rebounds from Jim Ledsome (at right) while Marc Egerson added six points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and Brian Johnson chipped in with eight points.

“Defensively we played much better and with more intensity tonight,” said Delaware head coach Monté Ross, whose team will host 2008 CAA Tournament runner-up William & Mary (6-10, 1-5 CAA) Saturday at 12 noon. “This game was decided on our offense end of the court. We had some good looks and just didn’t knock them down, but their defense had a lot to do with that.”

The Hens struggled mightily on offense all night and managed just 17 of 55 shooting from the field (30.9 percent) for the game, including 8 of 32 shooting (25 percent) in the second half. Delaware was outrebounded 41-35, hit just 5 of 18 three-pointers, and struggled at the line, converting only 8 of 19 chances.

The 47 points was the lowest offensive output for the Blue Hens since a 60-39 CAA setback to Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 16 of last season and the least amount of points at home since a 66-46 loss to George Mason on Feb. 14, 2007. Delaware had lost only two games by more than 10 points all season.

Delaware’s top two scorers, Jawan Carter (17.6 points per game) and Alphonso Dawson (15.8 ppg), were each held to a season-low in points with four and seven points respectively, and Egerson managed just six points on 1 of 9 shooting from the field. Carter, who was 1 for 6 from the field, was held to single digits for only the third time this season.

Northeastern took control early, scoring 11 straight points on the way to a 15-2 lead seven minutes into the game and never relinquished the lead the rest of the night. The Huskies led by as much as 17 points several times in the opening 20 minutes, going up 28-11 on a Chris Alvarez layup with 6:35 left.

But Delaware failed to give in and used a 13-2 run of its own - highlighted by three-pointers from Johnson and Dawson - to narrow the gap to 30-24 and later trailed just 32-25 at the break.

The Huskies scored the first six points of the second half, holding Delaware without a point for the first four minutes of the stanza to build the lead to 13 points at 38-25

Delaware pulled to within seven points at 46-39 with 10:12 left on a dunk by Ledsome, but the Huskies answered right back with a layup by Adako and six straight points by Eugene Spates as part of an 8-0 run to put the game away. The Hens never got closer than 13 points the rest of the game.