Boxscore

NORFOLK, Va. -- The University of Delaware men’s basketball team misfired on its first 18 three-point attempts and the Blue Hens could never get into an offensive rhythm as UD fell to Old Dominion, 56-49, Saturday afternoon at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in both teams’ Colonial Athletic Association opener.

Jawan Carter scored a game-high 21 points for the Blue Hens, who dropped their fourth straight game for the first time since the opening four games of 2007-08 while falling to 26 overall and 0-1 in the league. Preseson All-CAA pick Gerald Lee scored a team-high 16 points for the Monarchs, who won their second straight to improve to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Brian Johnson and Alphonso Dawson each contributed seven points for Delaware while Marc Egerson grabbed a game-best 12 rebounds, but the Blue Hens connected on just 16 of 51 shots from the field including 4 of 23 from three- point range. However the Blue Hens did play their best defensive game of the season, limiting Old Dominion to only 18 of 50 shooting from the field and only 4 of 11 from behind the arc.

Delaware hung with Old Dominion in the early going as a layup by Dawson knotted the game at 6-6 at the 16:15 mark of the first half, but Old Dominion then reeled off nine straight points to take 15-6 advantage with 11:21 left. Delaware was held scoreless for five minutes until Dawson scored another layup, and after Lee answered for the Monarchs at the 10:02 mark, both teams went scoreless during the next four and a half minutes until Johnson’s floater in the paint brought UD within 17-10 with 5:47 remaining.

Old Dominion still led 19-12 following a Carter layup at the 2:46 mark, but the Monarchs answered with six straight points to increase their lead to 25-12. Edwin Santiago hit two free throws with 29.9 seconds on the clock for the Blue Hens, but Marsharee Neely’s jumper with three seconds left gave the Monarchs a 27-14 halftime lead. Delaware’s 14 first half points were the fewest since the Blue Hens scored 12 at Drexel on January 21, 2006.

Lee converted a three-point play to give the Monarchs a 30-16 lead with 17:27 to play, but UD scored four straight points on baskets by Carter and D.J. Boney to pull within 30-20 at the 14:32 mark.However Keyon Carter, who finished with 13 points to join Jawan Carter and Lee as the only players to reach double figures, converted a three-point play and then hit from long-range to make it 36-20 with 12:19 to play.

Delaware pulled within 39-24 after a Johnson jumper with 10 minutes remaining but the Monarchs answered with seven consecutive points, taking their largest lead of the game at 46-24 on an alley-oop dunk by Carter with 7:06 to go.

The Blue Hens scored six straight points on baskets by Santiago, Jim Ledsome and Carter to get within 46-30 at the 5:48 mark, but ODU once again extended its lead, going back up 53-32 with 2:58 left on a basket by Ben Finney.

Delaware finally extended its streak to 539 straight games with three-pointer when Jawan Carter’s trey with 1:26 remaining was good, and Dawson’s three- pointer with 50.8 seconds left made it a 53-41 game. After making a steal and getting fouled on the play Carter drained two free throws, and following a miss by Neely, Carter drilled another three-pointer to cut the Monarchs advantage to 53-46 with 30 seconds on the clock. However Neely answered with a pair of free throws, and following Carter’s third three pointer, ODU’s Darius James hit one free throw with six seconds on the clock to conclude the scoring.

“There are two effort categories we look at as a team: field goal percentage defense number one, and to a lesser extent, points allowed,” UD third year head coach Monté Ross said. “We did a very good job with that tonight. We’re in a funk offensively; we have to get better and we will get better. As long as we have effort, we’ll be OK. I’m shocked that teams are playing us so much zone and that it’s been our achilles heel.”

Delaware, which fell to 1-6 all-time in Norfolk and lost its fourth straight to Old Dominion in the Constant Center, got seven rebounds and three blocks from Ledsome, while Boney and Santiago each chipped in four points.

The Blue Hens conclude their two-game road swing through Virginia on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. game at Hampton.