Boxscore

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Kevon Moore hit a leaner in the paint with 43 seconds to go and added two free throws with two-tenths of a second remaining as the UNC Wilmington men’s basketball team came back to post a 75-72 victory over the University of Delaware Saturday night at Trask Coliseum.

The Seahawks, who snapped a 10-game losing streak while improving to 4-13 overall and 1-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association, trailed by eight points at the half and were down as much as 10 in the second period before recording the victory. Chad Tomko led UNC Wilmington with 15 points, all in the second half, while Moore added 13 and Jerel Stephenson and Daniel Mercer each chipped in 10.

Delaware, which dropped its third straight game since a victory over VCU last Saturday, fell to 7-10 overall and 1-4 in conference play. The Blue Hens put five players in double figures, led by Jawan Carter who scored a game-high 19 points. Alphonso Dawson (at right) recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 boards, while Marc Egerson contributed 14 points and seven rebounds. Jim Ledsome posted 12 points on 6 of 6 shooting from the field and blocked three shots, while Brian Johnson added 10 points.

Delaware scored 42 points in the first half, its highest first half output this season, en route to a 42-34 halftime advantage. The Blue Hens took their largest lead of the period at 46-36 on a Ledsome dunk two minutes into the half, and another Ledsome slam put Delaware ahead 53-45 with 15:40 to play.

However the Seahawks responded with nine consecutive points and took their first lead of the contest on a Dominique Lacy free throw with with 11:49 remaining. But Dawson answered with three jumpers during an 11-3 Delaware run that put the Blue Hens back up 64-57, and UD still led 68-63 with 6:57 to play following a jumper by Johnson.

UNC Wilmington then scored six consecutive points to go ahead 69-68, but the Blue Hens responded with a Dawson basket and two free throws by Egerson to make it 72-69 with 2:26 left. However those foul shots would be UD’s final points of the game.

Moore scored in transition with 1:15 to play to make it a one-point contest, and after Carter was called for an offensive foul, Moore hit a leaner to put the Seahawks back in front 73-72 with 43 seconds to go.

Carter was then tied up by Tomko while driving to the basket with 10 seconds to play, and UNC Wilmington was awarded the ball on the alternate possession. Delaware then forced a steal on the Seahawks’ inbounds pass but Carter was called for travelling, giving the ball back to UNC Wilmington.

Moore was fouled with seven seconds to play and missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Lacy grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled by Carter with three seconds on the clock. Lacy also missed his first free throw and the miss was rebounded by Dawson, but Moore stripped the ball from the Blue Hen sophomore and was fouled with two-tenths of a second remaining. Moore then hit two free throws, and the Blue Hens’ desperation halfcourt pass was deflected by Tomko to end the game.

Delaware shot 48.1 percent from the field but still dropped its sixth consecutive game in Wilmington as the Seahawks shot 47.5 percent for the contest including 53.3 percent in the second half.

“This is by far the worst defensive effort in my tenure at Delaware,” said third-year Blue Hen head coach Monté Ross. “We got UNC Wilmington down a couple times in the second half but they responded each time, so you have to give them credit for that. We couldn’t get stops when we needed to in the second half and turned the ball over too much in our halfcourt offense, which is a recipe for disaster when you’re playing on the road.”

Delaware flew out of the gate by scoring the game’s first eight points, and the Blue Hens still led 17-6 just five minutes into the contest. UNC Wilmington answered with 10 consecutive points to pull within one, but Delaware responded with a 15-4 spurt to take its largest lead of the night at 32-30 at the 6:02 mark.

The Seahawks, who entered the game ranked last in the conference by allowing 89.9 points per game, closed to 38-34 late in the half, but Johnson connected on a three-pointer and Egerson added a free throw to give Delaware an eight-point lead at the break.